Factor affecting the intention of green consumption behavior among vietnamese millennials and gen z a behavioral and psychological perspective for using second hand clothes

Tên đề tài: Factor affecting the intention of green consumption behavior among Vietnamese millennials and Gen Z: A behavioral and psychological perspective for using second-hand clothes

HỌC VIỆN NGÂN HÀNG

BÁO CÁO TỔNG KẾT

ĐỀ TÀI THAM DỰ CUỘC THI

“SINH VIÊN NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC”

CẤP HỌC VIỆN NGÂN HÀNG NĂM HỌC

2021-2022

TÊN ĐỀ TÀI: Factor affecting the intention of green

millennials and Gen Z: A behavioral and psychological perspective for using second-hand clothes

LĨNH VỰC: Quản trị kinh doanh

CHUYÊN NGÀNH: Quản trị kinh doanh

Hà Nội, Tháng 05 Năm 2022

HỌC VIỆN NGÂN HÀNG

THÔNG TIN SINH VIÊN THỰC HIỆN ĐỀ TÀI

1 Tên đề tài: Factor affecting the intention of green consumption behavior

among Vietnamese millennials and Gen Z: A behavioral and psychological

perspective for using second-hand clothes

2 Lĩnh vực: Quản trị kinh doanh

3 Chuyên ngành: Quản trị kinh doanh

4 Giáo viên hướng dẫn:

Họ và tên: Hoàng Phương Dung

Điện thoại Email

Chính-3 0866569

081

vynguyen011 vn@gmail.co m

6 Lựa chọn đề tài tham dự các cuộc thi (Tích dấu X vào ô lựa chọn)

1.1.1 The disadvantage of the fashion industry to the environment 1

1.1.2 The significance and advantages of purchasing second-hand clothes for the

1.1.3 The significance and advantages of purchasing second-hand clothes for

1.1.4 The necessary of purchasing second-hand cloth encouragement 4

1.1.5 The barriers of social and personal norms and psychological concerns to

1.1.6 Approaching important factors to encourage the second-hand clothes

2.1 Theoretical Background 11

2.2.1 Factors that impact second-hand products purchasing behavior 14

2.2.2 Factors that impact second-hand clothes purchasing intention 18

4.3 Hypothesis testing for the whole sample 40

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Conceptual framework in research by Alam (2014) 6

Figure 1.2: Conceptual framework in research by Gerlaugh (2011) 7

Figure 2.1: Theory of reasoned action/planned behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975;

Figure 2.2: Conceptual framework in research by Jiao (2015) 15

Figure 2.3: Conceptual framework in research by Seo, M J., and Kim, M (2019) 16

Figure 2.4: Conceptual framework in research by Borusiak et al., (2020) 18

Figure 2.5: Conceptual framework in research by Liang, J., and Xu, Y (2017) 19

Figure 2.6: Conceptual framework in research by Eunsuk Hur (2020) 21

Figure 2.7: Conceptual framework in research by Te et al., (2021) 22

Figure 2.8: Conceptual model of the research 28

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Summary of factors influencing the intention to purchase second-hand in general and second-hand clothing in particular 23

Table 4.8: Regression analysis results (applied for the whole sample) 42

Table 4.9: Regression analysis results (applied for gender groups) 45

Table 4.10: Regression analysis results (applied for age groups) 46

Table 4.11: Regression analysis results (applied for income groups) 47

Table 4.12: Regression analysis results (applied for experience groups) 48

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.4: Frequency to buy second-hand clothing 36

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations Full name

purchase (related to the environment)

purchase (related to the individual)

second-hand clothing purchase

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research reasons

1.1.1 The disadvantage of the fashion industry to the environment

When comparing the fashion sector to the food or cosmetics industries, it appears that addressing the causes of societal environmental and human costs is challenging (Beard, 2008) Theresa Winge (2008, p.513) also identified that the fashion business is enormously costly and destructive not only to living creatures but also to the local and global ecology, due to pesticides and chemicals used in textile manufacturing, as well

as the lack of human rights associated with child labor or exploitation of workers

According to statistics related to the fashion industry, over $400 billion was estimated

as the expense of fashion waste for the worldwide economy (Young, 2020) Moreover,

on average, consumers throw away 60 percent of their clothes after using them for 1 year Consequently, there were approximately 18.6 million tonnes of clothing that ended

up in landfills from the previous years to 2020 (Young, 2020) With the huge waste of the industry, the environment is affected significantly negatively To be more specific, Polyester, which is one of the most popular fabrics used in making clothes, is a threat to the environment To be more specific, 72% of our clothes are made from synthetic ffiberssuch as polyester, acrylic nylon, and so on made of fossil fuels that require much more energy-intensive than original fibers for manufacturing (Young, 2020) The characteristic of the fabric is non-biodegradable so it can exist in landfills for more than

200 years (Young, 2020) Furthermore, nearly 300 million polyester microfibers each year are wasted on the environment by washing clothing and over 900 million of the waste can be discharged into the air Specially, all the amount of waste could be ejected

by a person Consequently, approximately 700,000 individual microfibers are released into the water, seriously affecting the undersea ecosystem by the intrusion of plastic in the food chain from small aquatic organisms to bigger fish (sustainyourstyle.org, 2022)

This is a toxic cycle for both humans and the environment In addition, although cotton

is a natural material for clothing making, these materials still influence the environment

dangerously due to the gross requirement of water and pesticides Drought is one of the particular backwashes of problems (Young, 2020)

Moreover, these days with the growth of fast fashion, many brands use toxic and

hazardous chemicals during the clothing production process which leads to water pollution as well as a negative effect on human individuals and society in general (Patel,

2017) In particular, water pollution is one of the main problems of the fashion industry

Through Greenpeace, the dyeing process takes 1.7 million tons of various kinds of chemicals for the whole process involves toxic chemicals such as PFCs, heavy metals, ammonia, formaldehyde, and so on (Patel, 2017) In addition, there is an average of 2 billion pairs of jeans that consume 7,000 liters of water each pair, producing a shirt also consumes 2700 liters of water, which is equivalent to the average amount of water for one person in 900 days (Patel, 2017)

Last but not least, the fashion industry also affects seriously eco-biological To be more

specific, using cow leather is considered an unethical problem in the industry when the demand for leather is growing higher and higher in fashion goods With 290 million cows killed out of a total of 1 billion cows in the world, it is estimated that by 2025, the number of cows killed will reach 430 million cows (Eduzaurus) It can be seen clearly that the large volume of clothing produced continuously in clothes factories makes humorous emissions (represent for 10% of global carbon emissions) to the atmosphere that leads to the greenhouse effect (Charpail, 2017)

1.1.2 The significance and advantages of purchasing second-hand clothes for the environment

These underutilized second-hand fashion-related products can be re-activated through the facilitation of alternative consumption models and a circular economy Through the research of Cervellon, Carey, and Harms, (2012) reusing clothes not only can decrease the lifespan of the product but also can minimize the waste of clothing To specify, nine months of cloth extending can reduce the influences of water waste and carbon footprints by approximately 20%–30% WRAP (2012) To put it another way, Life cycle assessments (LCAs) of cloths are the most ideal choice to limit the environmental

impacts compared with recycling or incineration of materials (Nørup, Pihl, Damgaard, and Scheutz, 2019) In the same way, (Farrant, Olsen and Wangel, 2010) discovered that purchasing 100 items of SHC can decrease from 60 to 85 new clothes based on the aim

of reuse As a piece of evidence, there is 14 per cent of global warming deduction by using second-hand clothes Moreover, reusing cotton T-shirts contributes to a 45% reduction of toxic polyester-cotton garments for human society as well as the environment (Farrant, Olsen and Wangel, 2010) Generally, by reducing the resources, water use, manufacturing costs, and landfill space of virgin clothes creation, using second-hand clothing (SHC)brings more environmental and economic benefits (King and Wheeler, 2016)

1.1.3 The significance and advantages of purchasing second-hand clothes for individuals

With such significant potential in the process of using second-hand clothing to be environmentally friendly, it is impossible not to mention the numerous benefits to individuals accessing or considering purchasing second-hand clothes Individual consumption habits have a detrimental effect on the environment, and their harmful impact would be restricted by modifying individuals' frequent purchasing habits and empowering them to encourage sustainable styles of consumption (Saleki et al., 2019; Yang and Ha-Brookshire, 2020) Specifically, purchasing used clothing or accessories fulfils socially responsible actions while remaining fashionable (Beard, 2008) "By embracing more personally liable behaviours of second-hand buying and utilization, individuals can contribute to local and global sustainability through consuming less energy and fewer resources" Individuals can practice social responsibility by donating used clothing, adopting renewable and natural fibers, and lowering their greenhouse gas emissions (Rath et al., 2008) Last but not least, the change in the second-hand consumption intention mindset motivates the well-being of each individual As a result,

it helps customers to prevent themselves from purchasing new clothes and give the old clothes a second chance (Borusiak et al., 2020)

1.1.4 The necessary of purchasing second-hand cloth encouragement

According to the previous report's statistics, "consignment and thrift stores are growing widely at a rate of 5% per year to achieve the desired objective, this rate proves that more people are steadily rising the positive variation towards using second-hand clothes than ever before." (Fibre2fashion.com, 2008) Second-hand resale is anticipated to gain market share with an annual growth rate of 20 billion dollars in 2017 to 41 billion dollars

in 2022 The invasion of THREDUP, an American online resale platform to Europe in

2017, including Germany and Sweden, confirms the simultaneous growing need for second-hand apparel (Turner, 2017) Despite the lack of precise figures, it is estimated that it increased from 500 million euros to one billion euros in Germany (Weishaupt, 2017) Sweden is known as the second-hand paradise, and in addition to charity consignment stores, the online resale websites Tradera and Blocket are very popular (Raeed, 2017) The growing numbers ascertain the obvious fact that consumers are strongly encouraged to accompany and assist the advancement of reselling used clothes,

or they already have many concerns about the environmental impact of apparel or the fashion industry (Katharina et al, 2018) Regarding the categories in Viet Nam, through the report of Hàng Thùng Nguyên Kiện (2020) the second-hand product market had developed since 2016 and is growing stronger day by day with better quality and clothing’s store

1.1.5 The barriers of social and personal norms and psychological concerns to second-hand products consumption

Although purchasing second-hand clothing should be encouraged and appreciated, this habit will inevitably have certain drawbacks due to psychological barriers, and personal and social perspectives As a previous study has shown, second-hand product consumption is associated with more risk and can also impact acts on the customer's social status (Thomas, 2003) For example, most second-hand products do not have a warranty, after-sale service, or even any specific price value of the good This in turn can lead to customers feeling uncomfortable when purchasing second-hand products It might be because of the high involvement of risk or some other social reasons Additionally, some people are convinced that second-hand clothing seems of poor

quality, raises health issues, as well as is a social taboo (Sandes and Leandro, 2016) Most consumers are dissatisfied with their purchase decision since there is no proper size for them and buying clothes at a second-hand store is inconvenient Many clients enjoy new clothes second hand as they have never picked them up at a thrift store (Laitala and Klepp, 2018) Some consumers assume that second-hand clothes were perhaps unfractionated throughout their previous usage, and as a result, cannot have high expectations for these garments (Pretner, Darnall, Testa and Iraldo, 2021)

1.1.6 Approaching important factors to encourage the second-hand clothes consumption intention

The mentioned negative aspects of second-hand clothing consumption that we have indicated from the above section based on the previous studies include quality of clothes, easy-to-use infectious diseases, the anxiety of social stigma, and reduced social status

of people wearing or could be perceived as causing unconfidence to them, no warranty,

or after-sales service, and the lack of clothing size These are the main causes of hesitation among people who do not want to purchase second-hand or still get apprehensive feelings Therefore, to encourage them to use second-hand clothes, we need to point out and control the factor which affects the behaviour of purchasing second-hand clothes For instance, many people are becoming responsible for environmental problems, hence, they utilize second-hand clothes for environmental improvement, which can be a factor for second-hand shopping (Haraldsson and Peric, 2017) Moreover, certain people like using second-hand to find happiness through recreation by distinguishing their uniquely tailored style from the public (Guiot and Roux, 2010) Some people get sentimental delight and a deep connection among family members by swapping their used clothes rather than throwing them away (Guiot and Roux, 2010) Moreover, the majority of second-hand clothing is imported by developing countries, including Vietnam, and resold to residents at cheap prices This demonstrates that financial insecurity can be a factor in second-hand shopping These are some of the main factors that can impact the intention of consuming second-hand clothes

1.2 Problem statement

There are many theses about second-hand consumption behaviour For example, the research of Alam, (2014) considers that the intention of second-hand purchasing behaviour of customers is affected by five main variables which are brand, prices, risk,

and sell the location of goods Thus, in the report, he applied the theories of the brand,

price, risk, and seller location to present the customer’s second-hand purchasing

behaviour

Figure 1.1: Conceptual framework in research by Alam (2014)

In addition, the study of Athens Gerlauth (2011) applied Gutman's The Means-End Theory which showed consumer values were based on their intention (Gutman, 1982)

In detail, this research showed that the factors affecting the buying intention of hand clothes include sustainability and fashion lifestyle However, there are still a lack

second-of factors related to subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, personal norm, psychological consequences, and purchase intention Besides, this study is carried out

in the U.S which leads to the limitation of culture

Figure 1.2: Conceptual framework in research by Gerlaugh (2011)

According to those mentioned in the thesis, although they have pointed out some important factors to the second-hand product consumption behavioural intention of the customer, they still lack some constructs that will be intimated as follows In the report, Attitude towards second-hand clothing purchase (related to the environment) (ATE); Attitude toward the second-hand purchase (related to the individual) (ATI); Subjective norms (SN); Perceived behavioural control over second-hand clothing purchase (PBC); Personal norm regarding second-hand clothing purchase (PN); Purchase intention to buy (PITB) which will be appraised as the supplement factors affect the second-hand clothes consumption behavioral intention of the customer in our report

Indisputably, second-hand buying behavioral intention is essentially an effective factor

to the planned behaviour, a reasoned action that is motivated by one’s attitude towards that intention, the capacity to effectuate that in as well as the effects of social norms

Therefore, this behavioural intention can be explained through the theory of planned

behaviour Undoubtedly, the theory of planned behaviour was manipulated to illustrate

second-hand buying behaviour Nonetheless, there are no studies that appertain this model to research the general behavioural intention of second-hand clothes buying or the behavioural intention of acquiring second-hand attire in Vietnam particularly Likewise, the theory of planned behaviour has not been approved Many questions have been raised about the harmony and balance of parsimony and validity; whether a fully elaborated theory based on interpretation of the four concepts? For example, the theorists argue for focusing solely on rational arguments and ignoring incapacitated behavioural intention generally (Sheeran, Gollwitzer and Bargh, 2013), as well as the role of emotions in addition to emotional outcomes, predictive feelings, and so on (Conner, Gaston, Sheeran, and Germain, 2013) Furthermore, TPB's explanatory static nature makes it difficult to comprehend the proven impacts of behavioural intention that causes cognitive and behavioural difficulties (McEachan et al., 2011; Sutton, 1994).

Besides social norms, personal norms also affect behaviour, notably, based on the study

by (Borusiak et al., 2020), following one's personal norm is self-rewarding, and it is a direct predictor of prosocial behaviour When people act following their personal norms, they approach optimism Nevertheless, there is no effort in expanding the model when researching buying second-hand garments generally and purchasing second-hand apparel in particular

1.3 Scope

1.3.1 Research context

Although the field of green consumption includes many areas of green credit for individuals, businesses sponsored by banks currently belong to a group of 6 areas: Green consumption (purchase of energy-saving household appliances) has a 3-star or higher energy certification label or an electric vehicle); renewable energy (investment in solar battery systems), agriculture (investment in upgrading irrigation systems and farming methods); construction sector (investing in projects using environmentally friendly building materials); textile sector; greenhouse (buying an apartment on the list of green buildings), this study will focus mainly on the field of the fashion industry, more specifically, the consumption behaviour of second-hand clothes for several main reasons

as follows Firstly, because of economic and ecological reasons, customers are now

more interested in second-hand products, rather than new products (Guiot and Roux, 2010) After the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries fell into a difficult situation such as many stores being temporarily closed or bankrupt causing unemployment, leading to a lack of money, food, and clothing Consequently, people who do not have the economic ability to purchase new products began to change their lifestyles, habits, and styles of buying second-hand clothing which has cheaper prices and good quality as same as virgin clothes (Mayer, 2003) Secondly, the consumption

of second-hand garments also contributes to building sustainable and environmentally friendly criteria, reflecting the message of diversifying solutions to protect the environment, and combating waste in the fashion industry

1.4.2 Research objective

• Investigating the relationship between using second-hand clothing intention of Vietnamese customers in millennials and Gen Z generation and eight factors including Attitude towards second-hand clothing purchase (related to the environment); Attitude towards the second-hand purchase (related to the individual); Subjective norm; Perceived behavioral control over second-hand clothing purchase; Personal norm regarding second-hand clothing purchase

• How second-hand clothes influence the environment

intention

• Evaluating the situation of second-hand clothes consumption intention in Viet Nam based on a behavioral and psychological perspective of Vietnamese youngsters

customers

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Theoretical Background

Previous studies have shown that there is a consequential relationship between a person's beliefs and their consumption intention, which is important research in social psychology The reasoned action approach has furnished one of the most prominent endowments to figuring attitudes and forecasting intentions Specifically, this theory builds on the theory of reasoned action presumed by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) and is based on Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (1985, 1991) Thanks to these two special theories of the reasoned approach form the basis for the advance of strategies to affect intention (Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010) A fundamental concept of the two theories is that there is a psychological procedure by which beliefs of individuals from performing an action that will ultimately set up their intention Where the intention is the central structure of these two theories and is a motivational variable, it directs an individual's proficiency to scheme and implant endeavour in pursuing a behavior

The theory of reasoned action is the first version of psychological research on the relationship between attitudes and behaviour An attitude is defined as "a situation of eagerness to function." In other words, a person's actions are invariant to his or her attitude Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) discerned two types of attitudes toward the goal of what they perceive: (1) attitudes toward a non-behavioural as a common object, people, organization, or concept, and (2) attitudes toward a performing behaviour Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) when resembling these two attitudes consider that the attitude towards performing a particular behavioural intention is a more exact clairvoyant of an individual's performance and, therefore, this type of attitude is declared in the theory of reasoned action Specifically, this attitude is based on the value-expectation attitude model and initiated by explicit beliefs about the possibility of typical consequences resulting from performing a behaviour Furthermore, any other variable that influences intention has an indirect effect that must be justified by the attitudinal, normative, or both components In summary, the theory of reasoned action states that an individual

intends to execute a behaviour when they develop a favourable attitude toward their performance and assume that their influential factors endorse such behaviour.

In addition, in the late 1980s, when Ajzen (1985, 1991) discovered that behaviours might not be in the individual's complete control, he later extended the theory of reasoned action to include the third determinant of behavioural intention called "perceived behavioural control" Bandura, (1986) suggested that cognitive-behavioural control is similar to self-efficacy structure In detail, this variable relates to the degree to which an individual perceives that he or she is capable of performing a particular behaviour This also represents another belief-based construct in which an individual's sense of competence is shaped by their beliefs about factors that facilitate or hinder the performance of a behaviour The addition of cognitive-behavioral control led to the development of the theory of planned behaviour According to this theory, behavioral intentions are rationally and directly motivated by three belief-based constructs namely attitude (attitudinal belief), subjective norms (normative belief), and behavioral control (control belief) that an individual holds about behavioral intention and related situational factors

Figure 2.1: Theory of reasoned action/planned behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen,

1975; Ajzen, 1985, 1991)

Nevertheless, the theory still has some limitations which will be discussed in detail as follows First of all, four explanatory concepts (behavioural control, subjective norms, attitudes, and intention) are insufficient to elaborate the theory of all volitional behaviour For example, the theory has been chastised for focusing solely on rational reasoning and ignoring unconscious behavioural influences (Sheeran, Gollwitzer and Bargh, 2013) as well as the importance of emotions beyond expected effective results (Conner, Gaston, Sheeran, andGermain, 2013) Moreover, the static explanatory nature

of the TPB makes it difficult to comprehend the proven consequences of conduct on cognitions and future behavioural intention (McEachan et al., 2011; Sutton, 1994) In addition, the primary concern of the TPB is its validity To be more specific, the measurement of TPB cannot present the majority of variability in observed behaviour Especially, the “inclined abstainers” who have the intention to act and eventually quit out to take action that is highlight the disadvantages of TPB (Orbell and Sheeran, 1998)

Another issue to be concerned about TPB is the utility of this theory In the 1970s, TRA suggested a wonderful way that intention does not reflect mere attitudes, but explains measures (including subjective norms), new research designs, and contributions to the novelty of knowledge Three decades later, TPB has not only lost its utility but also has failed to provide practitioners with useful interventions The theory itself is not consistent with empirical tests and does not provide meaningful explanatory hypotheses compared with other popular theories (Sutton, 2002) As a result, TPB has been worsened to perform comparative tests of two reasonably competing hypotheses against each other

Generally, although the TPB is a successful and practical theory to analyze the behavioral intention of customers, it still has some limitations as mentioned above Therefore, in the thesis, researchers will use the TPB as the original theory and fill up more potential factors that affect the consumption behavioral intention of the customers

2.2 Literature review

2.2.1 Factors that impact second-hand products purchasing behaviour

In the thesis of Jiao (2015), the researcher applied a qualitative research strategy with a semi-structured interview method to deeper understanding of the second-hand consumption behavioral intention of customers However, before getting the data by interviewing the participants, questionnaires were used to ask questions related to the frequency of checking information about second-hand products on websites and the factors that influenced them to buy the product which help the authors get a broader picture of the topic of research To be more specific, purposive sampling was employed

to conduct 106 respondents for the survey result and 10 interviewees Although the sampling method helps the author to determine the selected participant who can give the result as the searcher’s expectation, the method will be biased and it lacks an honesty of answer (Wrench et al., 2013, p.322) According to the study’s results of both qualitative data and quantitative data, the researcher considered there were six factors for second-

hand product purchasing behavioral intention on social media There are economic

reasons, recreational reasons, critical reasons, convenience, trust, and product information.

It can be seen clearly that the factors mentioned below impact the majority of the customer’s second-hand consumption behaviour, however, there are still not enough to make customers decide to use second-hand products It will be better to investigate the psychological and behavioral perspectives of customers, likely the personal norm, society norm, purchase intention to buy as well as environmental factors In addition, the researcher was self-aware that it would be better if there were a larger sample size and sample frame Moreover, only using quantitative data will help researchers have more possibility to generalize the data

Figure 2.2: Conceptual framework in research by Jiao (2015)

This study of the research of Seo et al., (2019) focused on studying beliefs that contribute

to second-hand fashion consumers' attitudes White theory applied is the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) that has guided the formation and enhancement of the concept

to be explored Data was collected from 287 thrift shoppers via an online survey to test the beliefs of second-hand fashion clients (including the environment, frugality, and non-profit thrift stores) to consumers' attitudes It also helped to examine the relationships between attitude, subjective norms (SN), perceived behavioural control (PBC), and purchase intention for second-hand fashion at non-profit thrift stores Ajzen (1991) considers that consumer decision-making is difficult and a complicated process

As mentioned earlier, the theory of the Planned Behaviour model (TPB) is widely used

to understand the behavioural intention of buyers, assuming that their behavioural intention is not spontaneous but pre-planned (Smith and McSweeney, 2007) Theory of Planned Behaviour posits that attitude towards behaviour, subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioural control (PBC) are the 3 main factors affecting consumer intention and behaviour Similarly, it is assumed that purchase intention at non-profit thrift stores

is also derived from the above three premises (Ajzen, 1991) The TPB theoretical model further explains that consumers' beliefs about behaviours influence their attitudes towards those intentions (Ajzen, 1991; De Groot and Steg, 2007; Pagiaslis and Kronalis, 2014) Based on the TPB model, this previous study considers and makes an important

decision that consumer beliefs affect consumers' attitudes toward buying second-hand fashion at non-profit thrift stores The obtained results showed that environmental and consumer beliefs related to non-profit thrift stores influenced positive attitudes, having the most significant influence on purchase intention Furthermore, the subjective norms (SN) factor also indirectly affects purchase intention through impact on attitude.

However, this study still has many limitations that need to be overcome The first is that the study used convenience sampling, with results found to only come from non-profit thrift stores in the US, so it cannot represent or represent all the common thoughts and experiences of typical US shoppers Therefore, more future studies are needed to investigate aspects related to customer psychology and behavioral intention towards the purchase of second-hand goods Secondly, this research is limited in the type of product when not focusing on exploiting a single product type in fashion but exploiting the whole second-hand fashion industry, although the product types are known to be one of the leading factors affecting consumers' consumption intention (Beatty and Smith, 1987)

Figure 2.3: Conceptual framework in research by Seo, M J., and Kim, M (2019)

The study of five researchers including Barbara Borusiak, Andrzej Szymkowiak, Elena Horska, Natalia Raszka, and El̇zbieta Żelichowska, (2020) investigated the second-hand buying intentions in three main Polish cities: Poznan, Warsaw, and Katowice from December 2018 to January 2019 on the convenience sample of 333 respondents, in which there are 72.9% female and 27.1% male The average age of the sample was 24.3, 55.6% lived in cities with populations of more than 500,000 people and 57.9% people said their financial position was good or very good The sample size of this research is

300 observations The theoretical basis of this research is the TPB model, from which researchers apply extended TBP to determine the factors affecting second-hand buying intentions They are (1) Attitude toward the positive impact of SHB on sustainable consumption, (2) Subjective norms regarding SHB, (3) Perceived behavioural control over SHB, (4) Personal norms regarding SHB, (5) Awareness of the consequences of SHB for the environment, (6) Ascription of responsibility for the environmental issues, (7) SHP purchase intention and (8) Intention to visit a second-hand shop The outcomes

of this research showed that the attitude about the favorable influence of SHB on sustainable consumption, as well as the perceived behavioral control over SHB and the personal norm on SHB, are all positively related to SHB intention SHB intention is negatively correlated with subjective SHB norms The personal norm towards SHB is positively associated with an awareness of the consequences of SHB and the attribution

of responsibility for environmental concerns The intention to buy second-hand items (SHP) is positively related to the intention to visit a second-hand shop However, this research still had several limitations Firstly, it is only carried out in three Polish cities Secondly, there is a big gap between genders (72.9% of answers were delivered by women and only 27.1% by men), therefore, the result cannot be representative of young customers Thirdly, the research had not mentioned the research model for specified products (for example, used cars, used pieces of furniture, second-hand high-fashion clothes, or used electronics), therefore, it is difficult to create a campaign to encourage customers to buy second-hand products Lastly, this research did not mention psychological consequences, which is also one of the important factors influencing second-hand buying intentions

Figure 2.4: Conceptual framework in research by Borusiak et al., (2020)

2.2.2 Factors that impact second-hand clothes purchasing intention

This previous study, based on the views from different generations of Chinese people to have more acknowledgement about the consumption intention of second-hand clothing and the influences from three core factors, also known as independent variables, including perceived values, perceived concerns and descriptive norms on consumers' buying intentions The research sample of 350 Chinese consumers from four generational groups born after 60, after 70, after 80, and after 90 via a snowball sampling technique A rather form of the theory proposed by Inglehart (1977), the Generational Cohort Theory, indicated that in groups of individuals who have shared political, economic, and socio-cultural events during adulthood, there is a high probability that they have many similarities in terms of values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours (Strauss and Howe, 1991) This helps to identify the main factors that create a unique identity and greatly influence the values, preferences, beliefs, attitudes, expectations and habits, and behaviours of consumption throughout the lifetime of that generation (Schewe and Meredith, 2004) Besides Generational Cohort Theory, Xu et al (2014) also constructed the concept according to the theoretical framework of Planned Behaviour (TPB), which

is related to the factors affecting the consumer's purchase intention for second-hand clothes It can be seen that the consumer's intention to buy second-hand clothes, which

is a dependent variable, is influenced by the independent variables consisting of their interests/values, concerns, and subjective norms The benefits received include (a) the economic value gained from cheaper second-hand clothing; (b) the hedonistic value of treasure hunting; (c) uniqueness created by product attributes, and (d) environmental value achieved by reducing consumption of new products Accordingly, the final results concluded that Chinese consumers, in general, are strongly opposed to buying second-hand clothes The biggest difference in opinions and beliefs of the four generations is the fact that the generation of people born after 70 years is vehemently resistant to buying second-hand garments However, the younger age groups followed by the 80s and 90s perceive good value and are more likely to purchase second-hand apparel Besides, each generation is also persuaded by different motivations for consuming second-hand clothes

However, some of the limitations in this study can be mentioned such as the constraint stemming from the snowball sampling method, which may not represent the perspective

of the majority of consumers who did not participate in the survey and it is also difficult

to control for a sufficient number of subjects for each generation group studied

Figure 2.5: Conceptual framework in research by Liang, J., and Xu, Y (2017)

The study of Hur (2020) is about the market's second-hand clothing consumption values and consumers' perceived risk dimensions that can help retailers and marketers construct

a more personalized retailing and promotional strategy This research applied an empirical semi-qualitative approach to explore attitudes, values, and risk perceptions about second-hand clothing consumption among 134 second-hand clothing customers and 138 non-second-hand clothing consumers in the United Kingdom The MEC model (Gutman, 1982) and Schwartz's 10 value domains (Schwartz, 2012) were used in this study to gain a better understanding of the motivating values held by SHC and non-SHC consumers By including objective methods for the collecting and evaluation of qualitative data, the MEC model can assist overcome some of the difficulties with quantitative methods (Hines and O'neal, 1995) The MEC includes (1) product attributes (A): concrete attributes (CA) and abstract attributes (AA) (Gutman, 1982; Overby et al., 2005); (2) consequences of product use (C): functional consequence (FC), personal or psychological consequence (PC) and social consequence (SC) (Overby et al., 2005); and (3) the personal values (V) related to the product use: instrumental value (IV) and terminal value (TV) (Rokeach, 1973) The result of this research showed that five factors including economic, self-expressive, hedonic, environmental, and social contribution values were identified as the top five values among used apparel buyers Besides, non-second-hand clothing consumers were concerned about wearing used clothing because

of perceived poor product quality and cleanliness, limitations in the degree of possible self-enhancement and self-expression, and a perceived social image of the clothes as low-class and having low social acceptance However, there are some limitations of this research Firstly, this study focuses mostly on SHC consumer values, leaving out non-SHC consumers' perceptions of the dangers and barriers to SHC use Secondly, this research is conducted in the UK, which is not scalable Lastly, the study did not mention the purchasing second-hand clothing intention of participants in the future

Figure 2.6: Conceptual framework in research by Eunsuk Hur (2020)

Regarding others, the study of Te et al., (2021) research also investigates the preference for purchasing second-hand clothes of people who live in Digos city of Philipin In the quantitative research, convenience sampling was used for 150 customers of second-hand clothing from different stores in Digos City to know what factors affect them to buy the products The study was based on the theories of the brand, price, risk, and seller location

of Alam (2014) to examine With the result of the study, they pointed out there are six factors including age, gender, income, price, risk, brand, and location that influenced the preference of customers in purchasing second-hand clothes while demographic factors (age, sex, income) is the independent variable which impacts to the customer’s preference in price, risk, brand and seller location of second-hand clothing

The mentioned factors can contribute to the second-hand clothing consumption of customers; however, they are not enough to determine the intention of customers It can

be seen clearly that they did not consider the behavioral and psychological factors of customers In addition, the study mainly focuses on the demographic factor to investigate the purchasing of second-hand products of customers and choosing people who have experience in buying second-hand clothes for the sample Therefore, it will

be a limitation of motivation to encourage other customers who do not have experience

in the area to use second-hand clothes in the future

Figure 2.7: Conceptual framework in research by Te et al., (2021)

2.2.3 Research Gap

Table 2.1: Summary of factors influencing the intention to purchase second-hand in

general and second-hand clothing in particular

environment, Frugality and profit thrift store

Second-hand

clothing

Economic value; Environmental value; Uniqueness

second-hand clothing: Shop at a thrift store;

Adopt from family members and friends

post-70s; post-80s; post-90s

Gender; Income

• Customer preferences: Price; Risk;

Value; Brand; Location

(Liang et al., 2017 ; Hur,2020; Te AIgnacio SIbraheem Z et al., 2021)

It can be argued below that although previous studies have considered factors related to customers' subjective judgments and evaluations (price, benefits, risks, costs, convenience, etc.) impact on buying intention, specifically there have been studies using behavioral theory However, the research review also shows that besides the cognitive factors, there are also emotional factors affecting second-hand buying intention (psychological factors) The theory of planned behavior has also been criticized for only focusing on rational factors while emotions can also affect intention In addition, the static explanatory nature of the TPB makes it difficult to comprehend the proven consequences of conduct on cognitions and future intention (McEachan et al., 2011; Sutton, 1994) the measurement of TPB cannot present the majority of variability in observed intention Especially, the “inclined abstainers” who have the intention to act and eventually quit out to take action that highlights disadvantages of TPB (Orbell and Sheeran, 1998) Therefore, this study will supplement and extend the theory of planned behaviour by adding emotional variables to provide a more comprehensive view of second-hand buying intention Besides, with the characteristics of second hand second-hand personal use and environmental impact, this study will add relevant variables to consider second-hand buying intention from two angles: the intention of buying a common product and the intention of protecting the environment.

2.3 Hypothesis development

Attitude towards intention is a person's positive or negative evaluation of his or her

performance in a specific intention The notion refers to the degree to which an intention's performance is positively or negatively valued In the articles about Second-Hand Buying Intentions by Barbara et al (2020), researchers also use attitude toward intention to find out the positive attitude of consumers toward purchasing second-hand clothing purchasing intention, attitude towards intention is considered in two related aspects: attitude towards second-hand clothing purchase related to the environment (ATE) and attitude towards second-hand purchase related to the individual (ATI) Attitude toward second-hand clothing purchase related to the environment (ATE) means that environmental factors and problems affect second-hand clothing purchasing attitude Besides, attitude toward the second-hand purchase related to the individual

(ATI) is considered as second-hand clothing purchasing attitude is influenced by personal factors such as emotion, financial problems, and so on The relationship between attitudes and intention was affirmed in the research of Ajzen in 1991 As a result, there are two hypotheses of attitude toward second-hand clothing purchases:

Hypothesis 1 (H1) Attitude toward second-hand clothing purchases related to the environment (ATE) positively affects customer's intention to purchase second- hand clothes.

Hypothesis 2 (H2) Attitude towards the second-hand purchase related to the individual (ATI) positively affects customer's intention to purchase second-hand clothes

In terms of the Subjective norm which is the perceived social pressure to influence

purchase intention In other words, it is the individual's perspective of what others think about certain conduct (Ajzen, 1991) According to TPB, people are more motivated to acquire used goods if they believe that their friends would expect and/or approve of them It is important to mention that these perceptions may not reflect others' true feelings However, a person's opinions may influence how she or he views another's subjective standards In our study, we assume that the second-hand clothing consumption intentions of Vietnamese millennials and Gen Z are partly affected by others’ perceptions Therefore, we have the third hypothesis as follows:

Hypothesis 3 (H3) Subjective norms (SN) positively affect customer's intention to purchase second-hand clothes

Besides the two factors mentioned above, in the theoretical model of planned behavior,

there are also other factors, namely Perceived behavioral control (PBC) Ajzen, (2002)

supposed that perceived behavioral control (PBC) illustrates not only an individual's perception of how easy or difficult it is to perform any given intention but also reflects

a person's perception of how likely they are to access the resources or opportunities needed for certain intention, such as their access to time, money, etc., or their confidence

in performing the intention (Ajzen, 1991; Taylor and Todd, 1995) Therefore, if the theory states that a person's attitude is more positive, the subjective norm related to the

intention and the ability to control the perceived behaviour will also be more likely to show a higher intention to perform that intention (Ajzen, 1991) Thus, controlling consumers' perceived behaviour toward buying second-hand clothes will also positively affect their purchase intention (Borusiak et al., 2020) If consumers think that second-hand clothing is expensive, they will choose to buy other traditional clothing products instead (Joergens, 2006) Although consumers have quite positive attitudes towards wearing or using second-hand clothes, they do not always purchase products under the influence of PBC (e.g., location, time, capability) (Mandese, 1991) PBC is not only an important factor influencing the change of attitude or intention, but it is also related to beliefs, which are considered a core resource to make decisions (Armitage and Talibudeen, 2010; Ajzen and Madden, 1986) On the other hand, Roberts (1996) argues that PBC still positively affects consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions When consumers of second-hand clothing think that others refuse to buy a good, they will encounter psychological barriers to engaging in this intention, negatively affecting their ability to control their perceived behavior (Kim and Karpova, 2010) Therefore, this study suggests that the higher the PBC, the higher the intention to buy second-hand garments Hence, this research persists to assemble a fourth hypothesis that is:

Hypothesis 4 (H4) Perceived behavioral control over second-hand clothing purchase (PBC) negatively affects customer's intention to purchase second-hand clothes

Besides TPB, another integrated model, Norm Activation Model (NAM), will provide more clarity on the consumption intention of second-hand clothes of young consumers According to Lindenberg and Steg (2007), while undertaking environmental protection, the mindset of each individual is encouraged to practice moral conduct and is guided by judgments about the right or wrong opinions depending on personal thoughts or other people Moral obligation is defined as a personal norm that an individual is willing to perform a certain action based on his or her personability or obligation, self-expectations, sanctions, and obligations stemming from the intrinsic values of the Normative Activation Model (NAM) Therefore, starting with the NAM, this study also uses the concept of the personal norm because acting on one's positive positions

Furthermore, prior research has mainly utilized the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)

to forecast intention to use second-hand apparel In addition, a few previous studies have also shown that individual standards have an impact on consumer intention Hwang's study (2015) also reflects ethical obligations and consumer intentions for clothing products concerning purchasing intentions organic fabrics or commercially labelled products generated from recycled materials are positively correlated with each other In addition, Wynveen and Sutton (2015) also researched green consumption and found that individuals have a great sense of obligation when contributing to mitigating climate change to protect coral reefs’ ecosystem reef consuming energy-efficient green products and growing more plants These shreds of evidence partly confirm that people with clear personal norms are more likely to buy and experience eco-friendly second-hand products as it shows a sense of morality For the above reasons, we will deliver personal standards norms about second-hand garments consumption to explain the intention of Vietnamese millennials and Gen Z consumers with the fifth hypothesis as follows:

Hypothesis 5 (H5) Personal norms regarding second-hand clothing purchase (PN) negatively affect customer's intention to purchase second-hand clothes

The psychological consequence also significantly affects the intention of customers It

is significantly necessary to understand and predict intention, particularly the change of intention by psychological factors As an example, in the planned behaviour (TPB), some psychological factors mentioned were the intention, attitude, norm, and perceived behavioral control (Neighbor, 2013) In addition, with the theory of the MEC model (Olson and Reynolds, 1983), psychological factors determine the direct impact on the value of the customer when they purchase something According to the research of Overby et al., (2005), the psychological consequence (PC) is determined as the customer’s self-image power with symbolic significance In addition, the psychological consequences can show the feeling of a product’s characteristics and quality on both two sides: benefits and drawbacks (Haghighi, M and Jusan, 2011) In addition, the factor also contributes to the intention of customers in purchasing second-hand clothes One clear example is that customers can feel unique for wearing the clothes, or satisfied with the good financial decision for buying sound-hand clothes While some customers can

feel happy to help the environment by buying second-hand clothes, others feel unpleasant because of poor and unclear second-hand clothes (Hur, 2020) The relationship between psychological consequences and consumption intention has been affirmed by a previous study, namely, people with a favourite of creative characteristics and the oneness of products tend to buy second-hand goods instead of new products ubiquitous (Roberts et al., 2015) Consequently, with the above-discussed ideas, the next formulated hypothesis is that:

Hypothesis 6 (H6) Psychological consequences (PC) positively affect customer's intention to purchase second-hand clothes

Figure 2.8: Conceptual model of the research

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Sampling method

In the research, the time horizon is cross-sectional because it took seven months (October 2021 - April 2022) to do the research, additionally, the data was collected in March of 2022 With the objective of the research for millennials and gen Z as well as ethic issues, the range of age that researchers conducted in the study are from 18 to 46

In addition, all of the data collecting processes are based on an online and offline questionnaire with the non-probability sampling method Although the non-sampling method cannot guarantee the selectivity of probability, it helps researchers prevent the high bias results that lead to the equal opportunity for every probability (Cho, Dutta and Shim, 2017)

In the process of collecting data, both online and offline surveys are used for the thesis With the offline survey, the participant will get an introduction to the research before doing the survey and it is a voluntary contribution of respondents Regarding sampling for the survey research, all of the online-based questionnaires were launched via social media such as Facebook, Zalo, Weverse, and Instagram, thus, it is extremely convenient for participants because they can complete and submit the survey in any kind of situation via their internet devices Since this study focuses on the intention of consuming second-hand garments, the expected sampling target of the thesis is Vietnamese who are Gen Z and millennials who are clients that purchase second-hand clothes and others who have not bought these kinds of clothes before The population is all Vietnamese who live in every city and province of Vietnam

In our study, the non-probability sampling method seems to be the most reasonable due

to budget and time constraints as well as the infinite population (Etikan et al., 2016) The offline questionnaires were randomly distributed to the most potential subjects, including millennials or Gen Z who are Vietnamese and are living in Vietnam During the analysis of the structural equation model and exploratory factors, the sample size of the survey will reach at least 200 respondents, if possible, ten times the total number of

sub-categories in the measurement variables (Hair et al., 2006) Since the number of sub-categories in the measurement variable for this study is 23, we aim for a minimum sample size of 260 Thus, the initial sample size for the study was 520 This number is calculated based on predicting response rates in the 50-60% range and other necessary criteria for quantitative data analysis However, during the data collecting process, some participants did not answer all questions in paper-based surveys which led to the reduction of the valid survey results Generally, the sample size of the researcher is 341

to buy second-hand apparels The detailed questionnaire is presented in Appendix

With the specific variables presented previously in Hypothesis development, the scales

of Vietnamese youth's second-hand clothing consumption intention to purchase have been investigated by previous studies Specifically, with the first two attitude-related variables, the first is about environmental attitudes (ATE) and the second is about the attitude of individuals (ATI) with each of them including three sub-categories (Valle, Rebelo, Reis and Menezes, 2016) In addition, subjective norms (SN) include five small variables: friends, family, importance and people, and positive and negative impacts from society on buying intention of second-hand clothing (Joshi and Rahman, 2017;

Vermeir and Verbeke, 2008; Sandes and Leandro, 2016) The perceived behaviour control (PBC) and personal norms (PN) variables were both studied by Shin et al (2018) including three (location, self-determination, time) and four (obligations, moral principles, personal values, the individual perspective of wealth or poverty) sub-categories respectively Interestingly, there is a new variable that has been proposed a lot in previous research papers, which will be researched in this study, which is Psychological consequences (PC) formed from originality, satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and happiness (Jägel et al., (2012); Stern et al., (1995), Bly et al., 2015; Overby et al., (2005)

Figure 3.1: Measurement items that were used in the questionnaire

Constructs Items in English Sources

Attitude towards

second-hand clothing purchase

ATE.2 Second-hand clothing purchases can slow down the tempo of exhaustion of natural resources

ATE.3 Second-hand clothing purchase helps minimize environmental degradation

Attitude towards the

ATI.2 Using second-hand clothing still makes me confident

ATI.3 Using second-hand clothing is still fashionable

wear second-hand clothing

Inspired by the author and applied from (Joshi

et al., 2017; Vermeir et al., 2008; Sandes et al., 2016)

SN.2 My family expects me

to use second-hand clothingSN.3 Most people who are important to me think that I should buy second-hand clothing

SN.4 Using second-hand clothing is encouraged in the society

SN.5 Many people consider that using second-hand clothing is taboo in society

buying second-hand clothes

PBC.3 I have enough time to choose second-hand clothes when I have to buy clothes

Personal norm regarding

second-hand clothing

purchase (PN)

PN.1 I believe I have a moral obligation to choose second-hand clothes when I have to buy something

Inspired by the author and applied by (Shin et

al 2018)

PN.2 Choosing second-hand clothes is consistent with my moral principles

PN.3 My personal values encourage me to choose second-hand clothes when I have to buy something

Psychological

consequences (PC)

PC.1 I would feel unique and creative when I wear second-hand clothing

Inspired by the author and applied from (Jägel

et al., 2012;

Stern et al., 1995), Bly et

al (2015), (Overby et al., 2005),

PC.2 I would feel satisfied with my good financial decision when I buy second-hand clothing

PC.3 Second-hand clothing purchase makes me happy for my support of the environment