The Effects of Construal Level Theory on Marketing Communication about Sustainable Fashion.

Abstract

The recent increase of low-cost fashion production has severe negative impacts on our environment. Consumers often are aware of this, yet largely refrain from purchasing sustainably-produced fashion. This study examined how Construal Level Theory could be employed to increase consumers’ attitude towards sustainable-fashion and purchase intention of sustainable-fashion. This theory suggests that consumers think in psychologically close (low construal) and psychologically distant (high construal) levels. Consumers are thought to think in a low construal level when shopping, which was confirmed by a pre-test. Five slogans containing a low vs. high construal element, minimizing psychological distance and containing the elements low-high vs. high-low have been constructed to assess the use of construal level in marketing communication. None of the slogans showed a significant effect on attitude towards and purchase int! ention of sustainable-fashion. Other factors such as temporal orientation of the consumers were looked at, and significant effects were found. This implies that Construal Level Theory might not be a useful tool to change consumers attitude towards and purchase intention of sustainable-fashion, yet might impact other factors that can potentially be useful in marketing communication.