Investigating internal motivation in sustainable fashion consumption: attitude towards recycled and upcycled products

ABSTRACT

Growing environmental consciousness, especially regarding resource availability and waste levels, has heightened concerns about waste management. Recycling and upcycling movements have resurged due to these factors. Sustainable clothing consumption, in particular, offers an eco-friendly way to maximise the utility of waste materials, creating new, improved products. Understanding consumer behaviour and intentions in recycling and upcycling, especially in sectors like fashion, wood, and plastics, is vital. Consumer recycling and upcycling efforts face challenges due to the perceived effort involved, known as the ‘attitude-behavior’ gap. To address this gap, this research employs motivation theory and Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to propose a framework. The study’s results support all hypotheses in the initial model, indicating its effectiveness in explaining the link between internal motivation, attitude, and intention. This insight can help identify factors influencing attitudes and purchase decisions, allowing for targeted strategies in the green consumer market and influencing buying habits.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable consumption
• recycle
• upcycle
• internal motivation
• purchase intention

Acknowledgment

The authors thank all fellow research advisees for all directions and for any scientific guidance on this study. This study was not funded by any other organisation. Also, thanks to all authors who contributed to the study's conception. The final manuscript was read and approved by all writers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee (Date. 21 March 2023/No. 2792-KEPK).

Informed consent

This study already confirmed that informed consent was obtained from all participants and/or their legal guardians. Conflict of Interest: The writers state that they are not involved in any conflict of interest.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.