Determinants of Online Collaborative Consumption Behavior: The Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action in the Context of Apparel

Recently, collaborative consumption (CC) is impacting the fashion industry with emerging companies such as Rent the Runway and ThredUp. As such, various mainstream retailers (e.g., Patagonia, Ann Taylor) are beginning to change the way they do business in order to account for the growing popularity of collaborate consumption (CC). Keyes (2018) reported that growth in the resale market is expected to increase 15% between 2017 and 2022, which is notably higher than the 2% expected growth for total retail in same period. Given the aforementioned trends, the current study employs the theory of reasoned action(TRA) as a theoretical underpinning to explore the impact of consumers’ collaborative consumption motivations on their intentions to engage in online collaborative consumption for apparel products. The study’s results provide interesting insights into the relationships among consumers’ CC motivations, attitudes toward CC, subjective norms, and intentions to engage in online CC.