The Determinants of Chinese Consumers’ Purchase Intention Toward Second-Hand Clothing: The Attitude–Purchase Intention Relationship and Its Boundary Conditions

Abstract

In China, second-hand clothing consumption has attracted increasing attention as a potential means of promoting more sustainable and low-carbon consumption in response to persistent overconsumption and environmentally harmful consumption practices. Although consumers’ sustainability awareness is gradually increasing, understanding how favorable attitudes toward second-hand clothing translate into purchase intentions re-mains important, particularly in the Chinese sociocultural context. This study examines the relationship between Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward second-hand clothing and their purchase intentions and further investigates the moderating roles of face-saving and celebrity role model influence. The results indicate that more favorable attitudes toward second-hand clothing are positively associated with purchase intention. However, face-saving weakens this positive attitude–purchase intention relationship, such that the association is weaker among consumers with higher levels of face-saving. Additionally, celebrity role model influence further conditions this moderating relationship by weakening the negative moderating effect of face-saving on the attitude–purchase intention relationship. Furthermore, the significant three-way interaction provides preliminary evidence that celebrity role model influence attenuates the negative moderating effect of face-saving on the attitude–purchase intention relationship. Given the relatively small effect size of the three-way interaction, this finding should be interpreted cautiously and warrants independent replication in future research. By incorporating culturally salient variables into the attitude–purchase intention relationship, this study extends the literature on sustainable consumption by highlighting how sociocultural factors shape the association between attitudes and purchase intentions in the Chinese context.