Does Social Media Moderates Factors that Influence Perceived Value and Personal Value on Purchase Intention of Modest Apparel?

Abstract

Muslim women are huge target market that fashion industry just cannot afford to ignore. As fashion evolves, the industry had witnessed an evolution in the way of how Muslim women dressed. Donning modern apparel but at the same time still adhering to the strict requirement of covering ones ‘aurat’ had created modest apparel segment that could not to be ignored by fashion industry players due to the increasing demand from that growing niche market. The purpose of this study is to find out the factors that influence Muslim women to purchase modest apparel and whether social media has any influence towards their purchase decision. Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership are elements that represent the consumer Perceived Value while Fashion Consciousness and Fashion Motivation are elements representing the consumer’s Personal Value are the factors that this study is looking at. The finding from this study will benefit marketers and industry players to understand more about this newly emerging segment and how to attract them. This study was carried out via convenience sampling of Muslim women in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as Malaysia has more than 60 percent Muslim population. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 and Smart PLS 3. Fashion innovativeness was found not to have significant effect towards modest apparel purchase intention and social media does not moderate these factors to influence Malaysian Muslim women purchase attention at the moment.