Perceived ease of use and usefulness of sustainability labels on apparel products: application of the technology acceptance model

Abstract

This study explores consumers’ perceptions of sustainability labels on apparel products and examines sustainability labels as an effective means of determining consumers’ purchase intentions, using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the foundation. Data were collected via self-administered web-based surveys from 903 randomly selected shoppers throughout the United States (U.S.). Findings validated that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes, and purchase intention were associated with consumers’ use of sustainability labels. Within those four variables, sustainability label users exhibited significantly higher scores than non-label users, though the path relationships among those variables were not different between the two groups. This study is one of the first to use TAM to understand how consumers perceive and use sustainability labels for apparel products. Through this application, label reading behaviour is viewed similarly to how consumers use new informational sources for their decision making process. The findings provide practical implications for business marketers and managers of sustainability apparel products. As this study focused on sustainability labels and apparel product shopping among U.S. consumers, it may be limited to apply findings to other product categories and may be limited to consumers outside the U.S.