Why are style subscriptions popular with Gen-Y men? An implicit theory perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe primary purpose of this study was to investigate Gen-Y men's implicit beliefs, perceptions of their appearance and apparel styling, degree of fashion involvement, novelty seeking behavior and attitudes/intention toward the new style subscription box retail model.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was used to collect data from adult men who were born between 1977 and 1994 residing in the USA. For data analyses, SPSS and AMOS were utilized for preliminary analysis and hypotheses testing with the structural equation modeling approach.FindingsThe findings of this research demonstrated that Gen-Y men's appearance management behaviors are guided by their innate mindsets or implicit theories, which further influenced their perceptions toward fashion and style subscriptions. Although Gen-Y men's degree of fashion involvement did not have a significant influence on their attitudes, this study found that their novelty seeking behavior positively influenced their attitudes and thus their intention to use style subscription box retail.Originality/valueTo the researchers' knowledge, this study is the first to explore the role of innate mindsets among male consumers in the Gen-Y group in the context of style subscription box retail. Therefore, the findings of the research will add theoretically grounded insights by linking the research area of the style subscription box retail and implicit theory appearance, as well as provide marketing strategies for style subscription box retailers.