Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Human Environmental Science (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

General Human Environmental Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Cho, Eunjoo

Committee Member

Cheramie, Lance M.

Second Committee Member

Doss, William

Keywords

Apparel; Consumer behavior; Sustainability; Willingness to pay

Abstract

In recent years, consumers have become highly aware of the environmental impact of their purchases, specifically of apparel products. Accordingly, apparel brands have increasingly focused on enhancing the sustainability of their product offerings to attract environmentally conscious consumers and elevate their brand image (Dangelico et al., 2022). Furthermore, most sustainably produced products are priced higher for consumers compared to standard alternatives (Elmanadily & El-Deeb, 2022). Research has shown that consumers can accept higher prices for products that do less harm to the environment (Gomes et al., 2023), but it has yet to be determined in which cases this is consistently true.

Willingness to pay (WTP) is an economic concept defining the amount of money an individual is willing to forgo to obtain a product or gain a higher degree of a particular attribute (Narayanan & Singh, 2023), making it a valuable measure for evaluating consumers’ assessment of green product attributes. The purpose of this study is to develop an integrative framework of consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) more for environmentally friendly apparel products through conducting a systematic literature review (SLR). Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines to locate and extract relevant articles, this study systematically reviews the pertinent literature. The findings are enriched through the application of the Theories-Characteristics-Contexts-Methods (TCCM) framework.

Guided by the research questions, this systematic review first analyzes the definitions of green apparel across the retained articles. A key finding of this review is regarding the absence of a unifying definition for classifying green products. Varying definitions of green apparel are shown to be a significant barrier for both consumer behavior research and consumer education. Second, this review identifies patterns across WTP measures in research. The findings demonstrate that there are several barriers leading to a lack of comparability of measures across WTP research. Suggestions for addressing this barrier are provided. Third, this review presents theories, contexts, characteristics, and methods (TCCM) that have been utilized in green apparel WTP research. Patterns highlighted through the application of the TCCM framework provide an overview of the present standing of the research domain. Fourth, this review analyzes outcomes associated with green apparel attributes. Interestingly, other product and respondent characteristics were shown to influence WTP more significantly than specific green attributes in and of themselves. Fifth, the influence of sociodemographic characteristics on WTP is evaluated. Lastly, this study provides future research directions.

In conclusion, the studies in the review agree that consumers are generally willing to pay a premium for green attributes in apparel, though the amount varies based on many considerations. The amount of premium consumers are WTP has been shown to be impacted by green attribute type, other product attributes, labeling or information provided about the green product, and individual consumers’ values and attitudes. Research concludes that translating consumers’ expressed WTP into actual purchasing behavior is a leading issue in the domain. Furthermore, the formulation and adoption of a universal definition of green apparel could significantly positively impact future research on the topic.

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