Analysis of Consumers' Attitudes Towards Sustainability Communication of H&M - COURSE:Masters Thesis I PROGRAM: Sustainable Communication AUTHOR: ...
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Analysis of Consumers’ Attitudes
Towards Sustainability
Communication of H&M
COURSE:Masters Thesis I
PROGRAM: Sustainable Communication
AUTHOR: Umar Usman Zaidi
SUPERVISOR: Ekaterina Kalinina
Examiner: Renira Gambarato
SEMESTER: Spring 20212
Abstract
With the growing trend of the manufacturing of sustainable products by the apparel brands,
the eco-friendly consumers are becoming more interested in knowing the brands’
sustainability communication and their claims. This study has taken the Katz’s attitude
functions theory as a framework to better understand the factors which can help in calculating
the consumers’ attitudes towards the sustainability communication of H&M, the leading
apparel brand of Sweden. This research paper used qualitative research method and have
done the ‘focused group analyses’ to investigate the consumers attitude towards sustainability
communication of H&M. Four focus groups interviews were conducted and then transcribed
to generate themes to interpretate the results. Researcher utilized the Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach as a qualitative research method, to explore the
‘lived experience’ of the research participants. Author then interpretated the results and found
out that the consumers are aware from the H&M sustainability communication. Although
most of them positively influenced from the brand’s sustainability, yet some of them have
doubts on the sustainability claims of H&M.
Keywords:
Consumers’ attitudes, perception, brand sustainability, communication, sustainability claims,
environment, eco-friendly, H&M, consumers’ trust.3
Contents
Abstract: ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Keywords: .............................................................................................................................. 2
1. Introduction: ....................................................................................................................... 6
1.1: Background: .................................................................................................................... 7
1.1.1: Definition of Sustainability: ................................................................................. 7
1.1.2: Definition of Sustainability Communication............................................................ 8
1.1.3: Definition of Attitude: .............................................................................................. 8
1.2: Overview of H&M .......................................................................................................... 9
1.3: Aims .............................................................................................................................. 10
1.4: Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 10
1.5: Research questions: ....................................................................................................... 10
1. Literature review: ............................................................................................................. 11
2.1: Apparel industry and sustainability:.............................................................................. 11
2.1.1: Environmental aspect: ............................................................................................ 11
2.1.2: Economic aspect: ....................................................................................................... 13
2.1.3: Social aspect: .............................................................................................................. 13
3. Theoretical framework: ........................................................................................................ 19
3.1: Functional attitude theory: ............................................................................................ 19
3.1.1: Utilitarian:............................................................................................................... 19
3.1.2: Value expressive:.................................................................................................... 20
3.1.3: Social-adjustive: ..................................................................................................... 21
3.1.4: Ego defensive: ........................................................................................................ 21
3.1.5: Knowledge: ............................................................................................................... 21
4. Methodology: ....................................................................................................................... 23
4.1: Focus Group: ................................................................................................................. 23
4.2 Participants: .................................................................................................................... 24
4.3: Procedure: .................................................................................................................. 25
4.4: Data Analysis: ............................................................................................................... 25
4.5: Strengths and weaknesses of the study ......................................................................... 30
5: Results & Analysis............................................................................................................... 31
5.1: Utilitarian function ........................................................................................................ 31
5.1.1: Consumer attitude towards sustainability:.............................................................. 314
5.1.2: Resources, Recycling and Waste Disposal:............................................................ 31
5.2: Value Expressive ........................................................................................................... 32
5.2.1: Influence of sustainability claims on purchasing: .................................................. 32
5.2.2: Environment Protection claims: ............................................................................. 33
5.2.3: Resources, Recycling and Waste Disposal:............................................................ 33
5.3: Social Adjustive ............................................................................................................ 34
5.3.1: Influence of sustainability claims on purchasing: .................................................. 34
5.3.2: Consumer attitude towards sustainability:.............................................................. 34
5.4: Ego-defensive................................................................................................................ 35
5.4.1: Green Advertisement, Packaging and Labeling: .................................................... 35
5.4.2: H&M’s sustainability claims: ................................................................................. 36
5.5: Knowledge function ...................................................................................................... 37
5.5.1: Knowledge about benefits of sustainability ........................................................... 37
5.5.2: Influence of sustainability claims on purchasing: .................................................. 38
5.5.3: Consumer attitude towards sustainability:.............................................................. 38
5.5.4: Environment Protection claims: ............................................................................. 39
6. Summary and Conclusion: ................................................................................................... 40
6.1 Limitation & Suggestion: ............................................................................................... 41
6.2: Implications:.................................................................................................................. 42
7: References:........................................................................................................................... 435 Figure 1: Themes emerged through literature review and functional attitude theory ............ 28
6 1. Introduction Fashion retailers are facing the sustainability challenges, as their global supply chain is responsible for pollution, chemical wastes, ecological hazards, the upswing in consumption, and environmental catastrophes in developing countries(Javed et al., 2020). Companies often use the labor force from the developing countries that are cheaper than the labor force found in the developed countries (Zohry, 2005). Here, the prime challenge that triggers the environmentalists is how to maintain the habitat sustainable. While buying clothes, people do not tend to think of its impact on the environment. But it is a fact that the fast fashion leaves a pollution footprint, with each step of the clothing life cycle generating potential environmental and occupational hazards (GUNNER, 2019). For example, polyester, the most widely used manufactured fiber, is made from petroleum (Claudio, 2007)which has the potential to harm the soil invertebrates (Selonen et al., 2020). In this scenario, it is important to know what the consumers think about the sustainability communication of certain apparel brands that they usually use. Sustainable communication emphasis the organization's social commitment to induce positive perception among consumers (Bae, 2016). This study focuses on Sweden, the tenth largest economy of the European Union (EU) in terms of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Clark, 2021). Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is the leading apparel brand of Sweden, as they accumulated the revenue of roughly 210 billion Swedish kronors as of January 2020 (Tighe, 2020). Based on its sales in Europe alone, H&M produced the second largest turnover at 15 billion euros in 2019, after Spanish company Inditex’s 18 billion euros which has quite a celebrated brands like Zara, Bershka, and Pull & Bear (Sabanoglu, 2020). Swedes also spend an hefty amount on clothing and footwear each year, as in 2018, the consumer expenditure was amounted nearly 88 billion Swedish kronors (Ridder, 2020). H&M publishes its sustainability report each year since 2002 on its website. In that report, the organization highlights the contributions they have made during the previous year in making the planet and the environment more sustainable. They also make resolutions about the objectives which they would have to achieve in the ongoing year for sustainability. It is pertinent for us to know how the consumers of H&M are perceiving the sustainability communication of the brand, in order to contribute to the better understanding of communication of stustainability by fashion brands. In this study, the concept of sustainability will be explained in brief, as the general perception about the terminology is all about protecting the environment. The relation between sustainability and fashion, and the theoretical notion of attitude will also be covered. Overall,
7 the intended thesis aims to evaluate the attitude of consumers towards sustainability communication of a company. To make the findings more focused, the case study of H&M has been selected as it seems committed to sustainability. The thesis has applied the theory of functional attitude to analyze the different attitudes of different consumers. Interviews have been conducted from the relevant participants. The significance of the study is that it expands the academic study, fills research gaps, and provides practical information. It also suggests the companies that are dedicated to sustainability that how they can trigger the favorable behaviors of consumers. 1.1: Background This section provides a short introduction of the main concept of this research, and that is Sustainability. This chapter briefly discusses the how the concept of Sustainability derived as well as all its three aspects. 1.1.1: Definition of Sustainability The term Sustainability has been derived from the idea of Sustainable Development, which was given by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), later known as Brundtland Report, compiled by a committee headed by Gro Harlem Brundtland, the then Prime minister of Norway. As per the commission’s report, sustainable development is an economic development which satisfies the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to satisfy their own needs (Commission, 1987). The premise of sustainability has been later explained as the resources of earth should not be used, depleted, or damaged indefinitely, as they could later run out at some point (Portney, 2015). After the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, sustainability was fractionated in three spheres that are economic (financial viability of the business model), environmental (less harming production techniques, such as upcycling or recycling)and social (safe working conditions and working environment)(Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). These spheres are interconnected and are able to leave impacts on each other as well. Sustainability also develops multiple prospects to achieve, for example what should be made and what is to be sustained, for how long, and for the benefit of whom(Savaget & Acero, 2017).The term later got the attention of apparel brands when they started using that as a tool to market their sustainable products (Binet et al., 2018). In this way, the term sustainability took it stake in the apparel industry.
8 1.1.2: Definition of Sustainability Communication Sustainability Communication refers to business strategies in which firms integrate sustainability activities into their operational as well as strategic goals. It is a general notion for highlighting the sustainability strategies of firms (Tiago et al. 2021). It enables firms to their consumers, customers, and stakeholders regarding the operations, sustainable approaches, and business-like what to do and how to do in wake of the sustainable approaches. Using the sustainability communication approach, companies explain to their investors, stakeholders, and customers that how much the company cares about social and environmental causes. A prominent factor in this approach is telling consumers the company's commitment to sustainability. According to Tölkes (2020), honest communication reflects the social and environmental contributions of companies successfully. With reference to the proposed study, sustainability communication is defined as a firm's strategic approach for engaging consumers towards the sustainability portfolio of a sustainable journey of that company (Syakur et al. 2020). Therefore, only the attitude of consumers towards the sustainability approach has only been covered in the study. Considering the significance of sustainability communication, it is highly required to evaluate how it influences a particular brand so that more focused information can be gathered for analysis (Weder et al. 2021). Therefore, the following thesis intends to analyze the attitude of consumers towards the sustainability communication of H&M. For this, the primary research method has been selected to get the most relevant and recent information about the research topic. 1.1.3 Definition of Attitude The definition of attitude is presented so that the context of the term especially for the research can be clearer. For instance, different scholars have explained attitudes in different ways. According to Spears & Singh (2012), the term Attitude is not new, as the utilization of this word is in many fields of studies such as psychology, marketing, and advertising. The word is mostly used as a tool to predict consumer behavior and to facilitate social psychology research purposes (Spears & Singh, 2012). It can be defined as an individual’s evaluation of any object, which can be a brand as well (Mitchell & Olson, 1981). The terminology has been widely regarded as an instrument to measure the consumers’ behavior in the field of marketing/advertising.
9 Individuals' attitudes provide a beneficial disposition for dealing with inputs they face (Maio & Olson, 1995). As per Thurstone (1928), attitudes are an assessment of a variety of factors, including a person's inclinations, feelings, prejudice or bias, preconceived conceptions, ideas, fears, dangers, and convictions about a certain topic. Individuals acquire a state of readiness through arriving at an attitude(ALLPORT, 1935).In this sense, attitude provides structure and direction in an otherwise chaotic world(Cocolas et al., 2020). Considering this, the definition of attitude specifically in this research is how H&M consumers feel or think about the sustainability communication or approaches of the company. Also, what views do they hold about H&M sustainability approaches. 1.2: Overview of H&M H&M is a Swedish fast-fashion company that is known for constructing its sustainable supply chain. It has been comprised of 6 different fashion brands and has over 4,100 stores (Shen, 2014). The aim of the company is to make good-quality and sustainable fashion products that are affordable and accessible to consumers. H&M uses its scale for helping to drive systematic change in the fashion industry environmentally, socially, and economically. It has recognized that the incorporation of sustainable development into its business strategy can guarantee the longevity of its business as well as improvement in the lives of workers (Dach & Allmendinger, 2014). The company develops eco-materials, provides safety training, reduce the emissions of carbon during the distribution phase, monitors sustainable manufacturing, and promotes eco- fashion. Moreover, sourcing managers of H&M prefer to select suppliers from countries that have lower rates of human well-being (Shen, 2014). Also, managers set a higher inventory level in the country with a higher rate of human well-being. The CEO of the company considered the economic and human well-being and communicate their sustainability approaches to their consumers. The approach of H&M depends on a wide global vision of sustainability programs. Its vision is then tailored to every particular context, collaborative initiatives, and designing programs that are related to the effectiveness of sustainability (Cotal San Martin & Machin, 2021). The company accepts the sustainable development goals and works in line with these goals. They consider the framework of SDGs while designing strategies for their business.
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1.3: Aims
The aim of my research is to study attitudes of fashion brands’ consumers to the
communication of sustainability by fashion brands on the example of H&M.
1.4: Objectives
The United Nations (UN) have set the world’s shared plan in the name of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) to end extreme poverty, reduce inequality, and protect the planet
by 2030 (Foundation, 2015). People around the world are part of this plan in their respective
capacities. Fashion apparel brands are also taking initiatives to cater for the need of their eco-
friendly consumers by producing and marketing sustainable products. In this scenario, it is
important to know how the consumers are perceiving the sustainability communication of the
fashion apparel brands. Based on these, the following research objectives have been
formulated:
• To evaluate the awareness of consumers about the sustainability communication by
H&M
• To demonstrate how consumers perceive sustainability communication by H&M
• To explore attitude differences among consumers of H&M
1.5: Research questions
1. How do consumers perceive H&M’s sustainability communication?
2. How sustainability communication influences the attitude of its consumer?11 1. Literature review In this section, the researcher reviewed the relevant previous research that were conducted and their implications. The perception of sustainability in the apparel industry, green marketing, sustainability knowledge, consumers’ intention towards buying sustainable products, and challenges in implementing sustainability in fashion industry are briefly discussed below. 2.1: Apparel industry and sustainability The induction of sustainability in the fashion or apparel industry has not recently occurred, but rather it has seen several waves of environmental, social, and economic concern (Belz & Peattie, 2012) such as anti-fur campaigns in the 1980s and protests against unethical working conditions in the 1990s till 2000s (Gam, 2011). And since its inception in the apparel industry, Fletcher (2008) in his study stated the four guiding principles that need to be considered to classify fashion lines as ‘sustainable’. These are: every production should be child labor free across the entirety of the supply chain., the materials that are used within the production process should be less harming to the natural environment, recycled, upcycled, and/or more durable, the ethical and social production process should be conducted in a responsible manner, the workers should be paid fair wages and the production should be done locally so that the job in the country of origin would be generated, and the need of long-haul relationships over the supply chain is essential within the process of sustainable production. 2.1.1: Environmental aspect The apparel industry (especially fashion brands) creates tons of waste each year which leaves drastic impacts on the environment (Brewer, 2019). Over 10 to 20% of the textiles in the fashion industry are estimated to be wasted, whereas about 15% of fabric that was made for clothing ends up on the cutting room floor (Murphy, 2016). Apart from the fabric waste generation, the apparel industry is also imposing environmental damages and climate change pressures by yielding the waste of textiles, chemicals, and dyes (Zhang et al., 2021). This depicts the grave situation of gloomy side of the apparel industry which is definitely not suitable for the sustainable environment. Zhang and others (2021) further state that the clothing underutilization and the lack of recycling is costing $500 billion each year. They estimated that as per the full lifecycle of clothing, the fashion industry is responsible for 3.3 billion tons or 10% of global CO2 emissions and 20% of global waste streams.
12 Green customers are keeping an eye to the clothing and textile industries’ sustainable practices in emerging countries in this era of internet and social media (Javed et al., 2020). Consumers highly demand their favorite brands to behave ethically (Shaw & Shiu, 2002) and prefer products that generally perceived as environment friendly. Corporations are emphasizing on green advertising which can be defined as any product or services which implicitly or explicitly show a relationship with the biophysical environment(Streetman & Banerjee, 2006). A study of Javed et al. (2020) shows that all sustainability messages are not equal, and consumers react differently to subtle distinctions in the communication of the company’s sustainability messages. To this end, the research of Javed et al. (2020) further examined whether various types of sustainability claims based on the global supply chain could lead to various green psychological variables such as purchase intention or not. The green claims of H&M were chosen because as per Shen (2014), its ecological supply chain structure includes eco-material preparation, green manufacturing, sustainable distribution, green retailing, and green-conscious consumers. Brands not only acknowledge the environmental concerns of their consumers, but they also try to address their curiosity by highlighting the steps for sustainability taken by them. H&M has been using organic cotton for many years and investing thick amount of money on the sustainable cotton production (Shen, 2014). He further states that H&M actively runs the global project called as Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), which provides the better farming techniques to cotton farmers in order to guarantee that the farms produce real organic cotton. Also, as per Shen (2014), H&M cooperates with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the strategy to save water, which helps improve the management of water resources throughout the textile production cycle. These, however, are the claims of H&M with regards to their courses of action for the sustainable environment. But a good majority of consumers put consideration on some other things while buying their desired products. Previous studies also found out that the consumers often show distrust on the sustainability claims of the retailer, and because of this reason they show reluctance to buy the product (Saicheua et al., 2011). This is a big challenge for the brands that needs to be overcome, and it can be done effectively through better communication. Apparel/fashion companies should use the significance of communication with their consumers, as it is found out to be highly fruitful (Jørgensen et al., 2006). It has been observed that when the people are provided with information about environmental effects, they tend to reflect upon their behavior and are willing to change that behavior (Fisher et al., 2008). The study of Fisher and others (2008)
13 further suggested that using the appropriate form of media for sustainability information would be beneficial to the consumers. 2.1.2: Economic aspect It has also been perceived that the garments that are more sustainable are higher in cost, and so the margin of affordability becomes less (Rutter et al., 2017). Consumers therefore less intend to buy the products that have been claimed as more sustainable due to this rhetoric. However, the factors such as image, money, or well-being create a bigger influence on the consumers’ purchasing decisions, so that the justification of higher price for ethical garments could become weaker (Jägel et al., 2012). Consumer values increasingly favor sustainable development in products and services, thereby fostering the need to develop new operational and managerial practices that support sustainability in supply chain management(Bask et al., 2013). Studies have proven that the consumers often associate sustainable fashion with the raw materials (Blazquez et al., 2020; Cervellon & Wernerfelt, 2012; Henninger et al., 2017). This indicates that the information and education about the sustainable fashion to the consumers is quite superficial. 2.1.3: Social aspect The apparel industry is ill-famed for social sustainability-related problems, if more elaborately the workplace accidents such as factory fires and building collapses (Akbar & Ahsan, 2020). Extensive industrial accidents have caused several worker deaths and injuries. For example, the Ali Enterprises factory fire in Pakistan in 2012 caused 286 worker deaths (Walsh & Greenhouse, 2012); whereas the Tazreen Fashions factory fire in 2012 resulted 112 deaths and 300 injuries; and the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013 caused 1,136 worker deaths and more than 2,000 injuries in Bangladesh (Dhooge, 2016). This clearly depicts the adverse working conditions in the apparel industry in the third world countries, and also supports the notion that the safety of the workers of the factories has been compromised. The reason why the factory workers have been exploited is related to the issues like earning a living wage, the usage of child labor, abuse of the rights of women workers, absence of trade unions, worker health and safety problems and dangerous factory working conditions (Egels- Zandén & Merk, 2014; Jones & Hoang, 2012; Winter & Lasch, 2016). While assuming the consumers’ assessments about the sustainability communication of the brands, it has been observed that the production country also plays an important role (Lazzarini et al., 2017). The study of Lazzarini (2017) further finds out that the consumers
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mainly relied on an ‘our own country is best’ heuristic and on sustainability labels to evaluate
the environmental impact and social sustainability of food products. They used labels as cue
for evaluating environmental and social sustainability. The environmental impact of
seasonality appeared to be underestimated. This paves the way for the notion that the socio-
cultural aspect of the production of anything is the most important sustainability dimension
for consumers, and the sustainability of local products should be promoted through this
aspect alongside the economic and environmental ones (Paloviita, 2010). The study of
Rudyanto & Siregar (2018) further states that the pressure building on the companies by the
environmental advocates and the consumers results in having higher quality of sustainability
reports.
a. Green marketing
Vergura et al. (2020) defined green marketing as a practice of advertising products on the
basis of their perceived sustainability for the environment. Daneshfar et al. (2020) described
green marketing as the considerable efforts of a company for advertising business practices
that are based on environmental sustainability. Presenting the significance of green
marketing, Haq et al. (2020) believed that green marketing has become a highly broader
movement towards business practices that are socially and environmentally conscious.
Lorenz et al. (2021) resulted that green marketing is often confused with public service
campaigns. Differentiating both concepts, it was stated in a similar study that public service
campaigns are an attempt to get people to change their habits whereas green marketing is an
attempt to make people only buy products that are better environmentally.
Kirgiz (2016) argued that with the aim of taking the consumers on board with regards to their
steps for sustainability, brands have started the marketing of their eco-friendly products,
known as green marketing and it is perceived by many to be a means of promotion or
advertisement used to market the products in an environmentally sensitive manner. Similarly,
Esty & Winston (2006) found that by launching green products in the market through the
emphasis on its eco-friendly design, the brand will be more likely to gain the consumer’
loyalty and trust. Szabo & Webster (2020) demonstrated the idea that as soon as the
consumers comprehend the eco-friendliness of the products, they are more inclined to buy
them. In support of this, Olk (2021) added that today consumers are more concerned with
social and ecological factors - this boosted green marketing and made it an imperative factor
for corporate public relations. In support of this, Pimonenko et al. (2020) added that15
consumers expect companies for demonstrating their commitment to perform their operations
that could satisfy the governance, social, and environmental criteria. According to de Freitas
Netto et al. (2020), companies are more likely to give social impact statements periodically to
explain their progress towards sustainability goals. Starbucks is a real-life example of green
marketing as the company seemed committed to the development of renewable energy. A
survey reported that over 55% of consumers were more likely to acknowledge sustainable
products from companies to have a positive impact on society and the environment
(Barkatullah, 2020). In Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, a similar attitude towards
green activities has been shared by 65% of consumers.
On the contrary note, Garhwal (2019) referred to greenwashing and stated that when green
marketing activities of a company failed to be substantiated by operational changes or
investment, consumers stated criticizing them for misleading or false advertising. Extending
this, Hameed et al. (2021) added that green marketing activities have been criticized because
it favors large or big corporations because they can afford to spend a significant amount for
carrying on the program. Olk (2021) presented another aspect and found that green products
have merely captured a tiny space in the marketplace even in the developed countries. It has
been supported by Beinö & Alexanderson (2020) who clarified statistically that merely 2%of
environmentally preferable products captured a respective place in the market while the sales
of green products are less than 1%. Hameed et al. (2021) argued that some products are sold
not because they are environmentally friendly but because of cost-effectiveness, convenience
and health benefits. For instance, organic foods and hybrid cars can be presented as
prominent examples.
Rejecting these studies, Pimonenko et al. (2020) stated that the lack of trying by companies
resulted in the failure of green marketing. Also, Oates (2020) demonstrated that the
marketing efforts of companies are not significant as they are dedicated to making green
products convenient, cost-effective, available, and effective. Considering this, Sitny (2021)
suggested encouraging people to adopt environmentally friendly products through appealing
and aspirational advertisement messages.
.
b. Sustainability knowledge
The consumers must comprehend the environmental and social impact of products or
services, as well as must aware of which products are produced in eco-friendly ways16
(D’Souza et al., 2006). Procedural, effectiveness and social knowledge have an ability to
create an impact on ecological/sustainable behavioral intentions, values and attitudes(Kong et
al., 2016). The study of Malkus and Meinhold L (2005) indicates that the consumers with
greater environmental knowledge are more likely to engage in pro-environmental purchase
behaviors. Additionally, the study of Zanoli and Naspetti (2002) says that the consumers who
bought organic food products more than once in a week had greater product knowledge
compared with infrequent organic food consumers. It is pertinent to mention here that the
study of Blazquez and others (2020) proves that the consumers seek to adapt the sustainable
fashion, but their knowledge with regards to the sustainable fashion is not enough to help
them in decision making. This actively demonstrates that the need to educate the consumers
with regards to the environmental knowledge is essential to calculate their perception on the
sustainability communication of the brands.
c. Consumers’ intention toward buying sustainable products
With the passage of time, the concern for the environment is being increasing among the
consumers, and companies are focusing more on making sustainable products to cater this
need (Gam, 2011). Despite this, consumers still do not like to buy the products which are
sustainable because of the limited choices, lower ornaments, and most importantly their
higher cost as compare to the products which are not made as environment friendly (Kong et
al., 2016).
When analyzing the consumers’ attitude or behavior towards sustainability, the studies have
shown some mixed findings. Although people show positive attitude towards the
sustainability approach, but that does not necessarily mean that it would be reflected in their
behavior too (Ceylan, 2019). At the same time, as per the findings of Ceylan (2019), by
conducting a more detailed evaluation of the behavior and attitudes, the participants who
show positive attitudes towards environment sustainability practices are likely to reflect these
attitudes towards their behavior. Ceylan (2019) further adds that the consumers are not only
cognizant about the ecological fashion approaches, but they also support it. Nevertheless,
they do not provide their due support in the implementation phase (Ceylan, 2019). Connell
(2010) also maintained that the consumers generally seem to have a positive connotation and
perceptions towards sustainability, but they cannot base their consumption decisions solely
on this aspect, as the consumers feel they do not know a lot about sustainability in the apparel
industry. For example Gam and Banning (2011) analyzed consumers’ self-expressed17
definitions of sustainability in the apparel industry. They established that consumers mainly
focused on environmental aspects, such as the use of organic materials, as well as recycling
the products. Current research stresses the lack of consumer knowledge of the impact of
garment purchases and indicates that consumers demand more information on the
implications of their consumption to make more educated decisions(Connell, 2010). The
study conducted by Ha-Brookshire and Bhaduri (2011) suggested that the attitudes and
intentions of the consumer to buy a certain product are affected by prior knowledge about the
apparel industry and its values and practices. Besides the consumers try to learn more about
what organizations do and how they produce garments, they do not necessarily believe on the
information provided by these organizations and are rather suspicious of what the
organizations’ actual intentions are (Ha-Brookshire & Bhaduri, 2011) which further
highlights the challenges of communications.
Studies have also maintained that the buying attitude of the consumers has also been linked to
aspects of aesthetic preferences (Lai et al., 2017), fit (Gam, 2011), symbolism, enjoyment
(Oh, 2002), a thrust of the sense of self-worth, and improve of self-presentation (Goldsmith et
al., 1993). The attires act as a catalyst of self-expression and create a recognition (Winge,
2015), which actually indicates a strong emotional consumer experience(Niinimäki, 2015).
Gam (2011) says that these evaluative criteria help create the incorporation of sustainability
in apparel purchasing decisions complicated and stresses the need for more research into
consumers’ perceptions of sustainable fashion garments.
d. Consumers’ level of trust towards the sustainability claims
Trust has been considered as an important dimension which motivates information updating
and, therefore, knowledge attainment and credibility of information sources (Costa-Font et
al., 2008). The previous studies of (Huffman et al., 2004; Magnusson & Hursti, 2003;
Siegrist, 2000) say that the trust is directly linked to individual values and anticipated as a
key element of the acceptance of biotechnology. Costa-Font and others (2008) further
maintain that the concept of trust is related to confidence and credibility in someone or
something.
The concept of trust is related to confidence and credibility in someone or something.
‘Trusting in someone involves a risk that the person will act unreliably’(Siegrist, 2000).
Therefore, in order to reduce risk, consumers are likely to believe the opinion of experts who
appear to hold similar values to themselves (Siegrist, 2000). Consequently, to increase18
consumers’ knowledge, it is important that the information received by consumers are not
only ‘believable’ but credible (Bredahl et al., 1998). The building of credibility was analyzed
by Yee et al. (2005), who revealed that the benevolence and integrity of producers are key
factors in building consumer trust.
e. Challenges in implementing sustainability in fashion industry
Execution of the sustainable actions in the apparel industry is counted amongst the most
important elements. Hur & Cassidy (2019) say that the internal challenges (on personal and
organizational levels) and external challengers (on social and cultural levels) have been faced
by the fashion designers when it comes to incorporating sustainability. These challenges, as
per the findings of Hur & Cassidy (2019) consist of four factors: little consensus over the
understanding of sustainability in fashion design, perceived trade-off with other design
criteria, like aesthetic styles, costs, and fashion trends, in substantial knowledge of existing
sustainable design tools, and lack of design-led approaches and tools to support sustainability
in fashion design. This can cause real hurdle in the enforcement of sustainable strategies in
the fashion industry.
Furthermore, recycling of the used material also comes out as a big challenge. Goods making
use of post-consumer waste is extremely limited by dimensions, types, colors, and shapes of
available material stock, which often has to be disassembled manually in a time-consuming
process (Dissanayake & Sinha, 2015). Villa Todeschini et al. (2017) say that some brands get
over this issue by making strong relationship with the suppliers, creating effective
coordination, and by conveying their desired approaches.19 3. Theoretical framework 3.1: Functional attitude theory The Functional attitude theory (FAT) also underpins our research, which says that the beliefs and attitudes are influential to various psychological functions. The attitudes can be dominant on the process such as being utilitarian (useful), social, relating to values, or a reduction of cognitive dissonance(Katz, 1960). Studies say that the people develop attitudes to cater their goals, and that although any particular attitude might serve multiple functions, it would generally serve one more than the others (Katz, 1960; Ketchum, 1956). The theory explains that attitudes and beliefs impose significant impacts on the psychological functions of consumers. For instance, attitude towards sustainability communication can be influential on the processes like being social, utilitarian, or deduction of cognitive dissonance. These factors can be used while interacting with consumers (Keating, 2021). According to Bakti et al. (2020), the function attitude theory suggests that attitudes are adopted by consumers due to having sound psychological functioning. Notably, the attitude function is highly integral whether the attitude is correct or accurate. Weder et al. (2021) mentioned that an attitude serves numerous functions while all these functions are perceived as exclusive mutually (Nystrand & Olsen, 2020). This means that different consumers would have different opinions regarding the sustainability communication of the company. Katz (1960) has categorized attitude functions as utilitarian, social-adjustive, value expressive, ego- defensive, and knowledge. 3.1.1 Utilitarian Katz (1960) described the utilitarian function of an attitude when the consumers use attitudes as ways to maximize rewards and minimize the punishment. He further stated that this function serves the balance between attaining reward and avoiding punishment (Katz, 1960). To put it another way, this is where the consumers buy certain things which brings a determined benefit for them. Previous studies have shown that the consumers show reluctance to buy the sustainable or green products because of the higher prices (Kong et al., 2016; Rutter et al., 2017). This actively demonstrates that the utilitarian attitude function applies on certain class of the consumers, and it highly influences on their decision-making. The attitude works for performing a utilitarian function for providing consumers with an effective way so that products can be distinguished (Nguyen, 2020). For instance, the product that can bring pleasure while others that lead to some pain. In the case of H&M, utilitarian
20 functions work for exploring the attitude of consumers towards sustainability communication in terms of maximizing the utility of those consumers. In simple words, the attitude of consumers is derived from satisfying their needs and desires through sustainability approaches (Sapunkov & Molodenkov, 2021). For instance, consumers’ attitude toward products of the company has a utilitarian function if consumers focused on the practical factors of their sustainability strategies, for instance, the practical implementation of these communications. Um & Yoon (2021) mentioned that when influencing agents desired to tailor messages to a targeted audience whose attitude works a utilitarian function, they started stressing the ways that could improve the lives of the audience. 3.1.2: Value expressive Value expressive function of an attitude refers to the role played by the attitude in the expression of core values, as stated by Katz (1960). He further added that it is the function of an attitude which reflect individuals’ personality traits, values, and self-concept (Katz, 1960). To rephrase it, consumers who are environment friendly or belong to the mindset which promotes sustainability, tend to buy the products which have green tags on them, regardless of their price. In the value-expressive function, attitudes facilitate the abstract value of people. In the case of sustainability communication, the value-expressive attitude aggressively facilitates the ability of consumers to not merely voice their concerns but also remain persistent with their values. In comparison with other attitudes like utilitarian attitude or social-adjustive attitude, this attitude is different as no one having any benefit from having such benefits. Vergura et al. (2020) insisted that a consumer who has such an attitude merely have a sense of satisfaction by using sustainability products or viewing a company that has been consistent with the consumer's principle. If the products of H&M are wanted by an environmentalist whose attitudes towards the company's product served a value-expression function, the company's message start focusing on the corporation or sustainable efforts of the company's i.e., how they support green technology (Sapunkov & Molodenkov, 2021). Justifying this, Nguyen (2020) noted that firms must know the values that are being served by the consumer's attitude for targeting a persuasive message (Nystrand & Olsen, 2020). Notably, the efforts of the corporation towards using sustainable products would only be persuasive if the attitude of consumers towards the firm and its products were anchored to values associated with other aspects like labor practices, wages, and equality alongside sustainability.
21 3.1.3: Social-adjustive The social aspect is a prominent way of regulating relationships with consumers. According to Keizer (2020), attitude works as a function of social-adjustive that facilitates the capability for interacting with a favorable social group or for impressing attractive others (Sapunkov & Molodenkov, 2021). In the case of H&M, the attitude of consumers towards sustainability communication serves as a social adjustive function if consumers become concerned with whether their sustainable products making them socially popular or not. A firm that wants to target the social-adjustive function of their consumers stresses pivotal issues that society may face environmental issues if they do not apply sustainable approaches (Nystrand & Olsen, 2020). Consumers adopt an attitude due to social pressure or other similar benefits. 3.1.4: Ego defensive Katz (1960) further added that the ego defensive function of an attitude is observed when the consumers buy a certain brand to enhance their self-esteem or boost their ego. They tend to ignore the messages which threaten their own ego (Knight Lapinski & Boster, 2001). Lapinski & Boster (2001) also asserted that this function also serves to protect against potential threats from incoming information that challenges the self-image. It is an attitude that drives an ego-defensive function in which consumers do not accept the unpleasant aspects of the sustainability approaches and communications of H&M. Daneshfar et al. (2020) demonstrated that ego-defensive attitude is highly connected with the protection of self-esteem while risks to self-esteem tend to involve personal failings or unacceptable behavior. This means that the attitude of consumers would be rationalizing towards sustainability communication of H&M if consumers start defending its approaches. When a consumer has this positive or defensive attitude towards sustainability communications, it has been considered as an ego-defensive attitude (Vergura et al. 2020). 3.1.5: Knowledge Knowledge function of an attitude is a function of attitudes that serves the individual in understanding the environment (Business School 2018). Consumers’ attitude serves a knowledge function if sustainability communication of H&M assists consumers to gain more insights into the operation and structure of the social and environmental impacts (Nystrand & Olsen, 2020). In this complex world, such an attitude facilitates making sense of the world. For instance, sustainability communication provides knowledge about why different sustainability strategies are required and what can be its benefits. According to Haq et al.
22 (2020), the only purpose of the knowledge function is to driving attitudes that serve for learning different factors rather than any other purpose. In the case of H&M, an attitude towards its sustainability communication may evolve due to consumers interest in the sustainable approaches (Keating, 2021). Notably, these attitudes can be altered by discussing how an understanding of consumers regarding sustainability is inadequate as well as if any of the other attitudes provides more accurate aspects of these approaches. The drive to establish and retain consistent views, according to Maio & Olson (1995), reflects psychological demands that are addressed by having such attitudes. Attitudes, according to the functional theory of attitudes, serve underlying needs and motivations(Katz, 1960). As a result, the motivations of an individual determine the purpose of an attitude. Katz’s (1960) attitude function theory offers one perspective on attitude formation that supports the goal for attitude consistency - that looking into the underlying psychological drivers of attitudes will help you grasp what they are for. He further states that the attitudes are complicated structures, and each one is likely to be shaped by driving elements that comprise several attitude functions(Katz, 1960). It's crucial to comprehend how attitudes work in order to interpret the relationship between attitudes and other behavioral categories (Maio & Olson, 1995). The attitude functions theory provides a framework for understanding a variety of psychological factors that influence attitudes and behavior(Cocolas et al., 2020). The social adjustive and value-expressive functions, for example, accommodate for social influences and values, respectively, as maintained by Cocolas et al. (2020). Using the attitude functions paradigm can provide insight into the potential interaction between these aspects, unlike earlier research that has focused on the role of values(Büchs, 2017), and cognitive dissonance(McDonald et al., 2015).The analysis of the consumers’ attitudes towards the sustainability communication of H&M is going to determine by using this theory. The study aims at contributing to field of media and communication research and sustainable communication studies by providing some light on consumer’ attitudes and perceptions to communication of sustainability efforts by fashion brands.
23 4. Methodology In the current research, qualitative methods were used to focus on the participant's thoughts, feeling, and subjective experiences rather than the cause-and-effect relationship of the variable. Qualitative research focuses on the essence of the events, incidents, and participant's perceptions and attitudes regarding them. It focuses more on the quality of the experiences perceived by the participants (Willing, 2008). In the present study, the qualitative research method was used with the focus groups method to collect the data from the participants of each group. 4.1: Focus Group Qualitative research is a method of interpreting results while focusing on the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of the participants regarding the phenomena to be discussed. It helps to investigate the phenomena according to the individual's perspective. Focus group design was used in the present study because it helps the researcher to create a setting for the participants to discuss the views and opinions of the individuals on a phenomenon. The aim of the focus group is to provide a satisfactory setting for the individuals to discuss the phenomena among his focus group participants. This helps the researcher to examine the individual's view and opinion regarding the discussed phenomena and their views about the world (Heary & Hennessy, 2020). The Focus group method helps the author to help the participants during the discussion to generate themes regarding the topic of discussion. This also provides an opportunity for the researcher to change the flow of the discussion, to introduce or provide cues, and also researcher doesn't have to force the participants to complete the questionnaires as the researcher might already have got enough data to complete the results (Donaldson, 1978). Focus group is the best methodological choice in the study because it allows the researcher to specifically focus on the attitude of consumers of H&M. As the researcher merely want to analyze how sustainability communication drives particular attitude of H&M consumers, the selection of a focus group would be appropriate. Another rationale for selecting focus group is that it helps in drawing feelings, attitudes, reactions, experiences, and beliefs of participants in a manner where other methods are not effectively applicable (Heary & Hennessy, 2020). In this manner, the researcher can easily gather relevant information. During a focus group, the author played the role of the interviewer and provided cues during the discussions as a moderator. This helps the participants to introduce a topic during
24 discussions, also to provide prompts to the participants to raise an issue or to resolve any difference of opinions among the members as well. The researcher also played an important role while solving any dispute raised during the discussion and helps the submissive participants to voice their opinions (Wilkinson, 1998). In the current study, the researcher has focused on groups by dividing them into 4 sections. Each section has five participants; therefore, the total number of participants in the four sections was 20. (1) The first focus group consisted of those consumers who were not interested in sustainability and did not read reports regarding the sustainability approach of H&M, the group is referred as (A). The rationale for selecting these consumers was to compare the responses of consumers with other focus groups. (2) The second focus group was comprised of those consumers who were interested to know sustainability efforts of the H&M but have insufficient time for getting the information. By focusing on this group, the researcher intended to evaluate how much they were informed regarding the sustainability and environmental protection of H&M, the group is referred as (B). (3) The third focus group consisted of those consumers who were interested in sustainability and its relevant effects. For this, they also read reports for knowing about the claims of the H&M brand for establishing their own opinions, the group is referred as (C). (4) The fourth and final group was an experimental group that was comprised of the consumers reading reports at the request of the researcher and then they discussed sustainability communication, the group is referred as (D). All of these groups were segregated for comparing the interview responses of participants and groups for analyzing the result as well as to highlight the differences of opinions. Moreover, it allowed the researcher to evaluate how these factors (i.e., Knowledge about sustainability efforts or interests of consumers about sustainability efforts of the brand) can influence the attitude of consumers. 4.2 Participants 20 participants (10 males, 10 females) were selected for conducting 4 focus groups which consisted of 5 participants in each focus group. All of them were the residents of Sweden. The Focus group shouldn't consist of participants more than five as it will be difficult for the moderator or researcher to control them during the discussions. And also, it is difficult for the researcher to record all the data during the discussions. This also facilitates the researcher to give attention to all the participants to play an active role during the groups and to collect data from the discussions (Nyumba, Wilson, Derrick & Mukherjee, 2018; Creswell, 2014).
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