Consumer characteristics as predictors of purchase intentions and willingness to pay a premium for men's mass-customized apparel

The purposes of the study were to identify consumers' characteristics as predictors of purchase intentions (PI) of men's mass-customized (M-C) apparel and to examine whether the predictors of PI were also predictors of willingness to pay (WIP) a premium for M-C apparel. Nine consumer characteristics were proposed as potential predictors: fashion innovativeness, three types of perceived behavioral control (self-efficacy, time availability, and money availability), two types of experience (experience in apparel mass customization (MC) and experience in a product category), and three demographic variables (age, education, and household income). Seven hypotheses were developed based on theories and relevant research. An online survey was used for the data collection, and 474 male consumers in the United States were recruited for the study. The results, obtained by bootstrapping Structural Equation Modeling, indicated that fashion innovativeness, self-efficacy, time availability, experience in apparel MC, and age were predictors of PI. Time availability and age were predictors of WTP a premium. Young male consumers were more likely to purchase M-C dress shirts and more willing to pay a premium. The applications of the findings were discussed.