Consumption Vision in Apparel Buying Decision Making

의복 구매 의사 결정에 관련된 소비 비젼에 관한 연구

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of consumption vision related to the apparel buying decision-making. They propose that consumers form mental images of future consumption situations and that these consumption visions influence their decision-making. Consumers can imagine themselves consuming apparel products and experiencing the consequences of this consumption. By imagining the likely outcomes, they are able to identify the salient characteristics of each alternative and develop beliefs about their outcomes. Also, they can experience affective reactions to the outcomes they imagines. In this way, they form the cognitive and affective basis for their preferences and construct several consumption visions in the apparel buying decision-making. A consumption vision is "a visual image of certain product-related behaviors and their consequences....(they consisted of concrete and vivid mental images that enable consumers to vicariously experience the self-relevant consequences of product use"(Walker & Olson, 1994). We conducted unstructured, depth interviews with 9 groups participating 48 students at universities located in Busan, based on the results of previous studies. The results show that consumption visions related to the apparel buying decision-making are characterized as self-image, reactions of others, affection and mood, visual imagine, and self-satisfaction. By constructing consumption visions based on the various perspectives, consumers are influenced in the apparel buying decision-making. Many subjects reported experiencing positive affect when imagining positive outcomes of product use. Other subjects mentioned using consumption visions for purely hedonic reasons. With no intention of purchasing apparel products, consumers may evoke consumption visions to escape from the daily life, to fantasize and daydream about pleasurable consumption situations, and to enhance the mood. That is, the consumption vision related to the apparel buying decision-making helps consumers anticipate an uncertain future and make the purchase of apparel products.