A Study on the Influence of Consumer Materialism on the Personal Norms Related to Eco-Friendly Consumption

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of individual materialism on the ascription of responsibility, awareness of consequences, and personal norms for purchasing sustainable fashion products. To achieve this, a survey was conducted on 300 women in their 20s to 60s residing in South Korea, and the collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 26.0 program for descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, multiple regression analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The results of the analysis showed that acquisition centrality dimension of materialism had a negative effect on the ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequences. In addition, the ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequences had positive effects on personal norms. The results of the analysis of the moderating effect of generational cohorts showed that generation had an effect on the relationship between possession-defined success dimension of materialism and the ascription of responsibility. The results of this study provide implication for developing educational strategies to promote sustainable fashion, and suggest practical ways to encourage the development of a sustainable fashion industry by positively changing consumers' environmental awareness and behavior.