Adaptive Pathways: Understanding Consumer Adaptive Behavior Toward Hyper‐Personalized Fashion Retailing in Emerging Markets

ABSTRACT Despite growing academic interest in hyper‐personalization in fashion retail, consumer adaptive behavior remains an under‐researched construct. This research addresses the gap by applying self‐determination and social comparison theories to examine how consumer motivations and willingness to co‐create influence adaptive behavior and re‐patronage intentions in hyper‐personalized fashion retail. Data from 403 online fast fashion consumers in Zimbabwe were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results indicate that consumer motivations and willingness to co‐create significantly impact adaptive behavior and re‐patronage intentions. Additionally, social comparison and privacy concerns moderate these relationships, except for utilitarian motivations. These results extend current understanding of hyper‐personalized fashion retail by introducing adaptive behavior as a key outcome and identifying psychological and contextual variables that influence it. Marketers operating in emerging markets can apply these insights to design personalization strategies.