Consumer Acceptance of Digital Product Passports: The Roles of Technological Awareness and Value Orientations

As the fashion industry accelerates its digital and sustainable transformation, the European Union’s policy development on Digital Product Passports (DPPs) has attracted growing attention. However, there is still a lack of systematic research into whether consumers, particularly those outside Europe, are willing to adopt this emerging technology for greater transparency. To address this, this study develops an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by integrating three individual-level consumer variables, Ethical–Sustainability Orientation (ESO), Circular Value Orientation (CVO), and Technological Awareness (TA), to examine how these factors work in concert to shape consumers’ intentions to accept Digital Product Passports (DPPs). Data were collected from US consumers through an online survey, yielding 425 valid responses. Participants were recruited from a professional consumer panel managed by a market research firm. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the proposed research model and hypotheses. The results reveal that Perceived Usefulness (PU) emerges as the most influential determinant of consumers’ acceptance of Digital Product Passports. Both Ethical–Sustainability Orientation (ESO) and Circular Value Orientation (CVO) demonstrate significant direct effects on adoption intention and indirect impacts through PU. Technological Awareness (TA) exhibits only a modest direct effect, suggesting that its role in shaping adoption behavior is comparatively limited. This study broadens the geographic and cultural scope of existing research on Digital Product Passports (DPPs) by providing empirical evidence on consumer acceptance in a non-European context. The findings advance the theoretical understanding of DPP adoption while offering practical implications for fashion brands and policymakers seeking to facilitate the global implementation of DPP systems within the fashion industry.