A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. A lock ( Lock Locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. With the trend of national cultural confidence and the growing appreciation for aesthetic diversity, traditional apparel from different countries or regions has become a driving force in the clothing industry. Thus, with the objective of exploring the psychological antecedents of Hanfu consumers’ purchase intentions from the perspectives of product identification, cultural motivation, and consumers’ perceived authenticity, the present study was empirically conducted with a sample of 823 respondents. Hanfu, an emerging trend that industrializes traditional culture, has garnered increasing attention from consumers. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to examine the proposed research model. The results demonstrate that consumers’ identification with Hanfu and cultural motivation positively influence object-based and existential authenticity, as well as purchase intention. Furthermore, the mediating effect of perceived object-based authenticity is confirmed, indicating its significance in shaping consumers’ purchase intentions, while the mediating effect of existential authenticity is found to be insignificant. Research findings could contribute to the understanding of the psychological mechanisms driving consumers’ purchase intentions towards traditional clothing and highlight the importance of consumers’ perceived object-based authenticity in the market of traditional cultural clothing. It has transitioned from being a niche industry appealing to a small group of individuals interested in cultural revitalization to an emerging fashion trend in the clothing industry. The rise of China-Chic, driven by the development of domestic product consumption and the revitalization of Chinese traditional culture, has sparked interest across various industries in leveraging national culture and branding to attract consumers. Therefore, consumers’ identification with Hanfu and their cultural motivation towards Hanfu could be taken as psychological determinants which drive the form of purchase intention. In modern society, Hanfu represents not only apparel but also consumers’ expression of themselves and desire for cultural and historical connotations. As such, one of the objectives of the present study is to empirically explore and understand the psychological mechanism of consumers’ purchase intentions from the angles of their identification with Hanfu and cultural motivation. Moreover, Ko et al. Hanfu, has been limited thus far. Collectively, this research develops and empirically tests a theoretical model which explores the correlations among consumers’ identification with Hanfu, cultural motivation, perceived object-based and existential authenticity, and their purchase intentions towards Hanfu. Hence, another objective of the present study is to apply the consumer-based authenticity model to understand the forming mechanism of consumers’ purchase intentions towards Hanfu. Products are seen as reflections of consumers’ personalities, and the symbolic meaning of a certain product often embodies more significance compared to its functional aspects. Moreover, the mediating effect of consumers’ perceived authenticity between consumers’ identification with Hanfu/cultural motivation and purchase intentions will be examined. Therefore, the identification with the clothing one wears can directly or indirectly impact the psychological mechanisms of decision-making. As a result, consumers continuously shape their identities through their consumption choices of specific products, services, or brands. In this context, Hanfu, as a cultural and historical apparel, goes beyond its functional purpose and becomes intertwined with consumers’ emotional and psychological needs. Based on the above discussion, when consumers form identification with Hanfu, their purchase intentions would be increased because of the congruity between themselves and the particular product. Furthermore, for consumers’ perceived authenticity in the context of tourism, He et al. Furthermore, their perceptions of authenticity could be activated. Consumers’ identification with Hanfu positively affects their perceived existential authenticity. Consumers’ identification with Hanfu positively affects their perceived object-based authenticity. Consumers’ identification with Hanfu positively affects their purchase intentions. Therefore, it can be inferred that consumers’ cultural motivations could positively impact on their perceived object-based and existential authenticity. Consumers’ cultural motivations toward Hanfu positively affect their perceived object-based authenticity. In the context of cultural apparel, cultural motivation refers to consumers’ motives and desires to purchase or wear Hanfu, driven by their interest in the cultural aspects associated with it. Consumers’ cultural motivations toward Hanfu positively affect their purchase intentions. Consumers’ cultural motivations toward Hanfu positively affect their perceived existential authenticity. Moreover, the significant correlations between consumers’ or tourists’ authenticity and various aspects of their decision-making have been empirically examined and verified. Therefore, consumers’ perceived authenticity toward Hanfu can be understood from the angles of object-based and existential authenticity. Consumers’ perceived object-based authenticity toward Hanfu positively affects their purchase intentions. Consumers’ perceived existential authenticity toward Hanfu positively affects their purchase intentions. Consumers’ perceived object-based authenticity toward Hanfu positively affects their existential authenticity. For example, Biraglia et al. However, in the context of traditional and cultural apparel consumption, such as Hanfu, the mediating role of consumers’ perceived object-based and existential authenticity in the relationship between their motivation or identification with Hanfu and their purchase intentions has received limited attention. Additionally, the mediating effect of consumers’ perceived authenticity has been explored in the literature. Consumers’ perceived object-based authenticity mediates the relationship between consumers’ identification with Hanfu and purchase intentions. Consumers’ perceived object-based authenticity mediates the relationship between consumers’ cultural motivations toward Hanfu and purchase intentions. Consumers’ perceived existential authenticity mediates the relationship between consumers’ identification with Hanfu and purchase intentions. Consumers’ perceived existential authenticity mediates the relationship between consumers’ cultural motivations toward Hanfu and purchase intentions. In summary, the objective of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship among consumers’ identification with Hanfu, cultural motivation, perceived object-based and existential authenticity, and purchase intentions. To ensure the questionnaire’s cultural relevance and validity, a double translation method suggested by Kivela et al. Furthermore, the mediating roles of two types of perceived authenticity in the paths between identification/motivation and purchase intention, respectively, will be examined. The questionnaire, initially designed in English, was first translated into Chinese by a professional translator who was bilingual in English and Chinese. Then, another professional translator, who was also bilingual, translated the Chinese version back into English. Previous to the official data collection procedure, the Chinese version of the questionnaire was reviewed by two Hanfu consumers with experience in purchasing Hanfu and two researchers familiar with the consumer-based authenticity model and consumer behavior. Based on their feedback, minor adjustments were made to ensure clarity and ease of understanding for respondents. The authors reviewed both translations, considering the Chinese cultural context, conceptual meaning, and construct validity, to finalize the Chinese version of the questionnaire. The final agreement was made among the authors and four participants concerning the final version of the questionnaire. The multiple-stage sampling process was employed to collect responses from potential respondents. Secondly, based on the directory of the company, a random sampling method was conducted to randomly select 1500 consumers who had purchased Hanfu within the past year as the study sample. Firstly, a Hanfu sales company that maintained a directory of approximately 20,000 Hanfu consumers was approached to be taken as the source of potential responses to the survey. The sampling procedure was conducted with the assistance of the company’s staff. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the university that the authors worked at before conducting the study to ensure the validity of this study in terms of the ethical dimensions. The platform provided a unique URL link and QR code for participants to access the questionnaire. In the meantime, participants were assured of confidentiality and sole academic use of data. The questionnaire was accessible from 10 December 2022 to 13 March 2023, until no new responses were generated. After the screening, 259 questionnaires were deleted due to short completion time (less than 250 s) (191) or straight-line answers (68). As a result, 823 rational responses were obtained, yielding a valid response rate of 76.1%. The sample size of 823 was considered appropriate for performing data analysis using PLS-SEM, as recommended by Hair et al. A total of 1082 samples were initially collected. 2011) for research frameworks with five or fewer latent constructs, with each latent construct containing more than three measurement items. In terms of monthly income, 31.8% of respondents reported an income of over 15,000 CNY, followed by 20.3% with an income ranging from 8500 to 10,999 CNY and 15.6% with an income of 11,000 to 14,999 CNY. The results showed that 213 (25.6%) respondents were from East China, followed by 132 respondents (15.87%) from Northeast China and 121 (14.54%) from Central China. The socio-demographic characteristics of respondents are indicated in Table 1. Among the valid 823 collected samples, 573 were female (69.6%) and 250 were male (30.4%). In terms of respondents’ age, respondents between 25-34 years old accounted for the largest group, with a total of 560 (68%) respondents in this age group, followed by the group between 18 and 24 years old with 118 respondents (14.3%). Regarding their educational background, 78.6% of respondents hold a bachelor’s degree. Descriptive statistics of respondents. The first section contains questions regarding respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics such as their age, gender, educational background, etc. The second section focuses on measuring the research constructs, including the independent variables of “product identification” and “cultural motivation”, the mediating variables of “object-based authenticity” and “existential authenticity”, and the dependent variable of “purchase intention.” A five-point Likert scale was used, varying from 1, representing “strongly disagree”, to 5, standing for “strongly agree”, to assess respondents’ judgement of each item related to the research constructs. The operationalization of the research variables was as follows. Consumers’ “perceived authenticity” was measured using two constructs: “existential authenticity” and “object-based authenticity.” Ten items were adopted from studies by Atzeni et al. The structured survey questionnaire comprises of two major sections. Constructs and corresponding references. The dependent variable of “purchase intention” was evaluated with five items adapted from studies by Aucouturier et al. Following the recommendation of Hair et al. IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 26) and SmartPLS 3.2.9 software were used for data analysis. PLS-SEM is particularly useful for exploratory studies and extending existing theoretical frameworks through examining the measurement model and structural model. PLS-SEM was conducted for hypothesis testing, as it allows for predicting key drivers and maximizing the variance of dependent constructs. Descriptive analysis using SPSS was conducted to testify the normality of research data. It was calculated that the kurtosis and skewness values of the items were within the acceptable range (lower than critical values of ±2.58 and ±1.96, respectively). The measurement model examines the relationships between the constructs and their indicators, while the structural model reveals the relationships among the latent constructs within the research framework. However, the p-value of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test was less than 0.05, indicating that the sample data violated the assumption of normal distribution, although it is worth noting that the normal distribution assumption is not crucial for PLS-SEM analysis. According to Podsakoff et al. 50% or more of the covariance among research variables, this indicates the existence of common method bias. Harman’s one-factor test was conducted to ascertain the common method bias. Consequently, no significant differences exist between the two groups in demographic variables, confirming the absence of nonresponse bias. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) results revealed that no single component explained more than 31.87% of the variance, suggesting there is no common method bias issue. Overall model assessment was evaluated by the index of goodness of fit (GoF). According to Wetzels et al. Second, Cronbach’s alpha (CA) and composite reliability (CR) were used to assess the internal consistency. Therefore, the internal consistency and composite reliability of the proposed research model have been ensured. First, the factor loadings of indicators were examined to assess reliability and it was found that all factor loadings exceed the recommended value of 0.6, indicating an acceptable reliability (see in Table A2). As a result, IP3 was eliminated from the construct, improving the convergent validity of the construct. Results of reliability and validity tests. Due to the low factor loading of IP3, its AVE did not meet the cutoff value. Diagonal elements in bold are the square root of the AVE. The off-diagonal elements are the correlations among latent variables. Overall, the reliability and validity of the proposed research model have been fulfilled. The coefficients of determination (R2) indicate the explanatory power of the endogenous constructs. The values of R2 and R2adj both unearth the moderate predictive accuracy or explanatory power of the endogenous constructs of the research model. The HTMT value is in brackets. The results show that identification with product and cultural motivation explained 37.5% of the variance in object-based authenticity. Identification with Hanfu, cultural motivation, and object-based authenticity explained 38.1% of the variance in existential authenticity. In addition, 56.8% of the variance of purchase intention was explained by other variables in the model. For the evaluation of collinearity of structural models, it is necessary to consider the combination of each dependent variable in the structural model and multiple predictors (independent variables) that predict that dependent variable. For object-based authenticity, the VIF values of the two predictors were both 1.165 and 1.165. The VIF values of the three predictors of existential authenticity were 1.190, 1.657 and 1.600. The VIF values of the four predictors of purchase intention were 1.244, 1.881, 1.667 and 1.617. These VIF values are all less than the critical value of 5, so there is no obvious collinearity problem. In this study, there are three dependent variables (object-based authenticity, existential authenticity and purchase intention) with two or more predictors. The blindfolding procedure was conducted to examine the predictive relevance (Q2) of the model. Results of R2, adjusted R2, and Q2. In order to examine the hypothesized correlations among research variables, a bootstrapping procedure with 5000 subsamples was performed, and the results can be seen in Figure 2. In addition, Table 5 represents the estimates of the structural model covering the path coefficients, effect size (f2), which is an instrumental parameter for evaluating the strength of any statistical claim, t-values, and level of significance (p-values). Moreover, according to the values of f2, H1a, H1b, H1c, H2b, H2c, H3a, and H4 were attested to be small effects, H3b was attested to be a moderate effect, and H2a was found to be a large effect. As results, traditional qipao chinese dress all hypothesized relationships were found to be statistically significant. The results of mediation tests are summarized in Table 6. To evaluate the mediating role of the mediators, variance accounted for (VAF) was used. The mediating roles of object-based and existential authenticity were examined using 5000 bootstrap samples. The mediation effect of the path (identification with product → object-based authenticity → purchase intention) accounted for 20.87%, indicating partial mediation. The mediation effect of the path (identification with product → existential authenticity → purchase intention) accounted for 17.83%, indicating no mediation. The values of VAF were calculated based on the formula proposed by Hair et al. The mediation effect of the path (cultural motivation → existential authenticity → purchase intention) accounted for 16.00%, indicating no mediation. The mediation effect of the path (cultural motivation → object-based authenticity → purchase intention) accounted for 40.95%, indicating partial mediation. Results of the mediation test.
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