Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Kobia, Caroline Makena
Author's Email Address	ckobia1@lsu.edu
URN	etd-04112011-114831
Title	Examining Teen Girls’ Fashion Behavior in the Virtual and the Real World: An Exploratory Study
Degree	Master of Science (M.S.)
Department	Human Ecology
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Liu, Chuanlan Committee Chair Marks, Loren Committee Member McRoberts, Lisa Committee Member Kuttruff, Jenna Committee Member
Keywords	Teen Consumer Virtual Fashion Virtual World Avatar
Date of Defense	2011-03-23
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Over the past few years, changes in technology, especially the emergence of virtual worlds, have impacted the landscape of doing business. Many industries, such as retailing and fashion industries have recognized the e-commerce potentials and have engaged in setting up strategic ventures in the virtual worlds to develop products and/or services that are geared towards meeting consumer needs. Previous research has examined consumers’ adoption of innovative products, but there is no known study that has examined consumers’ adoption of virtual fashion. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to shed some light on understanding consumer adoption of virtual fashion. Specifically, assessed the effects of external variables, (i.e., fashion innovativeness and peer pressure), on need gratification, attitudes, and adoption of virtual fashion among teen girl consumers who have grown up with advanced technology and sophisticated fashion changes. Data was collected from a convenience sample of teen girls between the ages of 12 to 19 via an online survey. The final sample consisted of 177 teen girls. A series of multiple regressions were employed to test all hypotheses. Results revealed that adoption of virtual fashion is significantly impacted by teen girl consumers’ gratification of needs, attitude towards the virtual fashion world, and fashion innovativeness. However, adoption of virtual fashion was not significantly impacted by peer pressure. The results add to existing literature related to consumers’ adoption of an innovation by the integration of communications, sociological and innovation adoption theories. Future research may focus on the difference between urban and suburban teens.
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