The Dimensions of Involvement: How They Relate to Fashion Buying Behavior

Abstract: Involvement with products is a topic that has been studied thoroughly during the last decades. When reviewing the literature, we found that involvement can be divided into four different dimensions: product, brand, consumption and advertising involvement. No research has been done as to how these different dimensions relate to brand category choice and other aspects of buying behavior. The purpose of our thesis was to explore these relationships, and we found that attraction to different brand categories differ depending on the level of involvement on the four dimensions. Since we also found that high involvement persons shop significantly more than low involvement persons, it is valuable for companies to get a thorough understanding of how the involvement dimensions relate to attraction to brand categories with specific perceptions regarding factors like price, quality and trendiness. We also found that people who read fashion magazines or follow fashion blogs have significantly higher involvement on all four dimensions compared to people who do not use these media. We believe that a deeper understanding of the different involvement dimensions among academics is an important step in the development of involvement research.