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An Exploratory Study on Fashion Retail Borrowing inKoreaMiYoung Lee a & Kim K. P. Johnson ba Dept. of Fashion Design & Textiles , Inha University , Korea E-mail:b Dept. of Design, Housing, & Apparel , University of Minnesota , USA E-mail:Published online: 03 Jan 2012.

To cite this article: MiYoung Lee & Kim K. P. Johnson (2010) An Exploratory Study on Fashion Retail Borrowing in Korea,Journal of Global Academy of Marketing Science, 20:1, 70-79, DOI: 10.1080/12297119.2010.9707345

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70 M Lee, K K P. Johnson I Joumal 0/ Global Academ) 0/ Marketing Science 20-1 (201 70-79

An Exploratory Study on Fashion Retail Borrowing in Korea

~1 E 8t r4?E

MiYoung L1)* Kim K. P. Johnson2)

Abstract

There has been some research conducted that addressed immoral consumer behaviors in Korea; however, most of this research focusd on purchasing counterfeits or shoplifting. Hi1 return rates of apparel and used apparel returns have been acknowledged as problem areas within the fashion industry. However, very few researchers have addressed this issue. Threfore the goal of this research was to explore consumr s retail borrowing experience using a mixed methods approach. In study 1 Korean consumers retail borrowing experinces was xplord through focus group interviews. Findings inforrned study 2 an examination of apparel consumers attitudes toward retail borrowing behavior via an online survey. Findings assist both researchers and practitioners understanding of rtail borrowing behaviors and provide insight into retail borrowing issues in the apparel retail industry

For study 1, fiv focus-group intfV1ews wre conducted with seven panels of individuals that had retail borrowing experience within th past yar. Thirty-five Korean consumers who lived in a metropolitan ea participated in the focus group interviews. Most of consumers were in their 20s (= 21) and were women (n=24). Most participants purchased apparel items from a retail store and returned the wom items for either a ful1 refund or exchanged th wom item for another item. Motives underlying retail borrowing bhavior included social needs, job-related needs, fashion neds and sm shopping." Similar to existing research fmdings from other countries, social needs were th most frequently mntioned cause of retail borrowing in fashion stores. Consumers' moral values, attitude toward large corporations, and prior retail borrowing exprience were mentioned as possible factors affecting consumers retail borrowing bhavior.

For study 2, the questionnaire used to gather the data was developed based on the findings of pa 1 and existing research. Questions conceming consumers moral beliefs, sensation seeking tendencies, self-worth, past retail job xperince retail borrowing experience, and some demographic characteristics were included in the questionnaire. The data were col1ected via an online svey using an online panel provided by a commercial online research company located in Seoul, Korea. In order to obtain various consumers, a quota

1) * Corresponding Author: Associate Prolessor , Dep t. 01 Fashlon Design & Textiles , Inha University , Korea E-maJ!: mylee@inha.ac.kr

2) Proless Dept. 01 Design , Housing , & Apparel , niversity 01 Minnesota , USA , E-mai/: kjohnson@umn.edu

@ 2010 KAMS. AII rights reserved

sample was (male: female= l: l , 20 s:30 s:40s=I:I:l , retail experience: no retail experience= 1 : 3) obtained from the company. A total of 401 consumers who had shopped for apparel items during the prior 6 months participated in the online svey.

le results indicated that 19.7% of the respondents reported they had experience borrowing fashion merchandise. Among these individuals, male borrowers (57%) outnumbered female borrowers. In terrns of age distribution, x 2 revaled that there was a statistical difference between respondents with and without retail borrowing experiences: 41.8% of the rspondnts with retail borrowing experience were in their 40 s, while respondents without retail borrowing experience were evenly distributed between their 20s to 40 s. There was also a significant differnce between respondents with and without retail borrowing experience in terrns of income: respondents with retail borrowing xpnnce tendd to have higher incomes than those without retail borrowing xperience.

T-tests wer perforrned to compar rspondnts fashion shopping behavior, moral beliefs, sensation-seking tendencies, and attitudes toward retail borrowing behavior between participants with and without rtail borrowing expeence. As compared to those with no borrowing experience, respondents with xperience tendd to shop for fashion itms more frequently and spent more on shopping for fashion items. Consumers with experience borrowing tended to have higher sensation-seeking tendencies than consumers without retail borrowing experience. A regression analysis revealed that attitudes toward fashion retail borrowing were negatively related to consumers moral bliefs but positively related to monthly fashion shopping frequency, sensation-seeking tendencies, and past fashion retail borrowing experience. Among these variables, past retail borrowing experience was the most significant predictor, fo l1owed by moral beliefs.

This research serves as an initial attempt to address the motives that underlie retail borrowing behaviors and the factors affecting those behaviors. The findings of this study may facilitate an understanding of the consumers retail borrowing, which wiU provide a basis for approaches that may hlp decrease rtail borrowing and inappropriate returns at fashion rtail stores. The findings may also provide materials for consumer education over the long terrn. In order to better understand fashion retail borrowing bhavior more resarch is needed in the future.

Keywords: Retail borrowing, Fashion, Korea, Misbehavior, Returns

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72 M Lee, K. K. P. Johnson / Joumal of Global Academy of Marketing Science 20-1 (2010) 70-79

rate have been documented as more than 50% for some fash-ion products (Hom shopping"'" 2008). Becaus home shop-ping retailers offer consumers generous return policies, fashion products can b easily returned including products that have b11 tried on, used, or damaged. Although most consumers re-turn merchandise that did not function appropriately or did not meet their needs in other ways (e.g., wrong color, size), there are consumers who return non-dfectiv merchandise for re-funds or exchanges after the iterns have successfully met their intnded purpos (Piron and Young 2000, 2001).

Some researchers have focused their attention on under-standing immoral consumT behaviors (i.. consumer mis-behavior) in Korea; however, most of their efforts centered on counterfeiting purchasing or shoplifting. Relatively few re-searchers have investigated the consumer retum issue (Lee 2009; Park 2006, 2008a, 2008b) which is probl:matic in light of acknowledged concems about high return rates in general and the growing practice of retuming used merchandise. Therefore, this study was designed to examine consumers re-tail borrowing experience using a mixed methods approach (Creswell, 2009). The first stage was designed to explore Koran consumers retail borrowing experiencs through focus group interviews. The second stage was designed to use th findings of the first stage to inform our examination of apparel consumers attitudes toward retail borrowing behavior via an online survey. Our fmdings assist both researchers and practi-tioners to bett:r understand retail borrowing bhaviors and to provide insight into retail borrowing issues in the apparel retail industry.

II. Literature Review

2.1. Consumer Misbehavior

Consumrs ar oftn portrayed as being taken advantage of by marketers rather than committing fraudulent consumption acts themselves. In order to protect the right of consumers, various measures have been taken (e.g., consumer protection laws). However, consumers tend to have a double standard: consumers expected higher moral standards from companies than what they themselves follow (Vitell 1991).

Fullerton and Punji (2004) named consumer behaor that violats the generally accepted norms of conduct in the con-sumption process as "consumer misbehavior". They theoretical1y categorized consumr misbhavior into five typs: misbehavior directed against marketer employes (e.g., verbal or physical abuse of marketer employees); directed against marketer mer-chandise (e.g., shoplifting); directed against other consumers (e.g., illegitimate use of express checkout lines); directed against marketers' financial assets (e.g. , failure to report billing errors favorable to consumers); and directed against mar}{trs physical pr'mises (e.g., vandalism). From this catgorization w can quickly infer that the list of separate behaviors that com-

prises consumer misbehavior is long and includes both obvious and subtle forms of misbehaviors (e.g., vandalism, verbal abu-siveness toward employees, tag-switching, switching sizes). As the consumption environmnt and technology has changed, new forms of consumer misbehavior have also appeared (e.g., credit card fraud, software piracy).

Shoplifting is one of the most prevalent consumer mis-behaviors in the apparel-rtail industry. Although shoplifting is committed by consumers and employees, the term shoplifting is usually thought of as consumer shoplifting. Lin, Hastings and Martin (1994) found that 57% of the fashion retail store ownrs they surveyed repo that they had been victims of shoplifting. Most of the shoplifters were females in their 20s to 30s. Most people agree that shoplifting is wrong. However, there are different types of consumer misbehavior that rnay be considrd as immoral but acceptable: for instance not report-ing receipt of excess change when making a purchas or pur-chasing a gment with the intent of retuming it after having wom lt

Lee (2009) identified Korean apparel consumers irnmoral shopping b:haviors from the perspective of apparel sales asso-ciates prspectives. Two aras of immoral behavior were idntifid: immoral behaviors associated with the product and those associated with the consumer. lmmoral behaviors associated with the product were classified as shoplifting, inappropriat retums, and damaging merchandise. Immoral bhaviors relative to th consumr was c1assifid as abusive behaviors and ex-cessive dernands. Although shoplifting was the primary im-moral behavior mentioned by all interview participants, partic-ipants also pointed out that inappropriate returns including re-tail borrowing behaviors, occur frequently in fashion retail settings. Many participants mentioned cases of retail borrowing and pointed out that this is a serious problem to the fashion rtail industry because the mTchandis loss it ability to be sold because of the relatively short product life-cycle.

2.2. Retail Borrowing

When customrs are dissatisfied with a purchase, th cus-tomer can return it according to the stor policis. Policies in-clude the ability of the customer to exchange the item for a similar or different item, for a store credit, or for a ful1 refund. Consumers indicate that return policies and processes are an important facor when they decide where to rnak a purchase and a liberal return policy can b 011

M Lee, K K P. Johnson / Joumal of Global Academy of Marketing Science 20-1 (201 70-79 73

searched in the 1970s. Zabriskie (1972/1 973) found that sus-pected and provable fraud accounted for 12% of the total re-turns at a suburban department store , Jolson (1 974) and Wilks (1 978) also found hi1 rate of damaged or used (wom) mer-chandise returns. For example, Jo1son (1 974) found in his sur-vey of department store customers that 21.9% of respondents reported that they returned damaged or used merchandise Subsequntly Wilkess (1978) found in his survey that 20 ,3% of respondents indicated that they had friends who returnd wom dresses most of the time ," Nearly twenty years later, Fullerton, Dodge, and Edwards (1996) found that 35% of their respondents considered the practice of retail borrowing (i.e. , re-turning a wom dress) acceptable ,

Piron and Young (2001) in their survey of undergraduate studnts found that 18% had exprience in product borrowing from retail stors and that most (98%) of the borrowed prod-ucts were apparel items. Social neds (e.g., to attnd a wdding) were identified as the main reason for product borrow-ing, followed by economic needs (e.g. , high prices and low re-sources) , Nearly one-third of the respondents sought to ration-alize thir product borrowing behavior, or even blamed the store policies for their borrowing, while only 25% expressed guilt. In earlier research Piron and Y oung (2000) found that respondents discemed rtail borrowing behavior from legitimate returns. While no significant effects for gnder or income were found, rspondents tended to have higher acceptanc of retail borrowing to meet basic over higher order needs including al-truistic needs ,2)

From the survey of collge students, Johnson and Rhee (2008) also found about 18% of their respondents indicated that thy had rtail borrowing experience and most borrowed mrchandise that wre fashion-related items , Reasons shared for retail borrowing included to look good, to save money, be-cause merchandise was high priced, to attend special events, and because of thir low income. Nearly forty percent of th respondents indicated that someone well known to them bor-rowed merchandise from retail stors and most of the bor-rowed merchandise was fashion-related items (82%). They also found that attitudes toward retail borrowing were significantly relatd to social group influenc retail employment, and prior borrowing behavior. Those who knew someone else who bor-rowed and had borrowed in the past had positive attitudes to-ward borrowing. Thos who had previous work experience in a retail store had ngative attitudes toward borrowing ,

2.3. Factors Related to Retail Borrowing: Demographics

Previous resarchers have found that consumers unethical behaviors are linked to individual charactristics inclllng age, sex, and religious beliefs. Unethical consumer behavior has

2) Altruistic needs included borrowing to meet the goals 01 others such as borrowing a nice outlit to wear to a special event such as a daughter' s graduation

been found in the US to occur more in younger consumer groups than in older consumer groups (Strutton, Pelton and Ferrell 1997). Kim and Le (2003) also found similar results with Korea consumers Specifically, consumrs in their 30s-40s tend to behave morally compared to younger consumers. These resarchers found no differencs based on gender, However, in earlier rsearch Cox et al.(1990) reported that more adolescent males had admitted to shoplifting than female adolscents. Similarly, Klernke (1982) also found that male high school students reported more shoplifting activity than female high school students and that shoplifting activity appeared to decline with increased age

In terms of retail borrowing behavior, the effects of demo-graphic individual characteristics are inconsistent. While Piron and Young (2000) also found no significant effect for gendr or income on respondents' perceptions of retail borrowing, Callen and Ownbey (2003) found significant relationships be-twn retail borrowing behavior and age and gender. Callen and Ownbey (2003) xamined consumers perceptions of un-ethical consumer behavior using different scenarios including not reporting rcipt of excess change in an apparel retail set-ting," not paying accidental damage to apparel," and purchasing a garrnent with specific intent to return it for a full refund after use." Retail borrowing behavior was tid to gender , Women were less accpting of retail borrowing bhavior than men , Age was also a significant factor with older consumers being more ethical and tending to have negativ at-titudes toward immoral consumer behaviors, including shop-lifting and countrfeit purchase

Employment was found to be significant factor on percep-tions of consumers retail borrowing. Callen and Ownbey (2003) found that participants who were employed were less accepting of consumer retail borrowing behavior than partic-ipants who were unemployed. Johnson and Rhee (2008) also found that rtail employment experince was negatively related to the perceived morality of merchandise borrowing ,

2.4. Factors Related to Retail Borrowing: Psychological Factors

Psychological factors, such as moral philosophies, snsatlOn-seng tendncies a feeling of accomplishment, and com-pulsiv shopping tndencies also affect consumers engagement in misbhaviors (Guffey, Harris and Laumer, Jr , 1979). Personal moral philosophis have also been found influence a wide range of decisions in business and non-business arenas (Vitell, Rallapalli and Singhapakdi 1993). Sivadas et al. (2002-2003) found that moral belief influence sales managers moral judgments conceming controversial behaviors. In addi-tion, consumers moral beliefs are a factor in dtrrnining con-sumr misbehavior, including piracy, shoplifting and counterfeit purchases (Ha and Lennon 2004; Lee and Johnson 2007; Shen and Dickson 2001).

Sensation-seeking is a personality trait characterized by th

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extent of a p:rson s desir for novelty and intensity of sensory stimulation (Zuckennan 1990). Sensation-seeking is expressd in behaviors including prfrence for unusual sensations, non-confonnity in peer group selection, social devianc and intolerance for repetitive experiences. Many researchers have supportd a rlationship betwen sensation seng and a wide vanty of reckless behaviors including dangerous driving prac-tices (Amett 1994, 1996), sexual experiences (Amett 1994) and minor criminal behavior (prez and Tonubia 1985). As a fonn of consumer misbehavior, consumer retail borrowing behavior could be considred a mild fonn of risk-taking (mildly reck-less) behavior, and consumers sensation-seeking tendencies rnay affect their attitudes toward retail borrowing behaviors.

III. Study 1

3.1. Methods

In Study 1, because retail borrowing is a relatively unex-plored topic in Korea, th rsearchrs began with a qualitative data collection. Since the research goal in this stag was to explore the extent and nature of consumer retail borrowing be-havior in the fashion indus a focus group interview method was used. Focus group interviews offer insights that cannot be gathered through othr fonns of qualitative research or qultitatlv rsearch methods. Fiv focus-group intl:rviews with seven panels of individuals that had retail borrowing experience with-in the past year wre conducted. Interviews were conducted during weekday evenings. Focus groups provid the bst rsults when composed of people who are reasonably homoge-neous and who are unfarniliar with one another. Therefore, the researcher selected relatively homogeneous groups of partic-ipants in tenns of apparl1 shopping experience: in addition, th participants wr not acquaint.d with one another. ty-fiv Koran consumers who lived in metropolitan ara paicipatd in the focus group interviews. Most of the panels were in their 20 s (.= 21) and fernales (n=24). Details on panel mem-bers are shown in Table 1.

Each focus group lasted for approxinlatly an hour- and-a half. The intrvlews wr facilitated by an experienced moderator. A discussion protocol was prepared by the re-searcher, based on a review of previous research about im-moral consumer behaviors. A smi-structured questionnaire was used, in which th mod:rator followed a topic guide that al-lowd an exploration of issues at the moderators discretion. le five focus group sessions were audio-recorded and tran-scribed to text fonn. The transcriptions were analyzed follow-ing a process out1ined by Krueger (1994). First, the primary researcher read the anscripts to acquire a feel for the data. Then, rcurring themes that relatd to the studys objectives were identified. In order to enhance the reliability of the anal-ysis, descriptions were analyzed by the primary researcher and a research assistant. le results from the two analyzers were

compared and wre discussed to rlconcile any differences that xisted. For the manuscript, quoted transcriptions were trans-lated to English by a professional translator.

Tab!e 1. laracteristics of Focus Group Interview Pane!s

lp lels' ter sex Age Al F 23 A2 F 25 A3 F 24

A A4 F 20 A5 F 20 A6 F 21 A7 F 27 B1 M 21 B2 M 25 B3 M 22

B B4 M 27 B5 24 B6 M 26 B7 M 25 C1 F 30 C2 F 40 C3 F 32

C C4 F 31 C5 F 35 c6 F 38 C7 F 42 D1 F 27 D2 F 28 D3 M 30

D D4 F 32 D5 M 29 D6 M 27 D7 M 31 E1 F 22 E2 F 25 E3 F 20

E E4 F 31 E5 F 30 E6 F 33 E7 F 33

3.2. Results and Discussion

Most participants purchased appar1 items from retail stores and retumed the wom items for a full refund or for a mer-chandise exchange. Less than 20% specifically mentioned" that they had an intent" to retum items when they initially purchased them.

Many participants mentioned that they borrowd apparel itms from stores particularly for special events (i.e., outfits for graduation picture taking, for a wdding ceremony). le most frequently mentioned reason was to meet social needs. " Consumers borrowed apparel . merchandise to attend special events, such as graduation ceremonies, weddings, or bihday parties. Previous resarchers in other countries have found sim-ilar results.

1 need a 'ess for my sisters' wedding fy mother gave me the money to buy a nice out at the department store But 1 usually do not wear dress at all. 1 like jeans and t-shirts'" so, 1 bought a nice outfit and get a refund afler the wedding (A2).

1 had to get a suit for the university graduation. 1 don t norm.zly wear suits. 1 just got it because it was a ve

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special d. 1 actually had a suit but it was an old one, and 1 got a brand new suit for the graduation. 1 returned it qfter taking pictures. v wo"lace does not really require a suit dress code and the suit would be out of fashion in some time. (Bl)

Since most of the interview participants were in their 20 s, work-related reasons WIre also mentioned for borrowing; par-ticipants mentioned that they borrowed apparel items for job mtenews

1 liA a girly and comfirtable style. 1 erifoy wearing a one-piece or blouse. It would be fair to s that people wear certain outfits for interviews They either wear nary or dark grey skirts and white shirts or a blouse. 1 don t really like suit-lil dresses. But 1 had to dress up for the inter-view, and 1 nt to a department store to get one of those. 1 returned it, saying that it di7 't really jt well. (E2)

Some female respondents blamed fashion" for their retail borrowing behavior. They borrowed merchandise to kep up with fast-changing fashion trends. This finding may be a result of characteristics of Korean market, a market that focuses on supplying trendy apparel and the inclination of these relatively young consumers to want to war trendy fashion.

1 think fashion is the problem ".The trends change so fast, and we need to keep up with them. Good clothes this se-son will be useless in the next season. That is why we go to department stores and return them ter a week. We do this en in the name of trends. It is not like we steal from them. Fashion corporations are responsible for this. zey change the trends too often to mal us purchase their products. (A3)

In som situations, a consumer who accomplishes a short-lasting, specific ned with the merchandis (e.g. , a dress for a special occasion) xchanged the item for another with anticipated longer-lasting satisfaction (e.g. , casual day wear). No intviw pticipants indicatd that they borrowed mer-chandise due to economic reasons. On th other hand, they did indicate that thy borrowed merchandise to shop smart."

1 wanted a vei special gl for my child 's first birthday 1 got a pretty dress from a department store. It was ex-pensive, but it is the ve first birthd. of v child. 1 want-ed something nice. But children grow up veiv fast. It seemed like the dress was of no use qfter the party. So 1 changed it with other clothing that was comfortable. le dress was returned flawless, and 1 don t think there is any-thing wrong with that. It is not like 1 returned it for cash. 1 exchanged it for the same cloth. (C6)

It was awkward, returning clothes at first. But 1 feel that 1 am a wise consumer. .. -I would bzv some clothes that 1 need to wear eveJ d but 1 actually did return outfits for special occasions several times. 1 cannot bl everything 1 want"'(A6)

Although some participants mentioned experiencing an un-

cornfortable situation and feelings when they returned used fashion items to stores, most paicants denied that their be-havior was unthical. They believed that there were no losses in terms of merchandise because they returned it after just one use in perfect condition." Participants also mentioned that since the retailers, especially departrnent stores make big prof-its," they thought it was OK to return merchandise.

1 felt sorr and 1 did not want to lie that 1 did not wear them. 1 was anxious and n'Voz when 1 was return-ing the goods. 1 would rather not go through the same experience. (Bl)

1 think buying clothes you don t really like is a waste. 1 convince myself that department stores make a lot of sales, and they sell them expensive. They probably don t make a loss. (D4).

1 did not do anything illegal" 'and department stores and hury brands are large corporations. Their goods are w too expensive, as well. (E6)

Focus group interviews revealed that ther are some con-sumers who purchased merchandise for the purpose of return-ing it subsequent to its use for a specific reason. Since apparel was the most frlquently mentioned borrowed mrchandise re-tail borrowing constitutes a serious problem, specially in fash-ion indusy. From the interviews it was revealed that social needs, job-related needs, fashion needs, and smart shopping" needs were th motives underlying th rtail borrowing of ap-parel items. Similar to previous resarch in other countries, so-cial needs were the most frequently mntioned cause of retail borrowing in fashion stores. Although the history of liberal re-turn policies among retail stores in Korea is a relatively short period compared to stors within the US , the motives under-lying retail borrowing behavior was very similar. This may in-dicate that retail borrowing behavior is an outcome of liberal return policis. Although no participants mentioned economic reasons for thir retail borrowing, it was more common for re-spondents to change spcial occasion dresses with casual ones and consumers often thou1t borrowing was being smt. " None of this was tied to moral beliefs.

In addition, consumers moral values, attitude toward large corporions and prior retail borrowing experience were men-tioned in th interviews as possible factors affecting consum-ers retail borrowing behavior. A summY of the focus group intervews is presented in Tabl 2.

Table 2. Retail Borrowing Motives

MoY Explanations

Social needs To attend spec events, such as graduation ceremonies, weddings, or birthday ptles

Work-related needs For job interview or job-related photo taking

Fashion needs To keep up with fast-channg fashion trends

Smart shopping needs To shop smt." (e.g, exchange a dress for a

specl occasion for several cas items)

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IV. Study 2

4. 1. Methods

For the second pt of this study, an online svey was used to collect the data. The qustionnaire was developed based on the findings of part 1. Questions conceming consurn-ers moral beliefs, sensation seeking tendencies, self-worth, past retail job xprience retail borrowing exprienc and som dmographic characteristics were deve10ped based on previous

research and were also included in the questionnaire. The data were collected via an online survy using an on-

lin panI provided by a commercial online resarch company

located in Seoul, Korea. In order to obtain various consumers, a quota snple was obtained from the company (male: fe-

mal=1: 1, 20 s:30 s:40 s= 1: 1: 1, retail experience: no retail ex-prienc=1:3). A total of 401 consumrs who had shopped for

apparel items during the prior 6 months participated in this online suey. In terms of sample characteristics (female=200, male=201) pticipant s ages ranged from 21 to 49 (A 34.3) and the participants reported shopping an average of 2.7 times

a month and spending an avrag of 150,700 Won each month for c10thing and fashion items. For the data analysis, descrip-tive statistics, T-tests, and regression analyses were usd.

4.2. Results and Discussion

4 .2.1. Retail borrowing experience.

Th results indicatd that 19.7% (n=79) of the respondents reportd having fashion retail borrowing xperience. Cross-tab

analyses were used to examine differences in retail borrowing

experience by respondents' demographic characteristics. Among

those who had fashion retail borrowing experience, male bor-rowers (57%) outnurnbered female borrowers. In terms of age distribution, X 2 rveald that thr was a statistical difflrence between respondents with and without rtail borrowing experi-ences: 41.8% of the respondents with retail borrowing experi-ence were in their 40s, while respondents without retail bor-rowing experince were evenly distributed between their 20 s to thir 40 s. Thr was also a significant differenc between respondents with and without retail borrowing experince in terms of income: respondents with retail borrowing explence

tended to have higher incomes than those without retail bor-

roN1ng expnence.

4 .2.2. Diernces in rspondents characteristics based on retail borrowing experience.

T -tests were performed to compare respondents fashion shopping behavior, moral beliefs, sensation-seeking tendencies, and attitudes toward retail borrowing behavior by their retail

borrowing experience. Rspondents with retail borrowing expe-nnce tnded to shop for fashion itms more frequently and

Table 3. Retail Borrowing Experience hy Demographics

tics Ril bonuwgexlCe

Frso ", 2 Yes No

Male 45 (57%) 156 (48.4%) Sex Fema1e 34 (43%) 166 (5 1.6%) 1.840

Total 79 (100%) 322 (1 00%) 20-29 18 (22.8%) 116 (36%) 30-39 28 (35.4%) 106 (32.9%)

Age 4049 33 (41.8%) 100 (3 1.1%) 5.645*

Total 79 (100%) 322 (1 00%) 200 or 1ess 31 (39.2%) 169 (52.5%)

201-300 17 (2 1.5%) 70 (2 1.7%)

Income 301400 10 (12.7%) 42 (13.0"10) 401-500 11 (13.9%) 30 (9.3%) 13.903**

501 or more 10 (12.7%) 11 (3 .4%) Total 79 (100%) 322 (100%)

Retai1 yes 28 (35.4%) 72 (22.4%) work no 51 (64.6%) 250 (77.6%) 5.800**

expenence Total 79 (100%) 322 (100%) *p

M Lee, K. K. P. Johnson / Joumal of Global Academy of Marketing Science 20-1 (201 70-79 77

Unlike the previous researches (Callen and Ownbey 2003; Johnson and Rhee 2008), th rlationship between consumers retail work experience and attitudes toward retail borrowing was insignificant. Even more, whil 24% of retail non-bor-rowers had retail experience, 35% of the retail borrowrs in the sne sample had retail work experience. This finding sug-gests that unlike US clsumers Korean consumers with retail expennce may be familiar with the refund policies because of their work expnnce and may be using their knowledge to exploit the opportu.nity to retail borrow.

Tab!e 5. Regression Analysis Resu!ts

&ep V @g11\

g & X Beta t Fashion shopping frequency -.034 .014 -.107 7.521 *** Sensation-seeking tendencies 025 014 .1 11 -2.342** Moral be!iefs -.076 016 -.205 -4.667*** Past retail borrowing experice 1.049 103 .467 10.233*** Retai1 work experience -.030 .090 -.015 -.332 ModeI Sunnnar

R 519 R' 269 Adjusted R' 259 Standard e'or of the estirnate 752

Dependent variab!e: conswners attitudes toward fashion retai1 borrowing Note. Reta.il work experience was coded as 1 for yes and 0 for no. *p

78 M Lee K K P. Johnson / Joumal 0/ Global Academy 0/ Marketing Science 20-1 (2010) 70-79

This article then also s:rv as an initial attempt to address appar1 consumers motives of retail borrowing bhavior and the factors affecting those behaviors. le findings of this study may facilitate an undrstanding of the consumer s retail bor-rowing, which will provide a basis for approaches that may help decrease retail boowing and immoral returns at fashion retail stors. The findings may also provide materials for con-sUlller education over the long term. In order to better under-stand fashion retail borrowing behavior, more research is need-ed in the futur to assess whether there are adtional personal characteristics that predict likelihood of engaging in retail bor-rowing behavior. An additional research project could be an experiment that showed different retail return policies and measured conSUlller attituds about which policies are within an accptable range. Perhaps retailers do not have to be as liberal in their policies as they think thy need to be to atlract and retain their bst customers.

This study shed light on the retail borrowing behavior of conSUlllers by using a mixed methods approach. Howevr there are limits to generalizing our findings. The use of an on-lin survey limited participation to those conSUlllers with online access. Thus, there is a limit in generalizing the results of this resarch to all appar1 consUlllers.

(Received: February 14, 2010) (Revised: March 15, 2010) (Accepted: March 19, 2010)

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