Factors Affecting Purchase Intention of Hanfu: Considering Product Identification, Cultural Motivation, and Perceived Authenticity

Abstract

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. Hanfu, an emerging trend that industrializes traditional culture, has garnered increasing attention from consumers. 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. 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.