Çalışan ve Çevre Sorunlarına Dair Kaygı ve Psikolojik Yakınlığın Sorumlu Tüketim Çerçevesinde İncelenmesi: Hızlı Modada Günah Keçisi Bulmanın Düzenleyicilik Rolü

Abstract

This dissertation investigates dynamics between the fast fashion industry’s socio-environmental impacts and consumers’ emotional and behavioral attitudes toward these issues. The literature review highlights presence of barriers that diminish the positive influence of consumer concern on responsible consumption. However, there is a lack of research examining the rationalization strategies consumers use to resolve the cognitive dissonance stemming from their inconsistent attitudes. To address this gap, this study has two main objectives. The first objective is to evaluate the conflicting emotional (i.e. high levels of concern and psychological closeness to socio-environmental issues) and behavioral (i.e. low levels of responsible fashion consumption) attitudes of fast fashion consumers within the framework of cognitive dissonance theory. The second objective is to examine the scapegoating strategies (rationalization methods of inconsistent attitudes) proposed consumers to alleviate the dissonance arising from these inconstancies in attitudes and behaviors. To achieve these goals, hypotheses were developed to explore the positive effects of consumer concern and psychological closeness to these issues on responsible textile consumption practices. Subsequently, to address the gap identified in the literature, the research employs a multi-method design to investigate consumers’ rationalization methods. In the first phase of the research, semi-structured in-depth interviews revealed that consumers blame governments and brands as scapegoats which were subsequently included in the model as moderating factors. To further control for these impacts, perceived consumer effectiveness (the sense of responsibility felt by consumers) was also included as a moderating factor. In the second phase, data collected from 368 fast fashion consumers were analyzed, and the proposed research model was tested. The findings indicate that consumers’ concerns about environmental and labor issues, as well as their psychological closeness to these issues, positively influence responsible consumption practices. However, scapegoating governments weakens the positive relationship between psychological closeness and labor-focused responsible consumption practices. Conversely, perceived consumer effectiveness strengthens the positive effects of psychological closeness on both labor- and environment-focused responsible consumption. These results support cognitive dissonance theory and provide insights to develop strategies to motivate consumers toward sustainable consumption practices.