Luxury fashion consumption in sharing economy: A study of Indian millennials

Recently, the trend of sharing economy has gained popularity in fashion, particularly among millennials. Few studies in the past have focused on sharing economy in the clothing industry, mainly in the US and European context. However, whether this global phenomenon of sharing economy will work in emerging markets for the luxury fashion industry is still unknown. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to understand the impact of the various key factors viz. economic benefits, fashion involvement, self-pleasing experience, social projection, perceived risk, and past sustainable behavior on luxury consumption behavior in the sharing economy. Self-determination Theory (SDT) perspective was adopted to show what motivates Indian millennials to participate in luxury fashion rental consumption. Probability sampling technique was used to collect data from Indian millennials who aspired to use luxury fashion brands on a sharing basis. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, followed by multi-group analysis and path estimates to test the hypothesized relationships. The results of the study indicated “social projection value” as the most significant predictor of intention to consume luxury fashion on a sharing basis. Furthermore, the effect of perceived risk and the influence of past sustainable behavior on young consumers’ luxury fashion rental consumption was also found to be significant.