Resgate teórico-empírico da dinâmica de criação de valor no consumo: contribuições para a compreensão das escolhas de vestuário de consumidoras orientadas as marcas e/ou à moda

Abstract

The current study, in general, was based on the notion that consumers make their choices by means of a complex mental process wich goes beyond the utilitarian view. In order to provide additional insights on why certain choices prior the purchase, a theoretical framework for investigating the customer value creation process, proposed by Smith and Colgate (2007), was used as a potential predecessor of different shopping orientations. In this study, was investigated, specifically, brand and fashion as shopping orientations among female apparel consumers. As the authors proposition is general in nature, its application to the aims of this research required a further development regarding the identification of variables that constitute each of the four default values (functional / instrumental, experiencial / hedonic, symbolic / expressive and cost / sacrifice), resulting in the creation of 17 constructs (derived from the original values), which were initially defined by a qualitatively investigation and was statistically validated in a pilot study that preceded the realization of this survey with 836 female apparel consumers in Belo Horizonte-MG. As main results, this study demonstrated that the consumers of apparel can be grouped into four mutually exclusive groups of brand orientation and fashion orientation. The four group members could be discriminated by their respective values and each one represents a particular configuration of opportunities and challenges for managers in the fashion world.