When Do Consumers Herd An Integrative Model of Consumer Decision-Making Styles, Social Influence, and Product Involvement
Öz
This study investigates when and why consumers engage in herding behavior by integrating consumer decision-making styles (CDMS) with informational and normative social influence mechanisms, while examining the moderating role of product involvement in clothing consumption. Drawing on the Consumer Styles Inventory, Social Impact Theory, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), the study conceptualizes CDMS as utilitarian (cognitive–functional) and hedonic (affective–symbolic) orientations that systematically shape consumers’ reliance on social cues. Survey data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) from 305 consumers with recent clothing purchase experience and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that both utilitarian and hedonic decision-making styles significantly predict informational and normative herding. Utilitarian styles exert a stronger influence on informational herding, reflecting accuracy-driven and uncertainty-reduction motives, whereas hedonic styles more strongly predict normative herding, highlighting the role of social approval, identity expression, and trend conformity. Contrary to traditional ELM assumptions, product involvement signifi-cantly strengthens the effect of hedonic decision-making styles on normative herding, indicating that highly involved consumers in symbolic categories become more sensitive to social norms rather than less. These findings extend herding and persuasion theories by showing that product involvement may strengthen, rather than weaken, socially driven conformity in fashion consumption. The study offers theoretical and managerial implications for understanding consumer herding in socially visible markets.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Kaynakça
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Ayrıntılar
Birincil Dil
İngilizce
Konular
Ekonomi Teorisi (Diğer)
Bölüm
Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar
Merve Coşkun
*
0000-0003-0618-8238
Türkiye
Yayımlanma Tarihi
31 Mayıs 2026
Gönderilme Tarihi
28 Aralık 2025
Kabul Tarihi
26 Şubat 2026
Yayımlandığı Sayı
Yıl 2026 Cilt: 10 Sayı: 1