Determinants of purchase intention towards luxury fashion brands among generation Y consumers': A study among postgraduate students of University Utara Malaysia (UUM)

Given the tremendous increase in demand for luxury fashion product among generation Y consumers’, had subsequently increased the concern among manufacturers and companies about the importance of measuring the crucial
determinants that affect the purchase intention of luxury product brands within this cohort’s population. This realization and concern, have led the fashion industry manufacturers and companies to focus on identifying the most crucial factor that are effectively influence generation Y in purchasing luxury fashion brands in order to differentiate their luxury product brands from other competitor, in effort to gain
competitive advantages. In view of this, the purpose of this paper is to determine the
most crucial factors that have significant relationship towards intentions to purchase
luxury fashion brands among Generation Y consumers’ in Malaysia by integrating the
theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and Social Impact Theory (SIT) in the proposed model. There were four independent variables which have been investigated in this study including attitude towards luxury fashion brands, social electronic word of mouth (social e –WOM), perceived behavioural control, and country of origin. A total of 351 questionnaires were distributed among UUM local postgraduate student by using systematic intercept survey, to perform the statistical analysis for data analysis and findings. The results indicated the attitude towards luxury fashion brands, and country of origin have significant effect towards generation Y consumers’ purchase intention on luxury fashion brands, however social electronic word of mouth (social e – WOM) and perceived behavioural control showed insignificant influence towards purchase intention. Among all predictors, attitude towards luxury fashion brands has the strongest influence on generation Y luxury fashion brands purchase intention.