Similarities and differences in forming purchase intention toward a US apparel brand: a comparison of Chinese and Indian consumers

This study attempts to identify in what aspects China and India are different and similar in forming consumer attitudes and purchase intentions toward US apparel brand goods. To this end, this study proposed a composite model incorporating the theory of planned behavior and a modified Fishbein model, and empirically compared the model with data collected in China and India. Structural equation modeling results yielded both similarities and differences in patterns of significance and the direction of effects for specific hypothesized paths. Differences were found in the paths of face saving -> attitude, face saving -> purchase intention (paths were positive and significant in the Chinese sample but non-significant in the Indian sample), group conformity -> attitude and group conformity -> purchase intention (paths were positive and significant in the Indian sample but non-significant in the Chinese sample). Similarities between two countries were found in the rest of the proposed paths. Based on the findings, discussions and implications were provided.