Studying Chinese Generation Y consumers' consumer involvement in fashion clothing and brand status

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine Chinese generation Y consumers' fashion clothing involvement effects on specific brand related consumer responses including brand status, brand attitude and willingness to pay a premium for a specific brand. Design/methodology/approach – A self-completion questionnaire survey was administered in China to university students aged between 18 and 25. Findings – A consumer's level of involvement was found to have positive effect on brand related responses such as perception of brand status and brand attitude. Further brand status and brand attitude were found to have positive impacts on consumer's willingness to pay a premium for a specific brand. Research limitations/implications – First, based on the student sample used for study it may not be possible to generalize the effects found to non-students. Second, the findings from this study focusing on fashion clothing brands are perhaps limited in their generalisability to other product categories. Practical implications – An important finding that is beneficial to marketing practitioners in China, especially for those in the fashion industry, is the findings that maintaining the status of a brand would be more effective with highly involved consumers leading to an overall more positive attitude. Marketing initiatives with status building objectives are therefore essential for enabling brands to command higher prices. Originality/value – This paper expands understanding of consumer behaviour related to Chinese generation Y consumer behaviour, fashion clothing involvement and status branding.