YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR: THE EXAMINATION OF FASHION LEADERSHIP AND GENERAL LEADERSHIP AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN AND CAUCASIAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS Davette Angelo, B S Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2010 APPROVED: Tammy Kinley, Major Professor and Chair of the Division of Merchandising Christy Crutsinger, Committee Member Bharath M Josiam, Committee Member Judith C Forney, Dean, School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management Michael Monticino, Dean of the Robert B Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Angelo, Davette You are what you wear: The examination of fashion leadership and general leadership among African American and Caucasian American college students Master of Science (Merchandising), May 2010, 88 pp., 11 tables, figures, references, 89 titles The purpose of this study was twofold First, the study compared fashion personality characteristics and shopping behaviors of African-American and CaucasianAmerican college students Secondly, this study examined characteristics of leadership in general, and fashion leadership specifically, on fashion personality characteristics The fashion personality characteristics studied included fashion leadership, fashion involvement, shopping enjoyment, and fashion consciousness The participants consisted of 268 African Americans and 239 Caucasian Americans from two universities in the United States Ethnicity was found to be an influence on fashion personality characteristics and shopping behaviors in this study African Americans in the sample were found to have higher levels of fashion personality characteristics and shopping behaviors than Caucasian Americans Fashion leadership was found to be positively related to general leadership, fashion involvement, shopping enjoyment and fashion consciousness General leadership was found to be positively related to fashion involvement, shopping enjoyment, fashion consciousness, academic classification level However, there was no significant difference found between general leadership and age Copyright 2010 by Davette Angelo ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While completing my master’s degree and my thesis I have received continuous support from many people I would like to acknowledge Dr Josiam for introducing this topic in his research methods class and encouraging my efforts to expand it In addition I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr Tammy Kinley, for helping me to define and maintain my research agenda and writing I would also like to thank Dr Christy Crutsinger not only for serving as one of my thesis committee members but also for assisting me with other research efforts and celebrating all of my accomplishments at the University of North Texas Special thanks are also due to the faculty at Texas Southern University for supporting my research by opening up their classrooms to administer my questionnaires It is because of their participation that what began as an idea came to fruition, and they provided continuous encouragement to me to complete this research project Lastly, I would like to thank my family for their never-ending support throughout all of my educational pursuits To my late grandmother, Mable A Benson, thank you for beginning a legacy of education that I will continue and to my late grandfather, Earlee Benson, thank you for beginning a legacy of Historically Black University graduates To my mother, who always listened to my triumphs and my trials and to my father, who made me realize that life is a gift to be lived every day as though it were my last To my extended family, the University of North Texas Black Graduate Students Association, you guys helped to complete my graduate school experience iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii Chapter I INTRODUCTION Purpose Rationale Research Models Hypotheses Definition of Terms Assumptions Limitations 10 II LITERATURE REVIEW 11 Ethnicity 11 Additional Variables Contributing to Consumer Behavior 15 Fashion Leadership 16 Fashion Involvement 21 Shopping Enjoyment 25 Fashion Consciousness 28 General Leadership 30 Shopping Behavior 34 iv Summary 37 III METHODOLOGY 39 Sample 39 Research Instrument 39 Modifications for Final Instrument 40 Final Instrument 40 Instrument Variables 41 Fashion Leadership 41 General Perception of Leadership 41 Shopping Enjoyment 42 Fashion Consciousness 42 Personal Involvement Inventory 43 Demographics 43 Procedure for Collecting Data 44 Data Analysis 44 IV RESULTS 46 Description of Sample 46 Instrument Scales 48 Fashion and General Leadership Personality Characteristics 48 Shopping Behavior 50 Reliability of Instrument 54 Analysis of Hypotheses 55 H1: Ethnicity and Fashion Personality Characteristics 55 v H2: Ethnicity and Shopping Behavior 57 H3: The Influence of Fashion Leadership 59 H4: General Leadership, Fashion Personality Characteristics and Demographics 61 V DISCUSSION 64 Summary of the Study 64 Conclusions 65 Implications 71 Recommendations for Future Studies 73 Appendix A LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS 75 B LETTER FROM UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS 78 C LETTER FROM TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 80 REFERENCE LIST 82 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page Hypotheses and Tests 45 Sample Demographics 47 Statistics for Fashion Personality Characteristics and General Leadership 48 Frequencies of Shopping Behaviors 51 Mean Scores for Comfort Level of Purchases, Expenditure and Time Spent Shopping 52 Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability of Survey Scales 54 The Influence of Ethnicity on Fashion Personality Characteristics: t-test Results 57 The Influence of Ethnicity on Shopping Behaviors: t-test Results 58 The Influence of Ethnicity on Shopping Behaviors: χ² Results 59 10 Pearson Product Moment Correlations for Fashion Leadership and General Leadership, Fashion Involvement, Shopping Enjoyment, Fashion Consciousness, Academic Classification Level, and Age 60 11 Pearson Product Moment Correlations for General Leadership and Fashion Involvement, Shopping Enjoyment, Fashion Consciousness, Age, and Academic Classification Level 62 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page The effect of ethnicity on fashion personality characteristics and shopping behavior Research Model II Ethnicity’s relationship to fashion personality characteristics and shopping behaviors 56 Relationship between leadership variables and fashion personality characteristics and demographics 61 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Ethnicity expressed through personality can serve as a central guide to how a person behaves An individual’s personality traits determine the leadership abilities that one possesses and whether he or she leads or follows in different aspects of life Expressive emotional style and consumption patterns are also directed by ethnicity (Eicher 1995; Lee, Fairhurst & Dillard, 2002) General leadership combined with ethnicity can affect one’s level of behavior, motivation, and attitude toward fashion General leadership is a factor that has been found to be positively correlated with people who are highly interested in fashion Previous research suggests that a fashion leader exercises general leadership traits as they heavily influence others to wear different fashions, and that they are regarded as being self-confident and holding power and status (Tatzel, 1982) By contrast, fashion followers, who comprise the majority of clothing consumers, are the driving force that sustains the apparel business Fashion behavior can differ among ethnic groups African Americans and Caucasian Americans have differences in taste and product selections that are heavily influenced by race (Feather, Ford & Herr, 1997; Shen & Dickson, 2001) For example, Summers, Belleau and Wozniak (1992) found that involvement was higher in shopping for clothing for non-Caucasian Americans than for Caucasian Americans The study also found that younger, non-Caucasian American unmarried women who were employed or unemployed are highly involved with fashion When studying shopping behavior, characteristics such as age, gender and ethnicity have also been found to be the country A method that could be used is to examine the top cities or states within America that have the highest populations of African Americans and Caucasian Americans Identifying the fashion personality characteristics of individuals within these ethnicities could assist in simplifying marketing efforts Demographic variables such as age, income levels, and education levels should also be expanded This would allow marketers to develop well-built and accurate profiles of these two ethnicities and better serve them Additional research could be conducted to further identify differences among other ethnicities, including Caucasian Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans A replication of this study could be done with the inclusion of other ethnic groups yet they are of the same race For example the study could consider those who are Black but may not consider themselves to be African American or those who are Caucasian American but may not consider themselves to be Caucasian American 74 APPENDIX A LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS 75 Fashion Leadership and General Leadership Dear Participant, The purpose of this research study is to investigate fashion leadership and general leadership among college students Specifically, we are interested in your attitudes toward fashion and how you perceive yourself to be a leader Your participation is entirely voluntary Please be assured that all of your responses are anonymous, and they will be reported in the aggregate for research purposes only You must be 18 years of age to participate in this study If you choose to participate, please not provide your name or contact information because responses are anonymous No questions are asked that would pose any foreseeable physical, psychological, or social risks All questions are important, so please answer all of them The estimated time of completing this survey is seven minutes Your completion of the survey serves as your consent to participate in the study However, if at any time during your participation in this study you wish to stop, please feel free to so There are no penalties for not participating Completion of the survey will serve as your consent to participate If you have any questions or concerns about the survey, please contact Ms Davette Angelo at or Dr Tammy Kinley at or by telephone at - Thank you Sincerely, Davette Angelo Tammy Kinley, Ph.D This research project has been reviewed and approved by the University of North Texas 76 Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects Contact the UNT IRB with any questions regarding your rights as a research subject 77 APPENDIX B LETTER FROM UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD 78 79 APPENDIX C LETTER FROM TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 80 TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 3100 CLEBURNE AVENUE • HOUSTON, TEXAS 77004 • 713-313-4301 Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects June 03, 2009 Davette Angelo School of Merchandising & Hospitality Management University of North Texas We are pleased to inform you that you may conduct your research entitled "YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR:THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FASHION LEADERSHIP AND GENERAL LEADERSHIP AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS AND CAUCASIAN AMERICANS.” Based on the documents provided to the Texas Southern University (TSU) Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS), a careful review of the proposal by the committee gives approval of the proposed research This approval is extended to you for one year Should you make changes in the methodology as it affects human subjects at TSU you must inform the committee Should data collection proceed past one year, you must submit a new application to the committee Thank you for your cooperation with the committee and we wish you well with your research project PLEASE NOTE: (1) All subjects must receive a copy of the informed consent document If you are using a consent document that requires participants’ signatures, signed copies can only be retained for a minimum of years or years for external supported projects Signed consents from student projects will be retained by the faculty advisor Faculty is responsible for retaining signed consents for their own projects; however, if the faculty leaves the university, access must be made available to TSU CPHS in the event of an agency audit (2) Research investigators will promptly report to the CPHS any injuries or other unanticipated problems involving risks to subjects and others Tequerio Banks Texas Southern University Office of Research Hannah Hall Suite 230 3100 Cleburne Street Houston, TX 77004 Phone: 713-313-4301 Fax: 713-313-7598 E-mail: larkins_ts@tsu.edu http://www.tsu.edu/research 81 REFERENCE LIST Alexis, M (1962) Some Negro-White differences in consumption American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 21(1), 11-28 Alpert, M I (1972) Personality and the determinants of product choice JMR, Journal of Marketing 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