This study aims to examine the transition from attitude formation to sustainable consumption within India’s secondhand fashion market. Drawing on the Attitude–Behavior–Context (ABC) theory integrated with Consumption Value Theory (CVT), it investigates how multiple consumption value dimensions and contextual enablers or barriers shape consumer attitudes toward secondhand fashion and subsequently influence purchase intentions.
A quantitative cross-sectional research design was used and the proposed relationships were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Survey data were collected from 609 consumers in the Delhi–NCR region, representing an urban and digitally engaged segment of India’s emerging secondhand fashion ecosystem.
The results indicate that economic value, environmental consciousness, sociocultural factors, perceived risk, fashion and style consciousness, convenience and accessibility, and perceived trust significantly influence consumer attitudes toward secondhand fashion. Among these determinants, perceived trust emerges as the strongest predictor of consumer attitude. Consumer attitude, in turn, has a significant positive effect on both purchase intention and perceived sustainability (PS). Furthermore, PS partially mediates the relationship between consumer attitude and purchase intention, translating favorable consumer attitudes into sustainable consumption intentions.
This study extends attitude–behavior models in sustainable fashion research by integrating CVT and sustainability perceptions within the ABC framework, generating an original value–attitude–contextual–behavior proposition unavailable from either framework independently. By examining secondhand fashion adoption in India, the research contributes to the literature on sustainable consumption in emerging circular economies, offering practical insights on trust-building mechanisms, sustainability communication, and sociocultural normalization strategies necessary to scale such ecosystems.
