Jūratė Banytė

The most recent developments in the sustainable fashion indicate the need to further study circular consumption. Ethical identity is linked to decision-making as morally correct or incorrect in relation to perceived brand value and demographics of today’s modern consumers. The study focuses on the role of ethical intensity, perceived social and emotional value and demographic characteristics in relation to consumer willingness to rent or purchase second-hand clothing online. The study employed an online survey to collect data in the United Kingdom and Lithuania. These two countries are relevant for this study because they both are situated in Europe. They both have options for consumers to shop second-hand or rent clothing online, which allows for meaningful data comparison. The study’s findings suggest that demographics, that is, gender acts as significant predictors for consumer willingness to purchase or rent second-hand clothing online in both countries, while age is only significant for Lithuania but not for the UK. Ethical intensity is an important driver of consumer willingness to rent or purchase second-hand clothing online in the UK but not in Lithuania. Perceived social and emotional value is the strongest significant predictor in the consumer willingness to rent or purchase second-hand clothing in both countries. By examining the abovementioned drivers, the study contributes to knowledge on how to better predict consumer decision-making. Specifically, the study introduces ethical intensity construct to the online second-hand and rental clothing context to aid the explanation of consumer willingness to purchase second-hand or rent clothing in the online context.

Acknowledgment
This project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No [S-MIP-22-27].

This research aims to reveal the role of consumers’ visual attention stimuli in advertising from traditional and neuromarketing research perspectives. This study examines six stimuli of consumers’ visual attention, which are divided into three groups – complexity of advertising, reflection of reality in advertising, and attributes of advertising content. A conceptual model was developed, encompassing the relationships of the identified stimuli with consumers’ visual attention (via gaze fixation duration and frequency) and with consumers’ attitudes toward advertising. The model was empirically tested using survey questionnaires and an eye-tracking system to analyze a specific food advertising case. A survey involving 403 respondents in Lithuania found that a statistically significant relationship exists between all visual attention stimuli and attitudes toward advertising, except for advertising authenticity (p-value>0.05). However, the results of the linear regression confirm only instrumental attributes in advertising content (R2=0.294) and higher design complexity (R2=0.230) positively influence on consumer attitudes toward advertising. In the neuromarketing study with 26 participants, a significant relationship was revealed between both dependent variables (the duration and frequency of participants gaze) and visual attention stimuli in food advertising. ANOVA analysis results show longer gaze fixation duration for simple, clear designs, manipulative advertising, symbolic content attributes; more frequent gaze fixation for advertising reflecting high functional and design complexity, authenticity, and instrumental content attributes. However, no relationship was found between gaze variables and consumer attitudes, except for authentic advertising, where higher greater gaze frequency was linked to a more positive attitude.