Fashion Opinion Leadership, Fashion Innovativeness, and Need for Variety

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between need for variety and four consumer groups: fashion opinion leaders, fashion innovators, innovative communicators, and fashion followers. We predicted that fashion opinion leaders, fashion innovators, and innovative communicators would have a greater need for variety than would fashion followers. Subjects were 425 undergraduate students. Hirschman and Adcock's Measurement of Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership was used to identify the four consumer groups. Need for variety was measured by the Sensation Seeking Scale. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and the Student-Newman-Keuls test. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between fashion innovators and fashion followers on need for variety as measured by the experience seeking component of the Sensation Seeking Scale. There were no significant differences between fashion opinion leaders or innovative communicators and fashion followers on the Sensation Seeking Scale. Results suggest that part of the psychological makeup of fashion innovators is a greater need for variety in the form of mental stimulation than fashion followers possess.