Unpacking Product Symbolism: A Serial Mediation Analysis of Consumer Purchase Intentions Toward Vegan Leather in South Asia

Abstract

Growing consumer concern for sustainability and ethical consumption has increased demand for alternatives to animal-based leather. While research highlights the importance of consumer purchase intentions (CPI) in promoting sustainable products, limited attention has been given to how product symbolism influences such intentions in the context of vegan fashion. This study investigates the pathways linking product symbolism to CPI, examining the serial mediating roles of perceived value, attitude toward vegan leather, and willingness to pay a premium. Data were collected from 388 consumers in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh who had prior experience with vegan products. Using covariance-based structural equation modelling, the results show that product symbolism exerts a positive and significant effect on purchase intention, both directly and indirectly through the proposed mediators. Perceived value strengthens favorable attitudes, which in turn enhance willingness to pay and subsequent purchase intention. Unlike prior sustainable fashion studies that primarily emphasise functional, moral, or attitudinal drivers of adoption, this study demonstrates that symbolic meanings embedded in substitute materials themselves act as a primary behavioural trigger, operating through a serial cognitive–affective–economic pathway. The findings contribute to consumer behaviour theory by extending material culture perspectives into sustainable fashion consumption, and they offer practical guidance for marketers seeking to position vegan leather within masstige and eco-fashion markets in emerging economies. The findings further indicate that marketers and policymakers should move beyond eco-efficiency claims and instead position vegan leather as a symbolic identity marker, linking sustainability with aspiration, social signalling, and self-expression in emerging markets.