Mall shopping behavior : an examination of differences in utilitarian versus hedonic shoppers' mall shopping experiences

Abstract

This study is designed to provide insights as to how different elements of a shopping mall environment and consumers‟ personal characteristics influence their mall shopping behaviors directly, and indirectly through their effects on mall related emotions, cognitions, or activity patterns. The study‟s significance is that all these situational and individual factors are treated as equally important determinants of consumers‟ mall satisfaction levels or patronage behaviors. Most importantly, these influences are expected to be significantly different for consumers with utilitarian versus hedonic mall shopping motivations. Proposed relationships are tested with data collected from 603 respondents through structured questionnaires. Results provide evidence that mall satisfaction is not a predictor of mall patronage and mall visit frequency, time and money spent in a mall, and repatronage intentions are separate patronage indicators that are affected by different environmental or individual factors. Specifically, consumers‟ perceptions of shopping mall attributes are found to have greatest influence on their level of mall satisfaction and repatronage likelihood, while personal characteristics are shown to have greater impacts on mall visit frequencies and the amount of time and money spent in malls. On the other hand, although emotional experiences at a mall is proved to be unrelated to shoppers‟ patronage behaviors, cognitive responses to the mall environment is reported to increase the total amount of mall spending and future mall visits significantly and activity patterns in a mall is found to be positively associated with the time spent in the mall. Finally, results are in support of the fact that mall shopping experiences of utilitarian shoppers are shaped primarily by cognitive processes while those of hedonic shoppers are influenced by affective mechanisms to a greater extent.