Customer Response to Web Site Atmospherics: Task-relevant Cues,Situational Involvement and PAD

Using the pleasure, arousal, and dominance (PAD) model, this study seeks to extend existing knowledge about consumers' activities in online retail environments by focusing on the largely ignored role of perceived dominance. In online environments, perceived dominance might influence purchasing intentions both directly and indirectly through pleasure. Furthermore, consumers' perceptions of Web site atmospherics (informativeness, navigational cues, perceived organization, and entertainment) likely affect two dimensions of emotion (perceived dominance and arousal). This study also investigates the moderating effects of situational involvement on the relationships among the PAD dimensions for online consumers. The results affirm that perceived dominance has direct effects on purchasing intentions, as well as indirect impacts through pleasure. The impact of perceived dominance on pleasure also is moderated by situational involvement. Whereas high task-relevant cues exert significant effects on perceived dominance, low task-relevant cues influence arousal. Therefore, this research shows that perceived dominance relates to online customers' purchasing intentions, which represents an extension of existing knowledge about the PAD model applied online; it also provides notable managerial implications for e-marketers.     

The Impact of the Interaction of Utilitarian and Informational Reinforcement and Behavior Setting Scope on Consumer Response

The influence of the environment on the emotional responses and behaviors of consumers has been well established in the consumer behavior literature. The Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM) assumes that utilitarian reinforcement, informational reinforcement, and consumer behavior setting scope are independent dimensions of environmental influence, which can combine in particular consumption situations to produce consumer behavior. This paper empirically examines the possibility of interactions among these dimensions by means of the pleasure, arousal, and dominance (PAD) emotional variables. The PAD variables have been shown to mediate consumer behaviors such as the desire to stay or escape from the setting, to affiliate with others, and the willingness to spend money and consume. The results, showing an interaction between pleasure and arousal in high‐pleasure environments, which then leads to increased approach behavior, seem to confirm the synergistic effects of utilitarian reinforcement and informational reinforcement on behavior. This study appears to be the first to find and investigate a three‐way interaction between pleasure, arousal, and dominance in the context of purchase and consumption. This interaction suggests that the three structural dimensions of the BPM combine to produce consumer behavior. It also highlights the important role of consumer behavior setting scope in consumer situations maintained by intermediate patterns of reinforcement. The implications of these findings for theory and marketing management are discussed.     

Adapting to a retail environment: Modeling consumer-environment interactions

This paper extends current thinking on the relationship between consumers and the retail environment by assessing a theory of consumer-environment interaction that reinterprets arousal and dominance, two dimensions of the PAD model (Mehrabian, Albert, Russel, James A., An approach to environmental psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974.), as appraisal dimensions (affective expectations). According to the new account, the more specific the task, the less tolerant consumers are about discrepancies between expected and experienced arousal and dominance. The study evaluated the effects of matching or mismatching appraisals on judgments of emotional dimensions as participants shopped within a virtual store environment. Appraisals were manipulated by combining two goal conditions (goal specificity vs. goal ambiguity) with two levels of store arousal (high vs. low) to produce four separate hypothetical states: hedonic fit (ambiguous goal and high arousal), utilitarian fit (specific goal and low arousal), rational control (ambiguous goal and low arousal), and emotional submissiveness (specific goal and high arousal). When perceptual and cognitive appraisals matched (i.e., hedonic or utilitarian fit), participants judged pleasure to be significantly greater than when expectations mismatched (i.e., rational control or emotional submissiveness). Affective expectations concerning arousal and dominance thus are a strong determinant of consumer predisposition toward the environment.     

Predicting and Explaining Responses to Consumer Environments: An Empirical Test and Theoretical Extension of the Behavioural Perspective Model

The Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM) classifies consumer behaviours based on their utilitarion and informational consequences; it further categorises them by the scope of the settings in which they occur. An empirical study (N = 561) shows these outcomes to predict consumers’ verbal reports of their affective shows that Mehrabian and Russell's [1974] measures of pleasure, arousal and dominance are predicted by the structural features of consumer situations proposed by the BPM: the pattern of reinforcement and behaviour setting scope. Reported pleasure is higher for consumer behaviours defined in terms of relatively high utilitarian reinforcement; reported arousal is higher for consumer behaviours defined in terms of relatively high informational reinforcement; and reported dominance is higher for consumer behaviours enacted in relatively open settings. In light of its neo-Skinnerian derivation, the BPM interpretation currently emphasises a radical behaviourist philosophy of science. However, an alternative interpretation in terms of Staats's [1996] psychological behaviourism is proposed and the capacity of this alternative framework of conceptualisation and analysis to offer theoretical extension to the BPM research programme is explored.     

Visual attention,buying impulsiveness,and consumer behavior

Buying impulsiveness is frequently triggered by point-of-sale information. In order to impact consumer behavior, this information must be visually noticed. In this study, researchers propose that consumers’ level of buying impulsiveness impacts their visual attention to point-of-sale information (i.e., signs, displays). Specifically, individuals scoring high on the buying impulsiveness scale (BIS) fixate less on point-of-sale information. This was tested in two experiments where participants’ task was to rate their purchase likelihood for ornamental plants. Both experiments demonstrate that consumers with high BIS fixate less on in-store signs but more on displays than low BIS consumers. High BIS participants’ visual attention to informational signs positively impacts their purchasing behavior while their visual attention to the displays does not. Theoretical contributions to consumer behavior literature and implications for retail marketing efforts are discussed.     

Additive omnichannel atmospheric cues: The mediating effects of cognitive and affective responses on purchase intention

In today's channel-centric retail ecosystem the right mix and orchestration of online and offline stimulus is paramount towards providing an optimal store atmosphere and shopping experience. Applying the S-O-R framework, this research explores additive omnichannel atmospheric cues stimuli, in order to discover their impact on affective (i.e., pleasure, arousal and dominance) and cognitive (i.e., store environmental quality perception) states and their consequential effect on consumer responses in the form of purchase intention. Employing a four-condition repeated measures experimental design in a physical store, utilizing mobile, IoT and social media channels (Study 1), as well as a between-subjects online lab experiment (Study 2), this research sheds light into the affective and cognition-mediated causal mechanisms that influence shopping outcomes. This work reveals that combining stimulus from all retail channels within the physical store (i.e., omnichannel atmospheric cues) increases consumers' pleasure, arousal and the quality of the environment as a whole, which in turn positively influences purchase intention. However, the impact of dominance is only prominent at the more controlled, laboratory setting, in which purchase intention increases while dominance attenuates.     

零售情景下营销组合的基础与框架探索

在零售情景下,传统营销组合范式具有一定的局限性。这是因为传统营销组合框架是以制造商为视角构建起来的,而制造商与消费者交换的内容同零售商与消费者交换的内容是不同的。制造商向消费者提供的是价值方案,零售商向消费者提供的是合格价值方案的获取过程。因此,获取过程是零售商与消费者交换的基本内容。效率、乐趣、费用、沟通是消费者与零售商发生交换的四个必要条件,即零售营销的四项基本功能。零售营销活动的功能性归属分别是:定价属于费用类别,广告属于沟通类别,物理环境的设计与管理属于乐趣类别,商品组合、选址、商店布局、物流与结算属于效率类别。     

Mobile social commerce content,consumer emotions and behaviour

Mobile social commerce (MSC) is exhibiting a growing interest from businesses and buyers due to the increasing number of mobile app users and combination of e-commerce and sharing features of MSC platforms. The limited existing research on MSC recommends that the impact of MSC platform features/content on consumer behaviour should be further explored, while the social commerce literature emphasizes the necessity to investigate impulse buying (IB) and social participation (SP). Thus, this study adopted the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory to investigate the impact of MSC content's usefulness, interactivity, entertainment and authenticity, built from the literature, on consumer emotions (arousal and pleasure), and their relationship with IB and SP. A sample of 345 Generation Y Chinese consumers was employed, while responses were collected through a survey, being used partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling to test our hypotheses. Significant relationships were established between the content characteristics and emotions, entertainment exhibiting the strongest impact on arousal, and authenticity on pleasure. Arousal had a significant impact on pleasure, and arousal and pleasure significantly affected IB and SP, with arousal displaying a stronger impact. This research expands the MSC theory through the grouping of content characteristics, documentation on the impact on consumer emotions, the relationship between arousal and pleasure, and the effect on both IB and SP, extending the SOR theory applicability. Practical recommendations for Generation Y MSC marketing are proposed. The model could be extended by introducing privacy concern, content personalization, perceived risk as independent factors, and trust and planned behaviour as explained variables.     

Perceived control and shopping behavior: The moderating role of the level of utilitarian motivational orientation

Examining the influence of the retail environment on shopping behavior, Kaltcheva and Weitz (2006. When should a retailer create an exciting store environment? Journal of Marketing 70 (January), 107–118) showed that shopping motivation (utilitarian versus hedonic) moderates the relationship between arousal and shoppers’ behavior in the store environment. In particular, they found that high arousal decreases intentions to visit for consumers with a utilitarian motivational orientation. Focusing on this particular type of shopping motivation, we hypothesized that the negative effects of arousal-inducing store environments occur for consumers with higher utilitarian motivations because these environments prevent those specific consumers from controlling their shopping experience. We consequently adapted Kaltcheva and Weitz's (2006) framework by building a model articulating perceived control, stress, pleasure, and return intent. A multigroup analysis of consumers with high versus low utilitarian shopping motivations identified in a field study conducted in Europe gave support to our hypothesis.     

An empirical examination of perceived retail crowding,emotions, and retail outcomes

Crowded retail shopping conditions can result from many shoppers being present during a given time and at a given place, as well as from limited customer space owing to inadequate floor layout design and allocation of fixtures and merchandise on the floor. This study investigated the effects of the perception of human crowding and spatial crowding on consumer shopping behavior through mediation of emotions of pleasure, arousal, dominance, and a feeling of satisfaction in an international market. A store intercept survey was conducted on 554 hypermarket consumers in Taipei, Taiwan. The proposed structural relationships among perceived retail crowding, emotions, and retail outcomes were analyzed by using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling with Lisrel 8.54.

The results of the study demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed model in delineating the relationships of retail crowding-emotions-satisfaction-retail outcomes under actual retail environments. The study found that while human crowding perceived during shopping at a hypermarket store positively impacted shoppers' feelings rather than negatively, spatial crowding perceived due to high spatial density negatively impacted shoppers' positive emotions. The findings supported the view that retail crowding affected various shopping activities through influencing positive emotions and summary feelings of satisfaction. Managerial implications of the study were also discussed.     

Functional magnetic resonance imaging in consumer research: A review and application

Although the field of psychology is undergoing an immense shift toward the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the application of this methodology to consumer research is relatively new. To assist consumer researchers in understanding fMRI, this paper elaborates on the findings of prior fMRI research related to consumer behavior and highlights the features that make fMRI an attractive method for consumer and marketing research. The authors discuss advantages and limitations and illustrate the proposed procedures with an applied study, which investigates loss aversion when buying and selling a common product. Results reveal a significantly stronger activation in the amygdala while consumers estimate selling prices versus buying prices, suggesting that loss aversion is associated with the processing of negative emotion. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Building Shopping Arousal through Direct Marketing in Retail Environment

This article attempts to analyze behavioral drivers which influence consumers’ leisure shopping behavior and measure customer value through empirical investigation in Mexico. The study reveals that outsourced salespeople significantly stimulate customer interest toward buying products and trigger shopping arousal. Product attractiveness and pre-purchase arousal generated by the sales promoters influences consumer buying decisions. The study reveals that pre-purchase arousal is felt by the consumers through product advertisements, inter-personal communications, and product simulations provided by the sales promoters. Consumers experience post-purchase arousal as an extended benefit associated with purchase of the product.     

Segmentation of impulse buyers in an emerging market – An exploratory study

Impulse buying promises to be a dominant buying behaviour in the highly conducive environment of emerging markets like India. However, existing research in these markets is largely within the context of product or market driven factors with inadequate focus on psychological exploration. The present study emphasizes on the role of an individual with underlying personality trait of impulse buying tendency being the focal point of the planned investigation. It uses the knowledge of impulse buying tendency and its contextual indicators as an effective taxonomical tool to profile the retail consumers’ psychologically and capture their demographic diversity. The analysis identifies and profiles three distinct impulse buying consumer segments: proactive impulsive, hesitant-hedonist and pragmatic-rationalist; thus providing manufacturers and retailers an effective marketing tool to address different consumer groups.     

The Psychology of Impulse Buying: An Integrative Self-Regulation Approach

Impulsive buying grossly violates the assumptions of homo economicus. A variety of perspectives on impulse buying are presented, which have been put forward in consumer, economic, social, and clinical psychology. These include heuristic information processing, time-inconsistent preferences, personality traits and values, self-identity, emotions, conscious self-control, and compulsive buying. These perspectives may sometimes lead to contradictory or paradoxical findings. For instance, impulse buying is often associated with joy and pleasure but has also been found related to negative emotions and low self-esteem. Our argument is that impulsive buying can be understood in terms of psychological functioning, in particular as a form of self-regulation. Regulatory focus theory is then used to bring the various perspectives together by classifying each as a promotion focus strategy (e.g., seeking pleasure) or a prevention focus strategy (e.g., avoiding feelings of low self-esteem). Finally, the question is discussed whether consumers can and should be protected against impulsivity. Our assertion is that regulation against misleading practices that play on the vulnerabilities of impulsive buyers could be sharpened and that information provision to consumers and retailers aimed at strengthening consumers’ self-regulatory capacities may mitigate adverse consequences of impulse buying.     

Revisiting food delivery apps during COVID-19 pandemic? Investigating the role of emotions

Food delivery apps (FDAs) have transformed the way consumers order and consume food, especially during the mobility limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospitality industry, especially restaurants are heavily reliant on mobile technology during the pandemic to strengthen essential online to offline food delivery, helping large number of consumers. This study investigates the role of app aesthetics in evoking emotions which predict continued usage intentions for FDAs using the theoretical lens of the pleasure arousal dominance (PAD) framework. Data was collected from 341 consumers during the pandemic. Findings indicate that app aesthetics generate pleasure, arousal, and dominance emotions among consumers during pandemic where pleasure is the most significant predictor of continued usage intentions followed by dominance. Findings also confirm the mediating effect of arousal on pleasure and pleasure on continued usage intentions. The study has implications for academicians, food delivery companies, app designers and other app-based businesses as it proves the significance of an aesthetic app design in evoking positive PAD emotions in consumers during a crisis and strengthens the explanation of continued usage intentions.     

E-satisfaction: a re-examination

E-satisfaction as a construct has gained increasing importance in the marketing literature in recent times. The examination of consumer satisfaction in an online context follows the growing consensus that in Internet retailing, as in traditional retailing, consumer satisfaction is not only a critical performance outcome, but also a primary predictor of customer loyalty and thus, the Internet retailer's endurance and success. The current study replicates the initial examination of e-satisfaction within the U.S. by [Szymanski, David M., & Richard T. Hise (2000). E-satisfaction: An initial examination. Journal of Retailing, 76(3), 309-322] among a sample of online consumers drawn from Germany. The replication was extended to two contexts—consumer satisfaction with Internet retail shopping and consumer satisfaction with Internet financial services sites. The results yield rich insights into the validity of extending the measurement and predictors of e-satisfaction to a trans-national context.     

Is Background Music Effective On Retail Websites?

Web designers often advise online retailers against incorporating background music on websites. However, the effect of music in brick-and-mortar retail settings has generally been found to be favorable. The research on the effects of music has been mixed. Our study aims to examine whether congruent music on the website homepage influences online consumers. Using the responses of 290 visitors to two different commercial websites, we test the influence of background music on consumers’ arousal and pleasure perceptions. The results indicate congruent background music on a website's homepage will generate positive affective responses of arousal and pleasure within users, and will enhance users’ perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment as well. The findings reveal the effects of respondent’ affective responses to the music differed by gender. Website music produces significant affective and cognitive responses in high web skill/low web challenge users and explains more of website enjoyment.     

Segmenting multichannel consumers across search,purchase and after-sales

While bricks-and-mortar stores and the Internet are dominant retailing channels, mobile and social media have rapidly emerged and challenge traditional retail models and consumer behavior. However, researchers have yet to account for how consumers integrate mobile and social channels throughout the various stages of the buying process. Using Latent-Class Cluster Analysis segmentation, we examine consumer behavior in store, Internet, mobile, and social media channels across the search, purchase and after-sales buying stages in the aggregate and specific to the clothing, holiday travel and consumer electronics categories. We find five multichannel consumer segments on the basis of perceived channel importance across the buying process, as well as psychographic and demographic characteristics. Interestingly, we find a polarization in perceived importance of mobile and social media channels, with two consumer segments rating mobile and social media channels as unimportant in the buying process. Furthermore, and compared to prior segmentations of multichannel consumer behavior, we do not find an aggregate store-focused segment. However, a store-focused segment exists in the context of buying clothing and represents 28.6 per cent of consumers. The findings show multichannel consumer preferences and behavior continues to evolve in line with new and emerging retailing channels. Further, this study confirms that there is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach to multichannel retailing.     

How background visual complexity influences purchase intention in live streaming: The mediating role of emotion and the moderating role of gender

There is growing evidence that visual complexity plays a crucial role in consumer purchase behavior. However, existing research on background visual complexity’s effect on individuals’ purchase intention in live streaming is limited. This study explores the relationships between live background visual complexity, emotional states, and purchase intention, by drawing on the stimulus-organism-response theory. A 3 × 2 between-subjects online experiment was developed with participants’ emotional and intention data. The results indicate that the background visual complexity of the livestream room influences consumers’ purchase intention positively via the evoked emotional states (pleasure and arousal). Background visual complexity exhibits an inverted U-shaped effect on consumers’ emotions. Additionally, the results reveal a significant moderating effect of gender on the relationship between background visual complexity and purchase intention. Women exhibit an inverted U-shaped effect on emotion and purchase intention, whereas men show a positive linear relationship when faced with complexity.     

The influence of non-anonymity deriving from feedback of research results on marketing professionals' research ethics judgements

The study examines, in the context of Crawford's (1970) study items, the influence of non-anonymity deriving from feedback of research results on marketing professionals' research ethics judgements, particularly that of response patterns (social desirability of responses) and item omissions. The results indicate that such non-anonymity does not significantly influence the social desirability of responses or item omissions — thus suggesting the appropriateness of its use to stimulate research ethics responses. Ishmael P. Akaah is Associate Professor of Marketing at Wayne State University. He received his M.B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Health Care Marketing, Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Journal of Global Marketing, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Direct Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Proceedings of the American Marketing Association, and elsewhere. His current research interests include consumer decision processes, marketing ethics, and international marketing strategy.