The importance of importance: Its impact on decision-making in mall retail categories during an economic downturn

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

The importance of importance: Its impact on decision-making in mall retail categories during an economic downturn Robin Pentecost a,n, Lynda Andrews b a b

Griffith Business School, Department of Marketing, Logan Campus, Griffith University, University Drive, Meadowbrook, QLD 4131, Australia School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 10 October 2012 Received in revised form 4 February 2013 Accepted 1 April 2013 Available online 28 May 2013

The study examines how, during an economic downturn, the perceived importance of the value offering of retail store categories, as identified by a major international mall operator based in Australia, influences the relationship between consumers’ shopping attitudes and likelihood of purchasing in those categories. The findings show variance in the importance pertaining to retail store categories between those that have and those that have not altered their shopping behaviour. Different mediating effects were found in the major, mini-major, leisure, apparel, and mobile phone categories, suggestive of each group having differing levels of self-interest in the value offerings of each category, thus, symptomatic of dissimilar decision-making strategies for each group. Contributions to theory and practice are discussed. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Retail categories Importance Economic downturn Decision making Mall management

1. Introduction For retail firms survival is important during an economic downturn as there is often a severe decline in consumer shopping behaviour (Fitch Ratings, 2008a, 2009b). Consumers start purchasing private labels over national brands, they change product categories (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009; Fitch Ratings, 2008a, 2009b; Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005), they shop more in discount or no frills retail formats (Shama, 1993). Psychosocial factors such as motives, values, and attitudes towards brands and retail categories change resulting in changes in consumers’ shopping behaviour (Shama, 1993; Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005). Such behaviour can influence mall attendance as the mixed fortunes of certain retail categories in the retail tenant mix can affect the shopping mall's overall attractiveness and potentially impact its image (Finn and Louviere, 1996; Reutterer and Teller, 2009; Teller, 2008). Thus, a mall's retail tenant mix influences consumers’ perceptions of the attractiveness of a mall, thereby influencing mall attendance (Arentze et al., 2005). However, limited attention has been paid to this level of retail research and as a result there is limited marketing intelligence to guide practitioners (e.g. mall managers) during an economic downturn. This study examines whether changes in retail category purchase intentions can be attributed to the degree of importance the

n

Tel.: +61 7 3382 1095, fax: 61 7 3382 1981. E-mail address: r.pentecost@griffith.edu.au (R. Pentecost).

0969-6989/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2013.04.001

consumer holds for that specific product category. Prior research has shown importance to be a strong motivator for behaviour particularly through trade-offs between hedonic and utilitarian value (e.g. Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000). With changes in purchase patterns between product categories (Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005) it is logical to infer that the importance of the value offered by that product category significantly influences the decisionmaking process, that is it may moderate or mediate the attitudes– behaviour relationship; especially so when considering what to acquire or what to give up during an economic downturn (e.g. Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000). Economic downturns are an integral part of the economic cycle and usually follow after periods of extended economic growth (Lovelock, 2007). Thus, researchers and practitioners need to understand more about consumer-decision-making during such cycles to deal more effectively with these negative phases (Goodell and Martin, 1992; Lovelock, 2007; Shama, 1993). As downturns impact the retail sector (Johansson and Hirano, 1996), research in this area is imperative and long overdue. This research addresses this limitation and contributes to theory and practice in two ways. First, the study focuses specifically on importance in consumer decisionmaking and how it may influence the attitude/behavioural intention relationship during a severe economic downturn. Second, the research is conducted at the shopping mall management level rather than at the individual retailer (e.g. Diep and Sweeney, 2008) or the firm level (e.g. Graham and Frankenberger, 2011) by examining retail store categories as classified by a major international shopping mall operator.

464

R. Pentecost, L. Andrews / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

2. Literature review 2.1. Economic downturns and consumer behaviour in retail contexts Economic downturns are not a new phenomenon. On-one can deny that in the retail sector, such times hit hard, with retailers experiencing sales downturns as consumers lose confidence about their own economic futures (Johansson and Hirano, 1996; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). However, not all consumers are affected in the same way (Johansson and Hirano, 1996; Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005). They may be affected directly or indirectly, financial and/or psychologically (Goodell and Martin, 1992). As a result, consumers may make deliberate trade-offs between price and quality and trade down, choosing similar but less expensive brands (e.g. Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005) while some may simply change product categories (Goodell and Martin, 1992; Johansson and Hirano, 1996). For example, consumers’ stop dining out and instead do more supermarket shopping and consume more in-home entertainment (Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005; Fitch Ratings, 2009a). One way to evaluate these changes is through a richer understanding of consumer attitudes given their influence on the decision-making process (Allport, 1935; Fazio, 1989). 2.2. Attitude–behaviour relationship in consumer shopping Attitudes are evaluative in nature and underpin the likelihood of an individual undertaking an activity (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975; Fiske and Taylor, 1991) and contain, among many other things, cognitive, affective, and behavioural aspects (Rosenberg and Hovland, 1960; Zimbardo et al., 1977). Thus, a complex and multi-dimensional view of the attitude–behaviour relationship exists. Included within this multi-dimensional view are hedonic and utilitarian value as consumers evaluate shopping choices (e.g. Batra and Ahtola, 1991; Voss et al., 2003). Further research corroborates such a view by suggesting consumer choices can be categorised in terms of cognitive and affective preferences, termed shoulds and wants, respectively (Bazerman et al., 1998) or even vices and virtues (Wertenbroch, 1998). Batra and Ahtola (1991) determined such dimensions could reliably predict consumers’ behavioural outcomes. Dhar and Wertenbroch (2000) found the importance of the hedonic dimension was greater when individuals decide what to give up, while the utilitarian dimension was greater when deciding what to acquire. That is, hedonic dimensions arise from behaviours that are more fun or self-indulgent while utilitarian dimensions arise from behaviours towards products perceived as more purposeful to them. Such findings support arguments that people are more likely to fulfil functional needs before hedonic wants. By inference then, this outcome would be consistent with consumers’ behaviour during an economic downturn in that evaluation of the value offered (hedonic or utilitarian) would be a major influence on the decision making process as decision contexts have a significant influence on whether people will select a product based upon its hedonic or utilitarian value. That is, people place more importance on hedonic value when the decision context enables them to justify their choice, but they place more importance on utilitarian value under conditions that make it hard to justify such decisions (Okada, 2005). The retail tenant mix in a shopping mall provides both hedonic and utilitarian value for consumers (e.g. Carpenter, 2008) helping form attitudes and thereby helping predict or explain shopping behaviour (e.g. Donthu and Gilliland, 1996; Donthu and Garcia, 1999). Within a retail environment it is vital to understand how the importance of these formed attitudes influences trade-offs between retail categories (Chitturi et al., 2007) especially when

consumers make significantly more trade-offs across product categories during economic downturns (e.g. Fitch Ratings, 2008a, 2008b; Fitch Ratings, 2009b; Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005). Thus, for practitioners and retail researchers, understanding consumer trade-offs between individual retail categories is imperative due to the potential impact on the mall retail tenant mix. 2.3. Perceived importance as a motivator in consumer shopping Perceived importance is a strong motivator for behaviour as both the creation of value and the importance of that value to an individual strongly influence the attitudes–behaviour relationship (Fiske and Taylor, 1991; Rosenberg and Hovland, 1960). In our study, the notion of perceived importance is regarded as the level of self-interest held towards a specific retail category. That is, selfinterest based upon purchasing purely on functional utilitarian reasoning (this type of store has greater purchasing power and product assortment thus saving time and money: e.g. shopping products/services), rather than self-indulgent hedonic reasoning (this type of store offers one-off products so while the costs may be greater the value is in being one of the few to consume such a product; e.g. speciality products/services). Thus, importance relates to the level of self-interest a consumer applies to retail categories and the value (utilitarian or hedonic) they provide. Self-interest influences the decision-making of all who shop, even during economic downturns where consumers are impacted in some manner (Goodell and Martin, 1992). However, this may differ between those who have changed their behaviour and those who have not. During such times self-interest is particularly influential on purchase behaviour as the more a person’s attitude is influenced by self-interest in that object or event, the more they are likely to act upon it (Fiske and Taylor, 1991). We argue that, as part of their economic rationale during an economic downturn consumers reconsider the importance of the value offering of the particular retail store category, thereby influencing their attitude– behaviour relationship. In other words, the perceived importance of the value offering of a retail store category may impact on decision-making by acting as a mediator on the attitude–behaviour relationship. To-date, this relationship and its differences between those who have and those who have not altered their shopping behaviour during an economic downturn has not been explored in the academic retail literature. 2.4. Value offerings and retail categories While a mall's retail tenant mix provides both hedonic and utilitarian value (Carpenter, 2008), the question is how does one define which retail category offers which value dimension? In a shopping mall environment, purchasing from a major international chain of retail outlets with larger assortments could be associated with utilitarian value as a larger product assortment can fulfil functional goals given the notions of one-stop shopping and economies of scale, thus saving time and money (Oppewal and Koelemeijer, 2005). The utility of saving of time can be applied to the mobile phone industry. While some may propose that such items are more of a fashion accessory, such a proposition has arisen from the level of competition and its resultant forms of differentiation. The underlying philosophy of such an item is freedom to communicate with people and seek information, thus for this study the importance of such a category is deemed to be more utilitarian than hedonic. Purchasing from smaller more specialised single-branded retailers with narrow, more specific product assortments, for example, designer apparel or footwear, could be evaluated differently in terms of their importance. They may be perceived as more hedonic in nature, therefore making it harder to justify the purchase

R. Pentecost, L. Andrews / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

(Okada, 2005). Similarly, hedonic value can be associated with service orientated offerings such as dining out or going to the movies. As consumers’ stop dining out and instead do more supermarket shopping and consume more in-home entertainment (Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005; Fitch Ratings, 2009a, 2009b) this would indicate a trade-off whereby the hedonic value offered has been supplanted by the more utilitarian offering of saving through eating and entertaining at home. This same philosophy can be applied to dry cleaning in that while the act of cleaning clothes may be perceived as utilitarian, the use of external outlets to provide this utilitarian service is hedonic as one does not have to perform the function themselves. Thus it can be inferred that for many shopping mall customers an economic downturn creates a decision context in which they make trade-offs based on their perceived importance of the value of the retail category. In summarising the arguments raised, it makes intuitive sense that the value and importance of that value will have a significant influence on their attitudes–behaviour relationship, especially in tight economic times. It is therefore probable that the hedonic and utilitarian values associated with attitudes will differ between retail store categories for consumers who have changed their behaviour. With such changes, importance may have a strong mediating effect in the decision-making process thereby lessening the likelihood of purchase, especially in hedonic value categories, such as apparel or leisure. In a retail shopping mall context, however, the influencing role of the perceived importance of retail store categories in the purchase decision-making process has received very little research attention. Based on the foregoing discussion and to address this limitation, we pose the following research questions to guide our study: RQ1: In what way does consumer purchase decision making change towards retail store categories in a shopping mall during an economic downturn? RQ2: How does consumer perceived importance of a retail store category influence purchase behaviour during an economic downturn? RQ3: Are there any differences regarding the influence of perceived importance of retail store category importance between those who have and those who have not altered their shopping behaviour?

3. Research design and measurements

465

3.2. Survey instrument Respondents were first asked to rate their level of importance for each of 10 different retail categories as defined by a major international mall operator based in Australia. These categories are: major retail chains (over 10,000 square meters), mini-majors (less than 10,000 square meters), food retail (supermarkets), food catered (restaurants), leisure, general retail, apparel, mobile phone services, home wares, and retail services. Importance of these were measured using a seven point Likert type scale anchored with (1) very unimportant and (7) very important. That is, respondents were asked to state their perception of the importance of each retail category based on a single item worded as follows: “Please rate each of the following types of stores on their degree of importance to you”. While multi-item measures may be more sensitive indicators of importance than single item measures, particularly in terms of capturing the underlying attributes of such a construct, or to measure changes over time (Fontenot et al., 2007), research has shown the predictive validity of the single item measure to be similar to a multi-item measure (e.g. Bergkvist and Rossiter, 2007). General attitudes towards shopping in the mall was measured using a three item scale adapted from Donthu and Gilliland (1996) anchored with (1) strongly disagree to (7) strongly agree. (Reliability analysis returned a Cronbach alpha of.86, well above the suggested 7 threshold (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). The items were aggregated and averaged to create a single item for further analysis.) Respondents were next asked if they had altered their shopping behaviour as a result of the economic downturn (yes/no). After a brief statement focussing on the current economic situation (“The world is in one of the worst economic situations for many years. With this in mind please answer the following question”), the behavioural intention was measured using a seven point single item scale anchored with (1) very unlikely and (7) very likely using the phrase “Given the current economic climate how likely is it that you will purchase from the following types of stores?”

4. Analysis and results Initial tests show 49% (n ¼164) of the respondents to have altered their shopping behaviour. Using t-tests, further analysis revealed significant differences (p o.05) between the altered and unaltered behavioural groups (refer Table 1). Those who have altered their behaviour are less likely to shop at major stores

3.1. Sampling and research procedures The overall objective of this study is to test the effect of perceived importance on decision-making during an economic downturn. To achieve this, a within subjects field study approach was used to measure events that are “likely to occur in the normal course of the subjects’ lives, that is, the ‘real world’” (Aronson et al., 1985, p. 482). Using a team of trained research assistants, respondents were recruited through customer intercepts in a shopping mall in a major city in Southeast Queensland, Australia, resulting in a sample of 455 shoppers. To reduce potential “noise” in the research surveys with missing data were removed, resulting in a final sample of 337. Sample characteristics showed the average age of the respondents to be 32 years (std. deviation ¼14 years). Gender distribution was 62% female and 38% male and is reflective of the gender distribution of those who shop at malls (Westfield Research Workbook, 2008).

Table 1 Independent samples t-test. Likelihood of shopping at

Major stores Mini-major stores Apparel stores Leisure stores General retail stores Home ware stores Mobile phone stores Retail service stores Food retail stores Food catered stores nn

Significant at the.01 level.

Altered shopping behaviour Yes n¼ 164

No n¼173

Mean

Mean

Sig

4.20 3.43 3.23 3.63 4.07 2.78 3.29 2.68 5.76 3.83

5.00 4.38 4.11 4.76 4.21 3.01 3.58 2.69 5.66 4.33

.000** .000** .000** .000** .429 .187 .112 .926 .642 .009**

466

R. Pentecost, L. Andrews / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

(m ¼4.20), mini-major stores (m ¼3.43), apparel stores (m ¼ 3.23), leisure stores (m ¼3.63) and food catered stores (m ¼3.83). Such results however do not indicate how perceived importance of a retail store category influences purchase intentions and potential differences between shopping groups. Further comparative analysis between behavioural groups would provide even more insights thus both groups were individually assessed as to the influence of importance on the attitudes–intentions relationship.

4.1. Tests of mediation results Mediation tests were conducted using the Baron and Kenny (1986) approach. In tests for mediation three regressions are required. First, attitudes are regressed on perceived importance (Eq1), then, attitudes are regressed on likelihood of purchase (Eq2), and finally, both attitudes and perceived importance are regressed on likelihood of purchase (Eq3). Perceived importance will function as a full mediator when results show that: in (Eq1) attitudes have a significant relationship with importance, in (Eq2) attitudes have a significant relationship with likelihood of purchase, and in (Eq3) when the previously significant relationship between attitudes and likelihood of purchase becomes non-significant with the addition of importance. However, partial mediation can occur when the strength of the effect between the independent variable and the dependent variable is reduced in Eq3 compared to the effect in Eq2, providing the result of each equation is significant (Baron and Kenny, 1986). Based upon Baron and Kenny (1986) criteria results show perceived importance to mediate some but not all of the retail categories with differences between shopping groups. These results are shown in Table 2 and discussed in more detail in the next section. For major retail chains, attitude is significant in explaining likelihood of purchase for the altered behaviour group in Eq2 (β¼ .28; p o.01) but is no longer significant in Eq3 (β¼ .07; p 4.05) when importance is included, thus displaying full mediation. Partial mediation was found for the not altered behaviour group with attitudes still significant for Eq3 (β¼.154; p o05) but to a lesser extent than for Eq2 (β¼ .241). Full mediation was shown for the altered behaviour group in the leisure category. Attitude was significant in explaining likelihood of purchase in Eq2 (β¼.26; p o.01) but is no longer significant in Eq3 (β¼.04; p 4.05) when importance is included. No mediation effect was shown for the not altered behaviour group with attitude having no significant influence on likelihood of purchase in Eq2 (β¼.126; p 4.05). A similar finding was shown for mini-majors. Results show that in Eq2 attitude is significant (β ¼.21; po .01) but is non-significant in Eq3 (β¼ .10; p 4.05) for the altered behaviour group but not for the not altered behaviour group (β ¼.136; p o.05). Full mediation was shown for the both groups in the food catered category. Findings show that in Eq2 attitude is significant (β¼ .24; p o.01) but non-significant in Eq3 (β¼.09; p 4.05) for the altered behaviour and the not altered behaviour group (β¼.099; p 4.05). Partial mediation was shown in the apparel category for the altered behaviour group where the results show a reduction in the effect of attitude (β¼ .29, p o.01 in Eq2 to β¼.26, po .01 in Eq3) when importance is included. In contrast full mediation was found for the not altered behaviour group with attitudes have no significant influence (p 4.05) in Eq3. Differences between shopping groups were shown in the mobile phone category. While no mediating effects were shown for the altered behaviour group, full mediation was found for the not altered behaviour group with the non-significance of attitude (β¼ .048, p 4.05) when importance is included in Eq3.

5. Discussion Three questions guided this study into how perceived importance impacts purchasing during an economic downturn. RQ1 asked “in what way does consumer purchase decision making change towards retail store categories in a shopping mall during an economic downturn?” First, in line with Shama (1993), our findings demonstrate that nearly 50% of the patrons intercepted in a major shopping mall have changed their shopping behaviour due to the downturn. Second, t-tests (Table 1) shows those who have changed their behaviour are less likely to purchase in the major, mini major, apparel, leisure, and food catered categories. These findings support the notion that recessions impact the retail tenant mix but the value offering for retail category differs between shoppers’. The following research questions asked: “How does the perceived importance of a retail store category influence purchase behaviour during an economic downturn” and “Are there any differences regarding the influence of perceived importance of retail store category between those who have and those who have not altered their shopping behaviour”? Our findings not only support the influence of importance but also show differences between shopping groups on how, during an economic downturn, such self-interest impacts the relationship between attitudes and likelihood of purchasing in the retail categories identified. While both the t-tests and the mediation regressions show some categories to contain no significant differences between shopping groups (i.e. food retail, general retail, home wares, and retail services), conversely other retail store categories have been significantly impacted due to the recession (i.e. majors, leisure, food catered, mini majors, apparel, and mobile phones). The mediation tests suggest the importance of a specific category to have a significant influence on the decision to purchase; that is, importance fully mediates or at least partially mediates these categories, with the mediating effects differing between those who altered and those who have not altered their shopping behaviour. Thus, understanding the value underlying the importance of importance is vital for mall managers, especially in targeting either of these groups. Based upon current research results suggest retail store categories could be perceived as providing different types of value propositions (e.g. hedonic or utilitarian). For example, some of the categories, e.g. major and mini-major stores, may be viewed as having broad assortments which reflect a more utilitarian choice based on both time risk (many products under one roof) and cost risk (greater economies of scale) (Oppewal and Koelemeijer, 2005). For those who have altered their behaviour, the importance of this value proposition could be the driving influence behind purchase intentions as prior research has shown importance to be a strong motivator for behaviour particularly through trade-offs between hedonic and utilitarian value (e.g. Bazerman et al., 1998; Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000; Okada, 2005). More hedonic value store categories, e.g. leisure, food catered, or apparel are thus traded off to facilitate a more utilitarian purchase as consumers use their personal utilitarian/hedonic choice cut off criteria to support their choices (e.g. Chitturi et al., 2007), though this differs between shopping groups.

6. Theoretical and managerial contributions 6.1. Theoretical contributions Our research addresses a limitation in the literature about recessions and changes in consumer purchasing behaviour at the shopping mall level. By focusing on retail store categories in a

Table 2 Mediating effect regression analyses. Retail category

Variable

Have changed behaviour Yes Coefficient statistics

Major

β

S.E.

t

Sig

.345

.070

4.933

.000**

.257

.090

2.865

.005**

.067 .553

.086 .083

.782 6.648

.435 .000**

R2

F

Sig

.107

24.333

.000**

.036 .213

8.207 27.127

Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance

β

S.E.

t

Sig

.211

.081

2.609

.010**

.241

.084

2.887

.004**

.154 .539

.073 .060

2.097 8.985

.037* .000**

.005** .000**

Full mediation has occurred Mini major

ANOVA statistics R2

F

Sig

.025

6.806

.010**

.032

8.333

.004**

.293

46.750

.000**

−.001

.715

.399

.106

27.456

.000**

.544

131.984

.000**

.009

2.930

.088

.004

1.941

.165

.503

111.805

.000**

.030

6.883

.009**

.031

8.261

.004**

.505

114.808

.000**

.151

39.094

.000**

.137

35.578

.000**

.611

170.497

.000**

.043

10.968

.001**

.041

10.551

.001**

.553

138.124

.000**

Partial Mediation has occurred .044

.255

.081

3.136

.002**

.209

.083

2.503

.013*

.110 .466

.076 .066

1.441 7.104

.151 .000**

.027 .228

9.833 6.267 28.968

.002** .069

.081

.845

.399

.466

.089

5.248

.000**

.136 .744

.068 .051

1.988 14.527

.048* .000**

.160

.093

1.712

.088

.126

.090

1.393

.165

.044 .683

.064 .046

.681 14.778

.497 .000**

.220

.084

2.623

.009**

.275

.096

2.874

.004**

.099 .791

.069 .054

1.427 14.622

.155 .000**

.013* .000**

Full mediation has occurred Leisure

Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance

.083 .344

.080

4.273

.000**

.267

.085

3.125

.002**

.041 .624

.074 .063

.559 9.849

.577 .000**

.043 .365

18.256 9.767 55.279

.000** .002** .000**

Full mediation has occurred Food catered

Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance

.086 .338

.077

4.378

.000**

.218

.088

2.466

.015*

.049 .513

.083 .074

.587 6.929

.558 .000**

.026 .217

19.169 6.082 27.789

.000** .015* .000**

Full mediation has occurred Apparel

Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance

Full Mediation has occurred .026

.189

.086

2.211

.028*

.290

.081

3.575

.000**

.215 .400

.077 .065

2.806 6.105

.006** .000**

.058 .216

4.887 12.779 26.012

.028*

Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance

.090

6.252

.000**

.542

.091

5.965

.000**

.083 .757

.067 .046

1.239 16.506

.217 .000**

.000** .000**

Partial mediation has occurred Mobile phone

.565

R. Pentecost, L. Andrews / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance

No Coefficient statistics

ANOVA statistics

Full mediation has occurred .041

.264

.088

3.016

.003**

.138

.084

1.640

.103

.003 .554

.073 .059

.045 9.405

.961 .000**

.009 .325

9.098 2.689 46.463

.003** .281

.085

3.312

.001**

.295

.091

3.248

.001**

.048 .783

.064 .049

.760 15.962

.448 .000**

.103 .000**

467

Full mediation has occurred

468

Table 2 (continued ) Retail category

Variable

Have changed behaviour Yes Coefficient statistics

Food retail

General retail

Retail services

a b c

S.E.

t

Sig

.152

.079

1.922

.056

−.013

.077

−.167

.868

−.092 .517

.066 .060

−1.385 8.653

.168 .000**

.021

.084

.246

.806

−.058

.078

−.747

.456

−.081 .539

.065 .056

−1.249 9.692

.213 .000**

.255

.081

3.136

.002**

.121

.086

1.412

.159

−.005 .488

.078 .067

−.065 7.301

.959 .000**

−.004

.091

−.041

.968

−.076

.093

−.822

.412

−.074 .468

.083 .072

−.901 6.507

.369 .000**

2

R

F

Sig

.014

3.692

.056

−.005 .277

−.005 -.002 .327

.044 .005 .220

−.006 −.002 .204

Dependent variable: Importance of retail category. Dependent variable: Likelihood of shopping at retail category. Dependent variable: Likelihood of shopping at retail category.

.028 37.457

.061 .557 47.460

9.833 1.995 27.924

.002 .676 21.593

ANOVA statistics

β

S.E.

t

Sig

−.124

.079

−1.570

.118

−.110

.083

−1.320

.188

−.038 .643

.066 .055

−.568 11.654

.571 .000**

.168

.083

2.016

.045*

.294

.085

3.456

.001**

.172 .717

.062 .049

2.792 14.643

.006** .000**

.069

.081

.845

.399

.004

.089

.041

.967

−.045 .725

.067 .055

−.676 13.195

.500 .000**

.181

.092

1.965

.051

.060

.103

.581

.562

−.064 .685

.083 .069

−.769 9.984

.443 .000**

.868 .000**

.806 .456 .000**

.002** .159 .000**

.968 .412 .000**

R2

F

Sig

.006

2.466

.118

.003

1.743

.188

.382

69.262

.000**

.014

4.063

.045*

.046

11.944

.001**

.517

119.515

.000**

−.001

.715

.399

−.004

.002

.967

.438

87.061

.000**

.017

3.862

.051

−.004

.337

.652

.366

50.107

.000**

R. Pentecost, L. Andrews / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

Home ware

β a

Equation 1 Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Importance Equation 1a Attitude Equation 2b Attitude Equation 3c Attitude Iimportance

No Coefficient statistics

ANOVA statistics

R. Pentecost, L. Andrews / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

shopping mall's tenant mix, our findings make an important contribution to research on marketing management of shopping malls. Moreover, our study takes an innovative approach by integrating and extending two theoretical perspectives to this research area in two ways. First we apply research on decision contexts (e.g. Okada, 2005) to examine how a recession, as a decision context, impacts on factors that influence purchasing behaviour in retail store categories. Second, we apply research on individual's self-interest or perceived importance towards an objective or event (e.g. Bazerman et al., 1998; Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000) to examine how consumers’ perceived importance of retail store categories in a shopping mall influences consumers’ attitude–intentions relationship towards those categories. Our findings suggest that this integration of theories is particularly valuable for understanding consumers when they are under economic pressure during a recession, but also could be applied when consumers are faced with other economic pressure through rises the cost of living (e.g. Grewal et al., 2009).

6.2. Managerial contributions These findings show the importance of different value propositions for retail categories for different shopping groups. Therefore it is important for shopping mall marketing managers to more fully understand psychographic factors influencing consumers’ retail consumption decisions during times of severe economic downturns and their effect on specific retail categories. Our findings show that understanding the importance a mall customer places on particular retail categories available can be a useful tool. For the larger retail outlets (e.g. majors, mini majors) making purchases in these outlets may not be too hard to justify based upon the utilitarian value offered, a point which may be articulated in any promotional campaign. Such a point is shown with large retail corporations offering no deposit multiple months’ interest free purchasing. However, for smaller retail tenants with specialty or smaller product assortments delivering more hedonic value, such retailers may need to re-assess their offerings in terms of customers being able to justify their purchases when there is an economic downturn. This would mean that for those retailers the value offering needs to be redefined and communicated to the consumer. These findings support the need for smaller retailers to adapt their marketing communication strategies especially if they are to capture those who have altered their purchase behaviour as a result of an economic downturn. For this target group, the utilitarian value of the category needs to be communicated to the consumer; that is, the value offering should be based it more functional attributes, rather than its emotive value, a point consistent with separating cognitive and affective preferences for a product. For example: Bazerman et al., 1998 “shoulds and wants”, or Wertenbroch (1998) “vices and virtues”. It is important retailers understand such influences on decision making as consumers respond to negative economic changes as these decisions make up the profitability of the business (Shama, 1993). Cutting prices and reducing marketing budgets are not considered to be sound practice during a recession as previous research has shown that at least maintaining and if possible, increasing marketing expenditure during a recession can help a firm recover more quickly as the recession recedes (e.g. Graham and Frankenberger, 2011; Srinivasan et al., 2005). By focussing on consumer value and the importance of that value, mall management and the retail outlets can work together to fully understand how consumers are likely to respond during a recession. Through such understanding mall managers can maintain and protect a

469

shopping mall's image for its consumers by minimising the impact of recessions on some retail tenants over others. 6.3. Limitations and research directions The research undertaken in this study has limitations that should be taken into consideration. First, the study applies theoretical frameworks that have not been tested in the retail shopping mall context. Second, we have not found any research on what drives consumers’ perceived importance when consumers are faced with economic downturns. However multi-item measures capturing derived importance may be more sensitive to individual factors underlying importance. Finally, the research was conducted in one shopping mall in an Australian capital city owned by an international mall management company, thus it represents the opinions of a geographically constrained population of mall shoppers. Such limitations also present opportunities for ongoing research. First, it is suggested that replications of the study are undertaken to determine the extent to which perceived importance influences intentions to purchase in specific retail categories in shopping malls in other countries. Second, the role of individual factors underlying the importance of retail categories in the mall warrants further attention. Since economic downturns are not continuous events, this type of research could be applied to investigate this relationship when consumers are coming out of a period of economic pressure to monitor changes in purchase intentions in retail categories in the tenant mix in shopping malls. Finally, researchers could examine the influence of importance when there are other extraneous financial constraints on consumers, such as new home owners in new housing developments and their perceptions of the importance of retail categories in their local shopping malls. References Allport, G., 1935. Attitudes. In: Murchison, C. (Ed.), In: A Handbook of Social Psychology. Clark University Press, Massachusetts. Arentze, T.A., Oppewal, H., Timmermans, H.J.P., 2005. A multi-purpose shopping trip model to assess retail agglomeration effects. Journal of Marketing Research 15 (1), 109–115. Aronson, E., Brewer, M., Carlsmith, J.M., 1985. Experimentation in social psychology. thirded In: Lindsay, G., Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology, vol. 1. Random House, New York, pp. 441–486. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009. Retail Trade Quarterly Indicators: December Quarter, 2008. Catalogue No. 8502.0 accessed from on 29 May, 2009. Baron, R.M., Kenny, D.A., 1986. The moderator-mediator variable distinction on social psychological research: conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 (6), 1173–1182. Batra, R., Ahtola, O.T., 1991. Measuring the hedonic and utilitarian sources of consumer attitudes. Marketing Letters 2 (2), 159–170. Bazerman, M.H., Tenbrunsel, A.E., Wade-Benzoni, K., 1998. Negotiating with yourself and losing: understanding and managing competing internal preferences. Academy of Management Review 23 (2), 225–241. Bergkvist, L., Rossiter, J., 2007. The predictive validity of the multiple-item versus single-item measures of the same constructs. Journal of Marketing Research 44 (May), 175–184. Carpenter, J.M., 2008. Consumer shopping value, satisfaction and loyalty in discount retailing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 15 (5), 358–363. Chitturi, R., Raghunathan, R., Majahan, V., 2007. Form versus function: how the intensities of specific emotions evoked in functional versus hedonic trade-offs mediate product preferences. Journal of Marketing Research 44 (4), 702–714. Dhar, R., Wertenbroch, K., 2000. Consumer choice between hedonic and utilitarian goods. Journal of Marketing Research 37 (1), 60–71. Diep, V.C.S., Sweeney, J., 2008. Shopping trip value: do stores and products matter. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 15 (5), 399–409. Donthu, N., Garcia, A., 1999. The internet shopper. Journal of Advertising Research 39 (3), 52–59. Donthu, N., Gilliland, D., 1996. The informercial shopper. Journal of Advertising Research 36, 69–76, March/April. Fazio, R., 1989. On the power and functionality of attitude accessibility. In: Pratkanis, A., Breckler, S., Greenwald, A. (Eds.), Attitude Structure and Function. Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates, New Jersey. Finn, A., Louviere, J., 1996. Shopping centre image, consideration, and choice: anchor store contribution. Journal of Business Research 35 (3), 241–252.

470

R. Pentecost, L. Andrews / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 463–470

Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I., 1975. Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior: an Introduction to Theory and Research. Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts. Fiske, S.T., Taylor, S.E., 1991. Social Cognition, second ed. McGraw Hill. Fitch Ratings, 2009a. South African Retail Sector Outlook: Difficult Trading conditions to persist in 2009. Retailing South Africa Special Report (7 May, 2009) accessed from www.fitchratings.com on 22nd May, 2009. Fitch Ratings, 2009b. Retail Therapy: 2009 European Consumer and Retail Outlook. Special Report (8 January, 2009) accessed from www.fitchratings.com on 20th May, 2009. Fitch Ratings, 2008a. The Retail Register: Winter 2008. Retailing US and Canada Special Report (16 January, 2008) accessed from www.fitchratings.com on 22nd May, 2009. Fitch Ratings, 2008b. The Retail Register: Fall 2008. Retailing US and Canada Special Report (19 September, 2008) accessed from www.fitchratings.com on 22nd May, 2009. Fontenot, G., Henke, L., Carson, K., Carson, P.P., 2007. Techniques for determining importance: balancing scientific method and subjectivity. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing 15 (3), 170–180. Goodell, P.W., Martin, C.L., 1992. Marketing strategies for recession survival. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing 7 (4), 5–16. Graham, R.C., Frankenberger, K.D., 2011. The earnings effects of marketing communication expenditures during recessions. Journal of Advertising 40 (2), 39–50. Grewal, D., Levy, M., Kumar, V., 2009. Customer experience management in retailing: an organising framework. Journal of Retailing 85 (1), 1–14. Johansson, J.K., Hirano, M., 1996. Japanese marketing in the post-bubble era. The International Executive 38 (1), 33–51. Lovelock, C., 2007. Fear of a recession. Marketing Management Fall, 14–16. Okada, E.M., 2005. Justification effects on consumer choice of hedonic and utilitarian goods. Journal of Marketing Research 42 (1), 43–53.

Oppewal, H., Koelemeijer, K., 2005. More choice is better: effects of assortment size and composition on assortment evaluation. International Journal of Research in Marketing 22, 45–60. Nunnally, J.C., Bernstein, I.H., 1994. Psychometric Theory. McGraw-Hill, New York. Reutterer, T., Teller, C., 2009. Store format choice and shopping trip types. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 37 (8), 695–710. Rosenberg, M.J., Hovland, C.I., 1960. Cognitive, affective, and behavioural components of attitudes. In: Rosenberg, M.J., Hovland, C.I., McGuire, W.J., Abelson, R.P., Brehm, J.W. (Eds.), Attitude Organisation and Change. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, pp. 1–14. Shama, A., 1993. Coping with stagflation: voluntary simplicity. Journal of Marketing 3 (Summer), 120–134. Srinivasan, R., Rangaswamy, A., Lilien, G.L., 2005. Turning adversity into advantage: does proactive marketing during a recession pay off? International Journal of Research in Marketing 22, 109–125. Teller, C., 2008. Shopping streets versus shopping malls—determinants of agglomeration format attractiveness from the consumers’ point of view. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research 18 (4), 381–403. Voss, K.E., Spangenberg, E.R., Grohmann, B., 2003. Measuring the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions of consumer attitude. Journal of Marketing Research 40 (3), 310–320. Wertenbroch, K., 1998. Consumption self-control by rationing purchase quantities of virtue and vice. Marketing Science 17, 317–337. Westfield Research Workbook, (2008). Exit Surveys. Zimbardo, P.G., Ebbesen, E.B., Maslach, C., 1977. Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behaviour. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Zurawicki, L., Braidot, N., 2005. Consumers during crises: responses from the middle class in Argentina. Journal of Business 58 (8), 1100–1109.