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    MOOD STATES OF SHbPPERS AND STORE IMAGE:PROMISING INTERACTIONS AND POSSIBLE

    BEHAVipRAL EFFECTSElaine Shermarj,Hofstra University

    Ruth Belk Smit h, [University of Marylan d

    AbstractConsumer mood is an area of inquiry which has captured thattention of consumer researchers because it is not onlysubject of theoretical value but it appears to havepractical implications to a wide range of consumer andmarketing Issues. The purpose of this research was totest the utility of Mehrabian's mood scale combined withconsumer perceptions of store image on actual shoppingbehavior. Very little is known about effects of mood onconsumer behavior ; most extant and current research efforfocuses on the effects of advertising or other manip u-lations. Thus it seemed that a study which attempted th emeasurement of mood at the point of purchase would providinsight into the phenomenon itself, provide a test of thescale's external validity and offer some exploratoryrelationships between the constructs of interest.

    Results indicate that consumer's moods may have effect oncertain aspects of shopping, and that there may be signi-ficant interaction between the constructs of cpnsumerand store image. Implications could be of importance tomarketers, especially retailers.

    IntroductionAlthough considerable research has focused on traditionalinformation paradigms to explain or predict consumerbehavior not much research has been concerned with theimpact of affective factors on the beli efs, attitudes andbehavior of the consumer. The purpose of this research isto explore some influences of consumers' moods and theirperception of store im age, on certain aspects of shoppingbehavior. Some significant findings are derived fromprior research of Hirschman and Holbrook (1982),Holbrookand Hir8chman (1982),Gardner (1985),and Hill and Mazis(198 5) on emotions, fantasy, attitudes toward advertisingand anxiety. Current research which focuses on moodeffects are usually (and pragmatically) concerned withreactions to advertisements ch osen to induce particularmood states (e.g., Russo and Stephens 1986.) Hhile suchresearch can be conducted in a reasonably controlledsetting and can add internal validity to the increasingacceptance of consumer mood re search , a field survey atthe point of purchase could substantially give us newinsights into understanding mood effects on shoppingbehavior. Since findings to date indicate that moodstates are a particularly important set of affectivefactors (Gardner and Vandersteel 1984 );they may form apart of all marketing situations (Belk 19 75, Lutz andKakkar (1975);and, as Gardner (1985 ) suggests, mayinfluence consumer behavior in many contexts. These wouliinclude adver tisemen t expo sure and attitude,, brandloyalty, and as we s uggest, other outcomes related toshopping. Thus the focus of this research is to explorethe effect of both consumers' moods and their perceptionsof store image on a variety of shopping behaviors.

    The outcomes of this research could add to our knowledgeof mood s tates on behavior in the actual shopp ingenvironment, suggest ways in which marketers could takeadvantage of (or induce) consumer mood s tates, andfinally, help determine whether extant measurementtechniques perform as adequately in the actual shoppingenvironment as they do in mood-inducing laboratorystudies.

    Conceptual FrameworkPrevious studies of in-store behavior have suggested that

    the store image, or within-store a ttributes, have distincand relevant influence on shopping behavior , apart frommore obvious store attributes such as price, shoppinghours,product assortm ent, convenience of location, andservice (Donovan and Rossiter 1982). Although the moreobjective variables have previously been reported to behigher on consumer s' rankings of relative importance ofstore attributes ( Hansen and Deutshcer 1 977 , Jolson andSpath1973 ), Donovan and Rossiter (198 2) provideindications that mood states actually induced by retailstore environments may affect purchase intentions. It habeen noted by Simon (19 82) and Kotler (1974) that therewere effects of atmospherics in the retail setting,while others have reported effects of some uninducedaspects of ambience ( e.g., nice weather -Cunningham 19 79,effective temperature - Griffit 1970. Of course thereare many aspects of an environment's physical surroundingwhich m ay in fluence a cons umer's behavioi:, and the factthat a large number of these aspects are under themarketer's control encourage optimism about thepotential for inducing moods that will serve specificmarketingends (Gardner 1985,p.291). :nie limitations omost previous approaches to this sort of study are 1)using store atmosphere as a component of store image; 2)conceptualizing store image as a single attribute; and 3)failure to assess how store image affects shoppingbehavior within the store (Donovan and RoBSiter 1982).Another criticism of store image measurement has been thait usually occurs well after the in-store experience andin settings external to the store environment. As Dono-van and Rossiter (19 82) point out, although retailersreport significant effects from image manipula tions, theris a lack of supporting evidence to document theseoutcomes. Several possible explana tions for this ares

    Store atmosphere effects are basic emotionalstates that (1 ) are difficult to verbalize, (2 ) aretransient and therefore difficult to recall , and (3)influence behaviors within the store rather thangross external behaviors such as choosing whether ornot to patronize thestore (p.35).

    They continue their observations upon the difficulty ofthe measuring of emotional responses to store image byobserving that they may be very hard to document unlesstheir meas ures occur as close in time and place to theshopping behavior and preferably within the store (p.36)Belk(1975),Kakkar and Lutz (1975),and Lutz and Kakkar(1975 ) studied overall usage environmentSj and Donovan anRossiter (19 82) studied environmental variables in aretail setting. Note , however , that in the latter stud y,thirty students assessed their own shopping intentions,and there were only 66 responses. Thus,much selectiveinterviewer bias is likely to have affected resul ts.The Mehrabian-Eussell model (19 74) offers a theoreticalframework of a taxonomy of antecedents , interveningvariables and outcome s, in the traditional S-O-R p aradigmalthough it particularly focuses on the two latter ones.This study also focuses on the theoretical link betweenthe intervening and outcome varia bles , irhe interveningvariables are mood and store image. The responsevariabl es are categor ized in the Mehrjabian -Russelltradition of approach or avoidance behaviors , many ofwhich were suggested by Donovan and Rossiter (1982). Theare seen in Table 1.

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    AptecedgntB ?)QutcomeaDemogrsphics

    e . g . , a g ese xsei)Incomeoccupationeduca C loTtVenturesoinenese

    TABLE 1r a x o n o i ^ of Vg

    S t o r e Image

    Conewmer Mood

    Outcomea

    Hunber ofI t e m s b o u g h ttn sto reAmount of moneyspen t , re la t ive lyCmore, Bime, lees)AiDouDt of ttmetime spent tn store ac tua l and re la t ive )How often shop th isBtore

    As Table 1shows, antecedents have only been suggested.Demographic variables seem reasonable as antecedents, asdo certain personality variab les. For instance, Grossbartand other (1975) examined differ ent personality typesinsensation seeking related to shopping b ehavior, a nd thiswould seem to conceptually fit the model; however, furtherresearch is needed in order to establish suchanintegrative mode l- t sk beyond th e scope o f thisresearch.Mehrabian and Russell propose that three basic emotionalstates mediate approach-avoidance in environmentalsituations; pleasure, arousal,and dominance (o r theiropposites). This tridimension al theoryo f emotions wa sproposed halfa century a g o by Wilhelm Wundt (in 1905),who characterized emotions in terms o f pleasure-displeasure, tension-relaxation,and excitement-quiesce nce. Factor analysis o f the Mehrabian-Russellscalew e used in the retail environment clearly showeddimensions o f pleasure, excitement, a nd alertness (feelingwide awakebut calm). Whereas alertness is not strictlythe samea s dominance, it may be that in a store, feelingalert bu t calm puts consumers, already in a nonthreateningenvironment, intoa feeling of being in control. Thus wesuggest the following hypothe ses based o n the previousdiscussion;H I : T h e more positive the consumer's mood , themore likely s/he is to(a) spend more more money than anticipated

    (b) spend more time, both actual and inthe store(c) shop in the store more oftenand(d) plan to revisit the storeH 2 The more positive the consumer's imageo fthe store,t he more likely s/he is to

    (a) spend more money than anticipated(b) spend more time, both actualandanticipated in the store(c) shop in the store more often and(d) plan to revisit the store

    In addition,the Mehrabian-Russell model (1974) specifiesa conditional Interaction among emotional responses .Indeed,o ur evidence suggests a clear inter action effectbetween mood an d store image with both having impacto nthe dependent varia bles.Method

    The sample consisted of 89 shoppers selected at differenttimeso f day who had just made a purchase. Stores wereclothing or other sp ecialty types where the liklihood o fspending a significant amount o f money w a s greater. I nthe routine purchase o f an item, such as some razor bladesfroma drug store, it is not as likely that one's mood atthe timeor one's image o f thestore would affect shoppingbehavior. Different stores were used,b ut they a l l couldbe classified a s similar I n t he price ranges of theirmerchandise.

    Variables: Consumer moodw a s measured usingtb eMehrabi an-Russ ell acaile consisting o f 16items o n a 7-point semantic differential sc ale. Grotjbach's alphafothe scalewas .76. Factor analysis of the scale showedthree distinct factors, previously mentioned. They werpleasure-displeasure, arousalor excitement and alertneor feeling wide awakeand calis.Store imagew a s measured using items suggested "cyDieksand Albaum (1977). Thirty on e items were siailarly codor a 7-point semantic differential scale and had sCronbach's aipbao f .90 . Factor analysis w as alsoperformed on thi6 scal e, and the clearest to emerge weidimensions of pleasantness, excitement, and jncrowdedneTheseare very muc h likethe dimensions of tnood mea sur eand add validity to the notion o f interaction between ttwo in a retail context.The dependent variables consisted of single items aboucshopping behavior in the store. Respondents were askedthe number of items purchased; whether they spent moresthe same,or less than anticipated; the amount of tinespent in the store: whether it was more the same o r lesthan expected;h o w often per year they visit th e store;and whether they intended to revisit the store.Demographic data were collected fo r classificationpurposes only,n o t intended to serve as antecedents in model. Other thanthe significance o f occupation o nspending more than anticipated (r = . 24 , p

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    OutcoaeVariablesHumberofItemsboughtAnountofmoneyspentActualtimespentGreatertban timeanticipatedHow oftenshop hereRevlcitintention

    Zero order

    Kood

    y, a

    . 4 9 -

    ,21'=

    .21 =

    ,1 2

    .0 7

    PartialCoCorrelations

    StOTe Image

    .56*

    .24*

    .0 5

    .0 5

    .0 9

    - . 0 2

    TABLE3r relationAn

    Mood

    ,1 5

    - . 0 9

    - . 1 1

    - . 0 1

    ,0 2

    - . 0 9

    a l y e l BC o n t r o l l i n K for

    Store lmaf ;e

    . 6 4 ^

    .4 5 ^

    .17 ^

    .0 6

    .1 1

    Our results indicate that beingin apositive m oodmayreinforce, even create,agood shopping mood whichpositively affects one's perceptionofstore image. Thishas tremendous possibilitiesforretailers, especiallythoseinshopping mallsorothersinclose pro:5imityselling similar merchandise. Differentiating one's storecould becomeatrue mixtureofartandscience.Althoughthefindingarepromising,itmustberememberedthat people engage more ofteninhelping behavior whenIna better mood thannot(e.g., fillingoutaquestionnaire),andthattheresults mustbeinterpretedaccordingly. This typeofbiasislikelyto bepresentiany typeofsurvey, especiallyin the caseofpersonalstore Interceptsandtelephone interviewing. Butotherthan that, thereis noreasontoexpectanymore biasandnonresponsedue otherespondent beingin abadmoodinthis studyas In anyother usingtheintercept technique.Another limitation includesthepossibility that consumermay deliberately choosetoshopinstores that induceapositive mood. Furthermore, sincethesample sizewassmallandfairly localizeditwouldbedifficulttogeneralize. Finally,thequestionofwhich antecedentstiuse needs further investigat iontodevelop variablesofthis natureandtesttheentire model . Ifthis modelcouldaid Inourunderstandingofthecomplex Influenceoemotionsonconsumer behavior wh ile offeri ng pragm aticguidelinestomarketer s, especially retai lers,itwouldcertainlybeworth pursuing infuture res earch.

    ResultsThe resultsofourfindingarethatthescales used werevalidintheretail setting, with good reliability scoresand high factor loadingsontheoretical expectations.Thfinding thatthemain factors were quite similar couldbedueto thetheoretical notionoftheir interrel ationship .Thisisalso evidencedinthehigh zero-order correla tionscore betweenthewoand intheeffectsonthedependentvariables when each Intervening variablewaspartialledout.

    Thus,althoug h zero-order correlation coefficients showedsupportformore approach behaviorthebettertheconsumer moodandperceived store image,theinfluencebecame even more interesting whentheeffectsofeachother were controlled. Mood clearlyhasanimpacton allthe behaviors studiedasshownbyTable3. All corre-lations became insignificant when controllingformood.The analy ses r evealed supp(3rtforBeveralof thehypotheses. AsTable3shows,themoodoftheconsumermay have influenceonthenumberofitems boughtin thestore, spending more money than originally anticipated.

    and more time than intended spentinthestore. Storeimagewasalso relatedtonumberofitems bo ughtandamountofmoney spent; however, whe ntheeffectofmoodwas controlledfor,these relationships lost significance.Although less than halftheoutcomes were foundto berelatedto theemotional states me asured,thefact thatsome shopping behavior couldbeaffectedbyconsumers'emotional statesisquite interesting,andfurtherresearch usingalarger sampleandantecedent variablesforthecomplete model shouldbeconducted.

    DiscussionandImplicationsThis study lends credencetotheoften anecdotal retailerevidence that both consumers' moodsandtheir imageof thstore have effectonbuying behavior. Extending Donovanand Rossister (1982),weconductedthe studynotonbehavioral intentionsbutonactual behavior just afteritoccurredin anatural retail setting. Thestudy indicatesthataconsumer's moodmayinfluencehisor hershoppingbehavior afterthedecisiontoshophasbeen made. Thusthe extenttowhichaconsumer spends more thans/heoriginally expectmaydepend somewhatonmarketer-dominated stimuli.AsGardner (198 5) pointsout,although consumer's moodsareoften affectedbyfactorsbeyondamarketer's control, moodscanbegreatlyinfluencedbyseemingly small aspectsofmarketerbehavior,e.g.,asalesperson's smil e (p.281). At thepointofpurchase therearemany waystomakeaconsumerfeel better byimisic, color s, salespeop le train ing,andall those differentiating factors noticed longagobyWundt (1905)ingeneral environmentsandbyEdwardChamberlin (1933)in the economicandmarketingenvironment.Of course this researchisexploratoryandpresents onlycorrelational results,yet hefindings seem importantenoughformarketerstonote , especiallyifsmall capitalinvestmentsareallthatarenecessarytopositivelyaffect consumers' moodsandtheir store image.Forexample,changingthestore's light levelorplaying musiwhich would appealtotheclientele wouldbewell worththe effortif itenhanced consumer's imageofthestoreand simultaneously positively influenced consumers' mood s

    ReferencesBelk, Russell (1974), AnExploratory AssessmentofSituational EffectsinBuyer Behavior, JournalofMarketing Research,11(May),156-163.Chamberlin, Edward (1933),TheTheory ofMonopolisticCompetition, Boston,MA:Harvard University Pre ss.Cunningham, Michael (1979), Weather, Mood,andHelpingBehavior: Quasi Experiments WiththeSunshine Samaritan,JournalofPersonalityandSocial Psychology,37(11),1947-1956.Dickson, J. and G Albaum (1977), A Method forDeveloping Tailor-made Semantic Differ en ti al s forSpecific Marketing Content Areas , Journal of MarketingResearch, 14 (February), 87-91.Donovan, R. J. and J. R. Roseiter (1982), Sto reAtmosphere: An Environmental Psychology Approach,Journal of Ret ai li ng , 58 (1), 34-57.Gardner, Meryl (1985), Mood St at es and Consumer BehavioA Cri t ic al Review, Journal of Consumer Research, 12 (3),281-300.Gardner, Meryl and Marion Vanders tee l (1984), TheConsumer's Mood: An important Si tu at io na l Va ri ab le , inAdvances In Consumer Research, 525-529.Gr if fi tt , W (1970), Environmental Effects on In te r-personal Affective Behavior: Ambient Temperature andAtt rac tio n, Journal of Perso nalit y and Social Psychology15 (3), 240-244.

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