Experimental Shopping Analysis of Consumer Stimulation and Motivational States in Shopping Experiences (original) (raw)
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Experimental analysis of consumer stimulation and motivational states in shopping experiences
… Journal of Market …, 2007
The present research investigates the roles of both the individual reaction to environmental stimuli and personality characteristics in consumers' pursuit of hedonic and/or utilitarian shopping values. The individual reaction to environmental stimuli is operationalised by two closely related measures: the optimal stimulation level (OSL), concerning the level of external stimulation with which an individual feels comfortable, and the arousability, concerning the rate with which the internal stimulation (i.e. the arousal) level of an individual changes in response to a sudden increase (or decrease) in the environmental stimulation. Results from an experimental study showed, first, that these two constructs (OSL and arousability) are positively correlated with those personality traits (i.e. Agreeableness and Openness to Experience, according to the Big Five-Factor mode (see Digman 1990)) mostly associated with the hedonic shopping value. Second, drawing on Reversal Theory (see Apter 1989), results showed that paratelic individuals (i.e. those who are interested in the shopping activity itself) have higher OSL and arousability than telic individuals (those who are interested in shopping outcomes, such as the purchase of specific products). These motivational states, in turn, are differently related to the two shopping values (i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian). Theoretical and practical implications for marketing are discussed.
The effect of motivational orientation over arousal-shopping response relationship
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2014
This paper enlarges extant theory on environmental retail by providing evidence that motivational orientation moderates the relationship between arousal and response. Our conceptual model focuses on the phenomenon of motivational orientation as moderator on the relationship between arousal and shopping intention. We extend Kaltcheva and Weitz model, since their focus was on the association between arousal and pleasure. We measured shopping behavior, as consequence variable in the framework, in six different formats (e.g. satisfaction, loyalty, money $, minutes, products). We did four studies in a 2 Â 3 design with motivational orientation (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and arousal (high vs. moderate vs. low levels). After the procedures, the questionnaire listed the scales. The four studies did provide enough evidence that motivational orientation moderates the relationships proposed by Mehrabian and Russell's theoretical framework and those ones proposed by our model.
Manipulating Motivational States: A Review
2013
Reversal theory is distinguished from other theories of motivation and personality, especially trait theories, by its emphasis on the dynamic reversal process. If the dynamic aspect of the theory is to be given its full prominence, techniques need to be further developed to reliably and conveniently induce reversals. The present paper reviews the techniques that have been used in empirical and applied settings to manipulate motivational state. These include situation change, special display, re-framing, simulation, self-conditioning, and imaging. Methodological and other issues arising from the use of each technique are discussed. Bringing motivational states under the control of the experimenter, the consultant, and the individual will advance reversal theory from post-hoc description to prediction of future behavior and may well serve as the foundation of future research and practice.
The role of optimum stimulation level in exploratory consumer behavior
Journal of Consumer Research, 1992
This study examines the role of optimum stimulation level (OSL) in exploratory consumer behavior. The concept of OSL and its measurement are discussed, and the literature on exploratory consumer tendencies and their relationship with OSL is reviewed. Hypotheses are ...
Self-perception of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975
Self-perception theory predicts that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation do not combine additively but rather interact. To test this predicted interaction, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were both manipulated as independent variables. The results revealed a significant interaction for task satisfaction and a trend for the interaction on a behavioral measure. These results are discussed in terms of a general approach to the self-perception of motivation. Research on motivation has frequently drawn a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (e.g., Atkinson, 1964; Hunt, 196S; Koch, 1956; Young, 1961). If a situation contains a specific goal which provides satisfaction independent of the actual activity itself, behavior is said to be extrinsically motivated. On the other hand, if the activity is valued for its own sake and appears to be self-sustained, behavior is said to be intrinsically motivated (Young, 1961, p. 171). Although this distinction is conceptually appealing, it raises difficult questions. There are two major problems confronting the account of any behavior in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Gofer & Appley, 1967). The most serious problem is that the phenomenon is merely named, not explained. Labeling a behavior as intrinsically motivated begs the question of the theoretical nature of the process through which the behavior has become a motive. The second problem is that there are other theories which might plausibly explain the phenomenon. No doubt the most common alternative explanation involves secondary reinforcement. Secondary reinforcement refers to a process by which an originally neutral stimulus acquires reinforcing properties through its association with a primary reinforcer. In these terms, an intrinsically motivated activ-The authors wish to thank James Grigg and Ramamoorthi Narayan for their assistance in this study. Support for the study was provided by the University of Illinois Graduate Research Board. The order of this authorship is alphabetical. Requests for reprints should be sent to Barry M. Staw, Organizational Behavior Program, 104 Commerce West,
The present study, conducted on a sample of roughly 700 customers of two different shopping centers, focuses on verifying the existence of two stable high-order dimensions -i.e., Hedonic and Utilitarian meta-traits -over the Big Five factors of human personality, which were extracted from enduring individual differences in 11 shopping motives indicated in a seminal work by Tauber (1972). Results showed that, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Extroversion traits are correlated to the Hedonic (i.e., ludic, aesthetic, and epicurean) shopping value; whereas, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness traits are correlated to the Utilitarian (i.e., functional, task-related, and rational) shopping value. Findings confirmed the existence of two high-order factors among the Big Five, as maintained by , but with the transfer -at this domain-specific level of personality analysis -of the Agreeableness factor from one meta-dimension to the other. Three more differences with past categories were found: the dissolving of class A of motives (that is, shopping as a Diversion); the collapsing of Factor G (Communication with others having similar interests) and Factor F (Social experience outside the home) in one dimension (G/F) which represents Communication in general; and the proved existence of two other classes of shopping motives, which were defined Enjoying being on one's own (Y) and Freedom to decide (X). Results urge firms to classify key customers mainly on their shopping goals, and to set, in turn, satisfactory communication strategies able to influence customers' perception of the shopping center image and their purchasing experience.
How decision reversibility affects motivation
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2014
The present research examined how decision reversibility can affect motivation. On the basis of extant findings, it was suggested that 1 way it could affect motivation would be to strengthen different regulatory foci, with reversible decision making, compared to irreversible decision making, strengthening prevention-related motivation relatively more than promotion-related motivation. If so, then decision reversibility should have effects associated with the relative differences between prevention and promotion motivation. In 5 studies, we manipulated the reversibility of a decision and used different indicators of regulatory focus motivation to test these predictions. Specifically, Study 1 tested for differences in participants' preference for approach versus avoidance strategies toward a desired end state. In Study 2, we used speed and accuracy performance as indicators of participants' regulatory motivation, and in Study 3, we measured global versus local reaction time performance. In Study 4, we approached the research question in a different way, making use of the value-from-fit hypothesis . We tested whether a fit between chronic regulatory focus and focus induced by the reversibility of the decision increased participants' subjective positive feelings about the decision outcome. Finally, in Study 5, we tested whether regulatory motivation, induced by decision reversibility, also influenced participants' preference in specific product features. The results generally support our hypothesis showing that, compared to irreversible decisions, reversible decisions strengthen a prevention focus more than a promotion focus. Implications for research on decision making are discussed.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2011
This paper examines Rolls' (2005) propositions that emotional responses can be systematically related to environmental contingencies and that individual differences are related to emotional responses. In addition, consumer situations, defined functionally in terms of the reinforcement pattern they uniquely portray, as proposed by the behavioral perspective model (BPM) of consumer choice are predictably associated with patterns of self-reported pleasure, arousal, and dominance (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974). Rolls' argument that individual differences influence conditionality and emotionality is examined via hypotheses from the theory of adaptive-innovative cognitive style (Kirton, 1976, 2003). The results confirm that affective response to consumer environments is consistently predicted by the modeled pattern of operant contingencies, but not the expected relationship between cognitive styles and affective responses.j asp_823 2508..2537 Among psychologists who propose that emotional responses are linked systematically to operant contingencies, Rolls (2005) perhaps made the relationship most explicit by defining emotionality as the direct outcome of reinforcement contingencies. According to Rolls, emotions are "states elicited by rewards and punishers, that is, by instrumental reinforcers" (p. 11). Moreover, he emphasized the role of conditioning in emotionality by suggesting a two-stage process in which stimuli first reinforce the emitted behavior that generated them (i.e., instrumental or operant behavior) and, through Pavlovian association, elicit emotional responses within the brain. The selection of particular molar patterns of behavior relies, in turn, on the neurophysiological responses to different behavioral consequences that determine whether such outcomes of behavior are reinforcing or punishing. Rolls (2005, p. 14; Rolls, 2008, Chapter 3) presented a schema in which emotions are related to particular patterns of reinforcement contingency on the basis of consideration of how affective responses would be distributed along posited axes of positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. In earlier work, we also sought to provide a means of relating emotional responses to contingencies of reinforcement in the context of economic choice and have done so on the basis of a model of consumer behavior that refines the concepts of reinforcement and punishment in terms of their applicability to the economic choices of consumers in affluent, marketing-oriented socioeconomic systems (Foxall, 1990/2004, 1997; Foxall & Greenley, 1999; Foxall & Yani-de-Soriano, 2005). Moreover, it has drawn on the theory of environmental psychology that was proposed by Mehrabian and Russell (1974; also see Mehrabian, 1980), who made a case for pleasure, arousal, and dominance being the basic dimensions of emotion of which other emotional states are derivative (Foxall, 2005). This work has been conducted in two cultural (including linguistic) milieus; namely, England and Venezuela. A primary aim of the current paper is to extend this research further culturally by reporting an additional study, conducted in Wales, in order to examine the generalizability of the underlying model of consumer choice. This makes possible interesting comparisons between our own framework and that proposed by Rolls (2005), which suggest additional lines of investigation. Specifically, Rolls' (1999) theory of emotion is sensitive to the possibility that individual differences in personality and cognition may influence rate and nature of conditioning and, by extension therefore, affective responses to consumer environments. In also drawing attention to the role of individual differences in the meditation of emotion and behavior, Rolls (2005) paid particular attention to the claim that extraversion-introversion and neuroticism influence conditionability, hence susceptibility to environmental contingencies and emotionality. This reflects Eysenck and Eysenck's (1968, 1985) argument that introverts are more easily conditionable and show greater arousal by means of external stimuli than extraverts. The possibility also arises that introverts are more sensitive to punishment and frustrative nonreward than are extraverts (Gray, 1970). Extraverts may also show greater sensitivity to reward learning. The two hypotheses that emerge are that introverts are more susceptible to conditioning and that extraverts are more susceptible to positive, rewarding stimuli; while introverts are more sensitive to aversive stimulation. It has also been suggested, however, that extraverts may perform less well at vigilance tests (i.e., where the individual must detect stimuli that occur with low probability), and may perform better when arousal is high (Matthews & Gilliland, 1999). Other research has indicated that the amygdalae of extraverts are more intensely activated by representations of happy faces than are those of introverts (Canli, Silvers, Whitfield, Gotlib, & Gabrieli, 2002). Rolls (2005) noted that this evidence "supports the conceptually important point. .. that part of REINFORCEMENT AND EMOTION 2509