دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی مقایسه مدل سازی معادلات ساختاری (SEM) و روش SEM بیزی رفتاری در فروشگاه - امرالد 2017

1 Introduction

Kotler (1974, p. 50) first defined atmospherics as “the conscious designing of space to create certain effects in buyers”. Since the 1970s, both retailers and marketers across the globe have attempted to manipulate various aspects of store atmospherics that appeal to the human senses (e.g. climate, music, scent, in-store display, etc.) to stimulate positive consumer reactions. In fact, this long-standing preoccupation with atmospherics is intensifying especially in the highly competitive retail sector worldwide (Kumar and Kim, 2014). This is because both retailers and marketers regard store atmospherics as a highly effective aspect of marketing that they could fully manipulate (Heung and Gu, 2012; Turley and Chebat, 2002). Most importantly, there is a wealth of evidence that most consumers consider store atmospherics as an important criterion when deciding where to shop (see, for instance, Nicholls, Li, Mandokovic, Roslow and Kranendonk, 2000; Kusumowidagdo, Sachari and Widodo, 2012). This justifies retailers’ emphasis on creating an appealing environment to evoke shoppers’ emotions that, in turn, trigger ‘desirable’ behaviours such as increasing time and money spent, positive word-of-mouth communication, and higher re-purchase intentions.

5 Discussion and Conclusion

Our study focused on understanding the effects of store atmospherics (i.e. the influence of music, colour, and store layout) on shoppers’ affective state as well as in-store behaviour. In this regard, a series of tests were conducted using both frequentist and Bayesian approaches and results show that both approaches had consistent outcomes. More specifically, results from the SEM and bootstrapping method for testing complex mediations showed the positive effect of store atmospherics (music, colour, and store layout) on affective state. The positive affective state generated in turn brought about in-store approach behaviour: shoppers tended to spend more time, more money, and indicated intention to patronize the store again. The empirical evidence of this study affirms that atmospheric cues, such as the presence of music, colour and good store layout applied in retail setting, influences the consumption experience in terms of emotional and behavioural responses. In terms of our contribution to the extant literature, our empirical findings add to the relatively sparse evidence available that is specific to consumers patronizing the outlets of clothing retailers in shopping malls. This is very much in line with the recent exhortation of various researchers (see, for instance, Dabija and Babut, 2014; Heung and Gu, 2012; Davis and Hodges, 2012; Kumar and Kim, 2014; Mohan etal., 2013) that the behaviour of consumers must be rationalized within the distinctive context where the ‘consumption experience’ takes place, be it a particular subsector, industry or even retail format.