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High shopping mall patronage: is there a dark side?

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Abstract

Shopping malls that provide consumers climatic comfort and freedom from noise and traffic are centers for social and recreational activities as well as shopping. As they grow in number and differ from each other in terms of size and variety, consumer patronage regarding these enclosed retail environments become subject of greater scholarly inquiry. While there are voluminous studies that try to figure out the determinants of mall patronage, there is a lack of interest on its consequences. This study attempts to extend the literature by drawing attention to the dark side of increased mall patronage behavior. High shopping mall patronage level is predicted to be an important stimulator of consumers’ materialism and compulsive consumption orientations. Besides, these effects are expected to be stronger for individuals with hedonic mall shopping motivations than for those with utilitarian mall shopping motivations. Results show that increased mall patronage stimulates materialistic values and compulsive buying tendencies; but these relationships do not show any significant differences among hedonic or utilitarian shopping motivations.

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  1. Department of International Trade, Istanbul Kemerburgaz University, Mahmutbey Dilmenler Cad. No: 26, Bagcilar, 34217, Istanbul, Turkey

    E. Eser Telci

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Telci, E.E. High shopping mall patronage: is there a dark side?. Qual Quant 47, 2517–2528 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-012-9668-5

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