Do promotion and prevention focus influence impulse buying: The role of mood regulation, shopping values, and impulse buying tendency

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102554Get rights and content

Abstract

Earlier researchers have observed that an individual consumer's mood plays a significant role in increasing the impulsiveness, which leads to impulsive buying. The literature on shoppers' motivational traits has profoundly acknowledged the impact of these traits and mood regulation constructs on individual shopping values. The present study is a pioneer attempt proposing a comprehensive model, which incorporates three main antecedents (motivation, mood and value) of buying behaviour that influence the consumer purchasing decision. The paper empirically explores the liaison between the regulatory focus (promotion-focused and prevention-focused motivations), mood regulation (mood monitoring, mood clarity and mood repair), shopping values (hedonic and utilitarian), and impulsive buying behaviour. The outcomes suggest that two regulatory focus motives influence mood clarity. Mood repairing and mood monitoring impact hedonic shopping values, which has a substantial impact on consumers' impulsive buying tendency. The paper closes with theoretical and practical inferences, limitations, and discussion on the potential scope for future research.

Introduction

Since ancient times, human beings have endeavoured to accomplish tasks either to gain pleasure or to avoid pain. Psychologists and academic researchers believe that people's emotions, mood, and feelings impact their behaviour and, by extension, their buying behaviour. This effect is prominently visible in a retail setting, where shoppers' mood plays a significant role in unplanned purchasing (Iyer et al., 2020; Kaltcheva and Weitz, 2006), consumption (Donovan et al., 1994), repeat purchasing intention (Dawson et al., 1990), etc. Individuals vary in their propensity to understand and regulate their affective state. Some maintain effective control of their mood, which may be positive or negative. Therefore, it becomes more pertinent to understand how consumers experience emotions and moods in their mind than to understand the actual quality of mood in a given instance. A similarly positive mood might foster a feeling of positive well-being for some individuals, while for others, it might serve as an overcorrection, leading to inappropriate social behaviour (Gohm, 2003; Ahn, 2019).

It is also well established in the extant literature that every individual aspires to achieve a goal, whether hedonic or instrumental. To achieve these goals, individuals make an effort to control their affective state of mind. A hedonistic individual tends to maintain a positive mood while avoiding a negative mood. On the contrary, individuals with instrumental goals seek to prevent a negative outcome. For a better understanding of this phenomenon, Higgins (1997) has proposed the regulatory focus theory. Accordingly, individuals mainly display either promotion focus or prevention focus, based on their orientation toward their goal. This orientation should help researchers in better comprehending how people control their affective stage. Also, these are highly pertinent to retailers and marketers for understanding consumer buying behaviour (Carver and Scheier, 2001; Lin et al., 2018; Zou and Chan, 2019).

Although the understanding of regulatory focus is essential, very few studies have attempted to examine this concept (Cohen and Andrale, 2004; Kidwell et al., 2008; Lin et al., 2018). Moreover, in the context of shoppers' impulsive buying, there exists hardly any study that has investigated the role of regulatory focus in triggering or containing a “sudden urge to buy.” To address this research gap, the present study has endeavoured to examine the influence of regulatory focus and mood on shoppers' impulsive purchasing behaviour in the offline retail context. Raila et al. (2015) and Reppa et al. (2021), research highlighted the mood influence on individual behaviour and their efficiency. Studies like Chang et al. (2011) and Babin and Attaway (2000) have strongly postulated the role of the retail environment in creating or sustaining the positive mood and repairing the negative mood of shoppers. According to Kaltcheva and Weitz (2006), a better understanding of shoppers’ control over their mood, as influenced by the retail atmosphere that impacts their buying behaviour, is of great significance.

Another important constituent that impacts a consumer's impulse behaviour is shopping value, which is generally classified as hedonic and utilitarian (Holbrook, 1986; Picot-Coupey et al., 2020). The word ‘hedonic’ denotes pleasure, enjoyment, joy, and amusement. Hedonic shopping value is the most vital element for unplanned purchase (Wood, 2005) and is considered as the primary motivation for impulse buying (Baumgartner, 2002). Earlier studies suggest that consumers especially female describe their shopping experience as an expression of love (Otnes and Mcgrath, 2001). Likewise, Anderson et al. (2014) and Batra and Ahtola (1991) research also highlighted that hedonic shopping of shoppers are portrayed as ‘gaining excitement and delight’. On the contrary, the utilitarian consumer is characterized as a rational problem-solver and value seeker, whose buying decision pivots around saving money and ease of purchasing. Other prominent motives include easy access to the place, time, availability of the needed product and its quality (Rintamä;ki et al., 2006). In their recent meta-analysis-based research, Babin and Krey (2020) emphasized the need for more research aimed at understanding the influence of shopping values on purchasing behaviour.

To understand and examine these phenomena, the present study has analyzed the influence of regulatory focus on mood regulation, and further its impact on shopping values. In this process, the effect of hedonic and utilitarian values on shoppers’ impulsive buying tendency and impulsive purchasing behaviour has been analyzed. The finding of this research shall facilitate the retailers in formulating strategies based on consumers' promotion-focused or prevention-focused approach.

The paper is organized as follows: the forthcoming sections detail the theoretical background, the formulation of hypotheses and the research methodology used in the study. After that, the results and analysis are presented. Finally, the last section of the paper offers further discussions based on the findings. The conclusion and limitations have also been presented in the end.

Section snippets

Regulatory focus theory

Human beings tend to seek experiences that give pleasure and escape from those that are painful. Earlier philosophers, as well as modern psychologists, have sought earnestly to understand individuals’ motivation for seeking pleasure. This principle forms the underlining basis for studies in the field of psychology like “theories of emotion in psychobiology” (e.g., Gray, 1982), “decision making in cognitive and organizational psychology” (Dutton and Jackson, 1987), and “achievement motivation in

Mood clarity

Individuals depend heavily on their mood for the achievement of their desired goal (Larsen, 2000). Bandura (1994) observed that individual judgments are strongly affected by mood. According to Williams and MacKinnon (2008), mood clarity manifests the ability of people to recognize and distinguish varied feelings. By facilitating the reduction in depressive symptoms (Kennedy et al., 2010) and social anxiety (Swinkles and Giuliano, 1995) among people, mood clarity enhances their social skills.

Construction of instrument

From a review of extant literature, multiple-item scales were selected and adapted to measure the constructs of the proposed model. These scales have been used and validated by past studies. The final questionnaire contained statements related to promotion focus, prevention focus, mood dimensions, shopping values, impulsive buying tendency, and impulsive buying. For measuring the promotion and prevention focus of an individual, an eight-item scale of Semin et al. (2005) was adopted. To examine

Measurement model

To validate the linkages between scale items and their respective constructs, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out. Owing to factor loading of less than 0.50 (Hair et al., 2007), one item each under mood clarity, utilitarian shopping value, and promotion focus was removed from further investigation.

The measurement model was then assessed for all constructs used in the study. This evidenced a good fit as reflected from values for the fit indices: CMIN/DF = 1.29; GFI = 0.903; IFI = 0.973;

Discussion

Mood and emotions have a substantial role in understanding shoppers' buying behaviour, especially in the retail shopping experience. The extant literature contains very few studies aimed at uncovering how and why shoppers control their affective experiences. This study has been objected at explaining the impulsive buying behaviour of consumers with prevention-focused and promotion-focused motivation. It examined the impact of individuals’ promotion-focus and prevention-focus traits on the three

Practical implications

Every year, marketers and retailers invest massive amounts and spend substantial effort to create a positive environment for enhancing shoppers’ positive mood or reducing their negative mood. There is ample evidence to support that consumers do more unplanned shopping either to enhance or to sustain their positive mood (Rook and Gardner, 1993; Silvera et al., 2008). There is also evidence that shopping works as “retail therapy” for reducing shoppers' negative mood (Dittmar and Drury, 2000).

Conclusion and limitations

The results of this research study illustrated the relationships among regulatory focus, mood regulation, shopping values, and IBT and impulsive behaviour. The study findings are informative and thought-provoking for marketers and retailers as well as for academics. The data was collected across various occupations, age groups, and income groups to achieve considerable variance. Despite this variance, the finding of this study applies to all types of retail outlets and can be used by marketers.

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