"In Egyptian retailing industry; does store atmospherics affect customer behavioral intentions?"

Transcription

1 "In Egyptian retailing industry; does store atmospherics affect customer behavioral intentions?" Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine how store atmospherics affect customer behavioral intentions through customer emotions. Until the early 1970s, the concept of atmospherics had not paid the attention of marketing scholars. The research focusing on atmospherics shifted from just physical environment cues since Kotler (1973) did his atmospherics work and Mehrabian and Russell (1974) suggest their model till Vieira (2013). The results of this study could help marketers, stores managers and companies to advance understanding of the store atmospherics roles; it also provides insights to international marketers to better understanding of customer emotions and behavioral intentions as well as store atmospherics cues. Further, it can be expected that this study can contribute in suggesting a number of future valuable ideas. First, the basic cues of store atmospherics that affect customer behavioral intentions and the store must have. Second, understanding the customer emotions in the store and how the store atmospherics cues affect his/her emotions. Third, why we can depend on customer behavioral intentions instead of actual behavioral. Forth, the main intentions of customer behavior toward the store. Finally, the store way should follow to use its atmospheric cues to affect customer behavioral intentions through his/her emotions. Key words: store atmospherics, customer emotions, and customer behavioral intentions.

2 1. Introductions: Until the early 1970s, the concept of atmospherics had not paid the attention of marketing scholars. The research focusing on atmospherics shifted from just physical environment cues since Kotler (1973) published his atmospherics work and Mehrabian and Russell (1974) suggest their Stimulus-Organism-Response model. Scholars tested this model over a long time of debate till Vieira (2013) deducted this argument by supporting the model validity and reliability concluding the ability of model generalizability. Stimulus mean what store managers do to induce customer emotions. Organism refers to customer emotions including pleasure, arousal, and dominance. The customer response reflects the motivated customers' actions by stimulus and emotions. The closet indicator to customer behavior is customer behavioral intentions (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). 2. Theoretical background: Since Kotler (1973, p.50) defined the store atmosphere as "the effort to design buying environments to produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his purchase probability" the marketing scholars start searching the phenomenon that characteristics of store environment are able to affect customer behavior. Over 40 years of studying atmospherics, marketing scholars searched store environmental cues under many concepts which have the same meaning. For instance, these concepts are: Atmospherics, service escape, Environmental psychology, and Shelf spaces. Researchers added many variables from the store environment showing to the atmospherics context till Tuley and Milliman (2000) divided those variables in to five categories; First, external variables that include: external signs, entrances, exterior display window Etc. Second, general interior variables which contain: flooring and carpeting, color schemes, lighting Etc. Third, layout and design variables consisting of: space design and allocation, placement of merchandise, grouping of merchandise Etc. Fourth, point-ofpurchase and decoration variables that cover: point-of-purchase displays, signs and cards, wall decorations Etc. And fifth, human variables which encompass: employee characteristics, employee uniforms, crowding Etc. After Kotler's work, atmospherics effect has been researched but it was not clarified till Mehrabian and Russell (1974) reached to Stimulus-Organism-Response S-O-R model. This model includes three components. First, Stimuli which refers to the human internal changing reasons such as colors, aroma, and flowers. Second, Organism is the human external changing reasons. It consists of pleasure, arousal, and Dominance. Third, Response, points out the human behavior either Approach or Avoidance behavior. According to this model, the stimulus or cognitions affect customer emotions which in turn affect his/her response. That explains the cognitive-affective role of atmospherics. In other words, emotions mediate the effective role of atmospherics on customer behavior toward the store. This model has been tested to prove its validation in both service and retailing industries (Baker et al., 1992; Dawson et al., 1990; Morrison et al., 2011; Sherman et al., 1997; Vieira, 2013). For more instance, researchers tested this model and they support its validity in retailing stores (Bloch, 1995), services stores (Foxall and Greenley, 1999; Jang and Numkung, 2009), Virtual stores (Eroglu et al., 2001; Mazaheri et al., 2010) and in comparing both goods with services in Machleit and Mantel, (2001). The cognitive affective theory suggests that the cognitions (atmospherics in our constraints) affect the customer behavior under some circumstances. But, some researchers argue that by investing a model that is emotions affect cognitions (Zajonc and Markus, 1984).

3 This model suggests that emotion can exist without a stimuli because it can be generated biological, sensory, or cognitive events (Chebat and Michon, 2003). So, Emotions affect customer perception of atmospherics which in term influence customer behavior. On other hand, based on cognitive theory of emotion in Lazarus (1991), Customer emotions doesn't induced without a stimuli even if the customer didn't enter the store. Because if someone waked up after dreaming a nightmare which will be the reason of his/her negatively perceptions of things, this negative perceptions doesn't come by itself, but by a stimuli which is the nightmare. The comparative study between the two models reached to the investigated competitor model by Lazarus (1991) is better explains the effect of atmospherics (Chebat and Michon, 2003). To solve this controversy, in Vieira's (2013) study, there is a meta-analysis of Mehrabian and Russell's (1974) work. Vieira concluded to the S-O-R model is the best way to study atmospherics effect on customer behavior through the two dimensions of emotions; pleasure and arousal. Vieira (2013) noted that "the authors' results support the generalizability of the Mehrabian and Russell's environmental theory, confirming the stimulus, emotion, and response are strongly associated". As we discuss cognitive-affective prospective, the second component of S-O-R model is Emotions. The customer external changing reasons are called emotions (Vieira, 2013). Mehrabian and Russell, (1974) mentioned that the customer emotions consists of three main components: Pleasure, Arousal, and Dominance (P-A-D model). Firstly, pleasure refers to level of excitement or interesting. Secondly, arousal is the attraction degree of stimulus. Thirdly, dominance expresses feeling of owing something. After a great effort in searching the P-A-D model, scholars become steady to eliminate the dominance component because it is the weakest one of the three P-A-D components. (Baker et al., 1992; Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Russell and Pratt, 1980). Customer emotions can mediate the atmospherics cues on customer behavior in a store environment context. Either positive-negative emotion or pleasure-arousal emotion, both of them mediates the atmospherics effect. More precisely, according to Mehrabian and Russell's Work, Scholars is using pleasure-arousal aspects of emotions to explain how atmospherics affect customer responses toward the store. (Turley and Milliman, 2000; Vieira, 2013). There are many studies show that arousal affect positively pleasure as dimensions of emotions in the retailing industry (Baker et al., 1992; Chebat and Michon, 2003; Holbrok and Gardner, 1993; Ladhari, 2007; Mano and Oliver, 1993; Mehrabian and Russell, 1974; Menon and Kahn, 2002; Morrison et al., 2011; Pavelchak et al., 1990; Wang et al., 2007; Wirtz et al., 2000). To serve this words, the next hypothesis will be developed: H 1 : Customer arousal has positively effect on customer pleasure as dimensions of emotions. The last dimension of S-O-R model is customer responses, which concerning with what will customer do toward inducing him by emotions that motivated by stimulus? Marketing researchers consider customer behavior as the output of stimulus' inputs and emotions processing. The customer behavior can take one of two ways either approach or avoidance behavior. According to environmental psychology studies, the approach behavior is related to a customer's decision to stay and browse the store. While the avoidance behavior is concerning to no waiting and wasting time to discover unlike store (Lunardo and Mbengue, 2013). The approach-avoidance behavior refers to positive-negative behavior toward the store. There are more than one item to express the customer responses that affected by atmospherics through customer emotions. These variables are over money spend, hedonic

4 value, utilitarian value, flow, sales, intentions, interaction and store exploration. The most important two items of customer responses are sales and in-store time spent (Turley and Milliman, 2000). These variables construct customer satisfaction and in turn loyalty (Vieira, 2013). The customer responses can be beneficial to managers that want to not only predict the customer shopping behavior, but also change clients' behaviors using atmospherics influence on their behavioral intentions. "The degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not perform some specified future behavior" is the meaning of behavioral intentions (Warshaw and Davis, 1985, P. 214). The importance of behavioral intentions becomes increased from the truth of the low rate of leaving customers the company is better profitability. In other words, keeping company-customer relationship stayed well is better profitability than increasing market share or decreasing costs. (Fornell and Wernerfelt, 1987). Scholars classified behavioral intentions to patronage intentions and purchase intentions (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982). On the other hand, other researchers divided it to forms such as: say good comments, recommendations, pay high price, and loyalty (Ziethaml et al., 1996). So, it can be clarified that the first team classifies the first team work concerns with intentions type. Whether the second team classified it according to the type and form. Ziethaml et al., (1996) study of behavioral intentions includes positive and negative intentions. Positive intentions contain: purchase intentions, recommendations, and loyalty. On the other hand, the negative intentions are internal and external complaining behavior. The behavior-intention gap means how intentions can foresee the customer actual behavior in the future. Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) pointed out that the customer intentions can predict actual behavior over 54% of assurance in the theory of planned behavior, that's why customer behavioral intentions considered as the closet reason to actual behavior (Shim et al, 2001). So, this study will depend on customer behavioral intentions instead of actual approach-avoidance behavior as an output of S-O-R model which will develop other hypotheses in this research. First, marketing researchers refer to the store atmospherics cues are positively affect customer emotions in the retail industry (Babin and Attaway, 2000; Babin et al., 2003; Chebat and Michon, 2003; Nisco and Warnaby, 2012; Ridgeway et al., 1990). That will lead to the next hypothesis: H 2 : The store atmospherics have a positive effect on customer emotions. Second, scholars pointed out that customer emotions affect positively customer behavioral intentions (Babin and Attaway, 2000; Babin and Darden, 1995; Babin et al., 2003; Chebat and Michon, 2003; Nisco and Warnaby, 2012; Ridgeway et al., 1990; Wirtz et al., 2007). That will lead to another hypothesis: H 3 : The customer emotions have a positive effect on customer behavioral intentions. Third, researchers refer to the direct positive effect of store atmospherics on customer approach behaviors in retailing industry. (Mattila and Wirtz, 2001; Milliman et al., 1982; Morrison et al., 2011). Because of the intentions can be considered as the cliset indicator of actual behavior, the significant effect on atmospherics on customer behavior can be restricted to the effect of atmospherics on customer behavior. And the service quality is one of the atmospherics cues affects positively customer behavioral intentions directly. That will reach to the next hypothesis: H 4 : The store atmospherics have a direct positive effect on customer behavioral intentions. Finally, researchers of marketing studies found that the customer emotions mediates the positive effect of store atmospherics on customer behavior in retail industry (Babin and

5 Attaway, 2000; Chebat and Michon, 2003; Nisco and Warnaby, 2012). And mediates the positive effect of store atmospherics on customer behavioral intentions in retail industry (Babin et al., 2003; Jang and Numkung, 2009; Ridgeway et al., 1990; Walsh et al., 2011). So, the last hypothesis will be: H 5 : The customer emotions mediate the positively effect of store atmospherics on customer emotions. The research problem is "how store atmospherics affect directly customer behavioral intentions through customer emotions". The next figure expresses the study problem. Store atmospherics 3. Theoretical implications: Figure (1) Conceptual Model This study considered as the first study uses S-O-R model. That is will be helpful in better understanding of how atmospherics affect behavioral intentions. Atmospherics include a lot of variables and marketers should innovate in these variables to affect customer shopping positively. Each one of atmospherics cues has an impact in both positive-negative and directindirect ways on customer behavior. By reviewing the literature, it has been shown that the customer prefer shopping in pleasured store environment (Morrison et al., 2011). So, it is a must to study how can managers use these atmospherics to affect positively on customer behavior. To upgrade storecustomer relationship, managers want to predict customers' responses before some bad circumstances related to atmospherics take place in their stores and unfortunately affect customer behavior negatively. Accordingly, Behavioral intentions will be used instead of actual behavior to predict the customer behavior in the future which can be used as an important indicator Egyptian customer behavior and new testing to cognitive affective theory. 4. Social implications: This study will apply on Egyptian environment which has some distinguishable aspects: developed country, Eastern culture, Arabic language, Islamic and Christian religion, instability and insecurity economic status, and retailing industry should be one of the most important sector in its economic. The generalizability of this study results will help Egyptian society to maintain and develop retailing industry. By increasing customer perception of store atmospherics the society will be awareness about how store spends a great efforts to make people happy in their shopping journey. The ministry of supply and internal trade in Egypt should support this study findings by putting roles and procedures to secure both customers and stores concerning complaining behavior, employees, cleanness, music type and volume, aroma Etc. then it can be appied in the whole Arabic society. 5. Contribution of paper: Customer emotions Arousal Pleasure Customer behavioral intentions After analyze the collected data, findings of this research can open the door for further more studies that will help on better understanding how atmospherics affect customer behavioral intentions in the future. Also, Egyptian stores will apply this study results to make their relationship with customer more profitable. Another benefit, it helps customer in perception of how stores spend sustainable costs for enjoying them that will lead to more

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