Impulse Buying in Retail Atmosphere in Terms of SOR Model of Consumer Behavior … ·...

Asian Journal

of Research in

Marketing Asian Journal of Research in Marketing

Vol. 3, No. 6, December 2014, Special Issue, pp. 1-12.

ISSN 2277-6621

1

Asian Research Consortium

www.aijsh.org

Impulse Buying in Retail Atmosphere in Terms of SOR

Model of Consumer Behavior and SEM Approach

(Case Study:Female Buyers of Cosmetic Stores in Tehran

City)

BabakSomia, FarzanehHeshmati

b,SaharHoseini

c

a

Master of MBA –Marketing,Department of management,Yazduniversity,Iran

b

Master of MBA – Marketing,Yazduniversity,Iran.

cMasterof MBA – Marketing,Yazduniversity,Iran.

Abstract

This study examines the indirect effect of retail atmosphere on impulse buying by enjoying SOR model

and research literature of impulse buying. This study examines the association between external stimuli

(general interior variables, human variables, Layout and design variables, point of purchase and

decoration variables, external variables), positive emotional responses of consumer and impulse buying.

Number of sample included 182 female consumers of cosmetic products in Tehran, responding rate was

91%, collection means was a questionnaire and sampling method was a random method by referring to these centers. Data was analyzed by IBM SPSS 21 and Smart PLS 3 software packages which was

followed by the following results.

a) There is a positive association between consumer’s perception of retail atmosphere characteristics (the

mentioned factors) and the positive emotional response to these characteristics.

b) There is a positive association between positive emotional responses to retail atmosphere

characteristics and impulse buying behavior.

This study showed that (in Iran) store environmental stimuli would result in a positive emotional response

among Iranian females which directs them towards impulse purchases because this type of buying is

somehow palliative and is an answer to such emotional response.

Keywords: Impulse Buying, Store Stimuli, Positive Response, SOR, PLS Technique

Somi et al. (2014). Asian Journal of Research in Marketing,

Vol. 3, No.6, Special Issue, pp. 1-12.

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1) Introduction

The effects of storeatmosphere on consumer’s behavior such as browsing in the store and the time spent

in the store have been broadly studied (Hyo-Jung Chang, 2011). However, researchers seek to examine

more studies to understand the effect of storeatmospheres on impulse purchases of consumer (Mattilaand

.Wirtz, 2008).

In addition to human factors, atmosphere stimuli such as aroma and characteristics of plan may also affect

consumer’s response in retain atmosphere (Baker et al., 1994).

Impulse buying is classified as a hedonic behavior which is more related topsychological feelings and incentives than to patience and functional advantages(Sharma et al., 2010). Studies show that motivates in

retail atmosphere possibly affect customer’s emotions (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982). This study was

conducted to examine if and how the characteristics of retail atmospherelead to emotions in consumers

(and after that affects impulse buying behavior). Impulse buying in low and medium levels may be an

enjoyable activity caused by hedonic buying of consumer; however, it can be harmful in a high level and

can be a destructive activity for the individual. Although previous studies concentrated on individual

differences variables for better understanding of impulse buying, the factors out of individuals such as

retail atmosphere characteristic have less been studied for impulse buying behavior (Mattila and Wirtz,

2008).

The main problem faced in this study is that most studies have examined the direct effect of store stimuli

without considering consumer emotions. Efforts have been made in this study to cover this problem.Rook and Fisher have defined impulse buying as a consumer’s tendency to perform spontaneously,

unconsideredandfast purchases.

The term “Store Atmosphere” is called to all physical and non-physical elements of a store which may be

controlled to affect the behaviors of its customers and staff (Eroglu and Machleit, 1993). Moreover,

executive limitations of the study such as lack of sufficient financial resources, short time, diverse subject

of subject and non-cooperation of some of the stores and consumers.

The first goal of this study is to examine the association between retail atmospherecharacteristics and

emotional responses of consumers. The second goal was to examine the association between positive

emotional responses and impulse buying behavior. Functional goal of the study was to provide a

procedure to manage impulse buying of cosmetics in the retail stores especially among females.

2) Research Literature

This literature examines the relation between retail atmosphere characteristics, positive emotional responses to atmosphere characteristics and impulse buying behavior.

a) Store Environmental Stimuli and Positive Emotional Response

Retail atmosphere is a combination of different characteristics that forms purchase atmosphere (Baker et

al., 1994). Kotler (1973) has defined Store Atmosphere as the effort to design retail store environments to

produce specific emotional effects in the consumer that enhance purchase probability. He also

emphasizes on the importance of combinations of retail environmental characteristics in stimulating a

consumer’s desire to purchase.Environmental characteristics such as cleanliness, pleasant, and relaxing

environment affect the consumers’ emotional responses (Bitner, 1992). Layout and design variables of

retail atmosphere also affect emotional states of consumers and their purchase decisions (Tai et al.,



3

1997).In addition, according to GilboaandRafaeli(2003), atmosphere complexitysuch as visual

richness,ornamentation, and variety of information presented in an environment such as

organization,coherence and clarity of an environment was negativelyassociated with consumer arousal

and positivelyassociated with pleasant feelings.Special population factors such as crowding, employee

attitude and interactions among consumers and sales employeesare also effective and have both positive

and negative effects on attitudes; however their positive aspect is more in the present study (Turley and Milliman, 2000).

Hypothesis 1:There is a positive association between consumer’s perception of store

environmentalstimuli (general variables, human variables, layout and design variables, point of purchase

and decoration variables, external variables) and emotional response to these characteristics.

b) Positive Emotional Response and Impulse Buying Behavior

Previous studies have shown that consumer’s mood or emotional states affect his/her impulse buying

behavior. Such happiness or emotion experiencedduring purchase positively affects impulse buying

behavior (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982).According to Rook and Gardner (1993), positive mood has a

higher effect on impulse buying behavior as compared to bad mood even though it occurs in both of

them.Consumers with more positive emotional states tend to less complex decisions with less time(Isen,

1984). In addition, consumers with positive emotions show a higher impulse buying because they feel

that they are less restrained, they do not tend to give any reward to themselves and they have higher

energylevels (Rook and Gardner, 1993). Positive emotional responses increase the possibility of special

behavior of consumers because they believe that behavior is the result of a positive output (Gardner,

1985).

Hypothesis 2:There is a positive association between positive emotional responses to retail atmosphere

characteristics and impulse buying behavior. c) Background of Impulse Buying

The following table shows findings of the most studies conducted on impulse buying.

Table 1. Background of impulse buying in abroad

Author Title of study Kollat D T and Willet R P. (1976) Customer Impulse Purchase Behavior

Bellenger et al.(1978) Impulse Buying Varies by Product

Weinberg and Gottwald(1982) Consumer Buying as a result of Emotions

Abratt, R. and Goodey (1990) Unplanned Buying and In-store Stimuli in Supermarkets

Donovan et al.(1994)

Store atmosphere: An environmental psychology approach

Beatty S E and Ferrell M E. (1998) Impulse Buying: Modeling Its Precursors

Wood, M. (1998) Socio-economic status, delay of gratifcation, and impulse

buying

Hausman, A. (2000) A multi-method investigation of consumer motivations in

impulse buying behavior



4

Verplanken B , Herabadi A. (2001) Individual differences in impulse buying tendency: Feeling and

no thinking

Kacen J T and Lee J A. (2002) The Influence of Cul ture on Consumer Impul sive Buying

Behavior

Adelaar et al. (2003) Effects of Media Formats on Emotions and Impulse Buying

Intent

Verplanken et al.(2005) Consumer style and health: The role of impulsive buying in

unhealthy eating EunJoo Park et al. (2006)

A structural model of fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior

Mattila and Wirtz (2008) The role of store environmental stimulation and social factors

on impulse purchasing

Zhou and Wong (2008) Consumer Impulse Buying and In-Store Stimuli in Chinese

Supermarkets

Herabadi et al.(2009) Consumption experience of impulse buying in Indonesia:

Emotional arousal and hedonistic considerations

Tendai and Crispen(2009) In-store shopping environment and impulsive buying

Lai (2010) How financial attitudes and practices influence the impulsive

buying behavior of college and university students, Social

Behavior and and Personality

Hyo-Jung Chang et al. (2011) Application of the Stimulus-Organism-Response model to the

retail environment: the role of hedonic motivation in impulse buying behavior.

Rong-Ho Lin et al. (2012) The Relationship Analysis Between Impulse Buying And

Regret For Impulse Buying Later.

Tifferet and Herstein(2012) Gender differences in brand commitment, impulse buying, and

hedonic consumption.

Yoon(2012) Antecedents and Consequences of In-Store Experiences Based

on an Experiential Typology

Pornpitakpan and JieHui Han(2013) The effect of culture and salespersons’ retail service quality on

impulse buying

Floh and Madlberger(2013) The role of atmospheric cues in online impulse-buying

Badgaiyan and Verma (2014) Instrinsic factors affecting impulse buying behavior- Evidence

from India.

Lucas and koff(2014) The role of impulsivity and of self-perceived attractiveness in impulse buying in women.

Amos, Holmes and keneson(2014) A meta-analysis of consumer impulse buying

3) Research Conceptual Model

Theoretical framework of this study is taken from S-O-R model (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974)

andimpulse buying literature. In SOR classic model, stimuli (S) are defined as factors affecting internal

moods of the individual which can be conceptualized as the effect theyhave on the individuals (Erogluet al.). According toBagozzi (1986), when a consumer’s behavior is depictedas an SOR model, the stimuli



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are outside of the individual and include a variable consisting of marketing mix and other environmental

inputs. In this study, Stimuli (S) are public atmosphere characteristics that affect emotional responses of

consumers. Organism (O) is the referral made to internal processes and structures and it is an

intermediary factor between external stimuli and activities, reactions and responses made by the

individual. Intervening processes and these structures include cognitive, psychological, emotional and

intellectual activities. The main SOR model is based on three factors including Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance abbreviated as PAD and serve as an intermediary between stimuli and responses of

individual’s behavior (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974). In this study, positive emotional response refers to

positive emotions of consumer for retail atmosphere characteristics and indicates the emotional aspect of

organism section. In SOR model, response indicates the final output and final decision of consumer

which can be an avoidance or approach behavior. This study is focused on positive emotional response

and approach behavior (impulse buying) because retailers generally try to create an atmosphere that

provides the consumers with a positive feeling to encourage the purchase behavior. The following figure

shows the conceptual model used in this study.

Figure 1. Research Model

4) Research Method

Statistical population included female buyers of cosmetics in Tehran city. Sampling method was a

random sampling by referring to some of the stores. To determine sample volume, unlimited population

formula with a confidence level of 95% was used. Error level was 0.05 and variance was 0.343 (obtained

from the 30 initial distributed samples). Analysis was conducted by reviewing 182 questionnaires. Data collection tool was a questionnaire consisting of 32 questions. Demographic questions were separate. 200

questionnaires were distributed out of which 182 questionnaires were analyzable which indicates of

responding rate of 91%. Reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed formally by marketing experts.

Validity of the questionnaire was obtained at 0.743 based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient resulted by 30

initial samples (which were input to IBM SPSS 21 software). Amounts higher than 0.7 are evaluated as

good.To design the questionnaire, other studies were used based on the literature. These studies included

the followings:

1) Store Stimuli (S):

This section was taken from the paper written byTurley and Milliman (2000) who classified store stimuli

into 5 groups, namely External Variables, General Interior Variables, Layout and Design Variables, Point of Purchase & Decoration Variables, and Human Variables. 2) Consumer’s Positive Emotional Response (O):

This section was taken from the paper written by Beatty and Ferrell (1998) in which 4 traits, namely

Excited, Fun, Joyful and Inspired were placed in the questionnaire through Likert5-option Scale from

Quite Agree to Quite Disagree. 3) Impulse Buying Behavior (R):

Store Environmental Stimuli

Positive EmotionalResponse

Impulse Buying

Behavior



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This section was taken from the paper written byHyo-Jung Chang(2011); in which impulse buying

behavior was included in the questionnaire in terms of three questions.

Date analysis method was conducted by enjoying Structural Equations Model (SEM) and Partial Least

Squares (PLS) approach. Smart PLS 3 and SPSS software packages were used for this purpose.

5) Research Findings

PLS modeling is conducted in two stages. In the first stage, measurement model (external model) is

examined through reliability and validityanalyses and confirmatory factor analysis. In the second stage,

structural model (internal model) is reviewed by estimating the route between the variables (Hulland,

1999).

a) Evaluation of Measurement Model (External Model)

1) Structural Confidence Reliability Coefficient (CR): This coefficient varies from zero to one. Amounts higher than 0.7 are accepted and amounts less than 0.6

are considered as inappropriate (Werts et al., 1974). The respective chart can be seen in figure 3.

2) Average Variance Extracted (AVE): It is used for convergence validity and shows high correlation between the indexes of a structure as

compared to correlation of indexes in other structures. The amount of this coefficient varies from zero to

one. Amounts higher than 0.5 are accepted (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).

3) Cronbach'sAlpha Coefficient:

Cronbach's alpha coefficient is another factor that varies from zero to one. Amounts higher than 0.7 are

accepted (Cronbach, 1951). In the following table, this coefficient is presented for each factor.

Table 2. Internal Evaluation

Variables Cronbachs Alpha CR AVE

IB* 0.731 0.740 0.568

SES*

0.714 0.777 0.552

PER* 0.712 0.811 0.632

* Impulse Buying

* Store Environmental Stimuli

* Positive Emotional Response



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Figure 2. Composite Reliability

The results of external evaluation of model shows that the three measured factors in the model were

evaluated by suitable measures.

b) Evaluation of Structural Model (Internal Model)

1) R

2 Determination Coefficient:

The first key criterion which is used for this purpose in the software is the very coefficient which measures the association between the amount of described variance of a latent variable and the general

amount of variance. The amount of this coefficient varies from zero to one. The higher the amount is, the

more appropriate it will be. Chin (1988) evaluates the amounts close to 0.67, 0.33 and 0.190 as

appropriate, normal and weak, respectively.

2) Path Coefficients:

Size of path coefficient shows the strong association between the two latent variables. Some researchers

believe that a path coefficient larger than 0.1 shows a certain level of effect in the model. Figure 3 shows

these coefficients for variables.

3) t Test:

Path coefficientsshould be significant at least with a confidence level of 0.05 (t should be larger than

1.96) which can be seen on the model using Booststrapping technique. For this purpose, the two-sided t

test was used.



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Figure 3. Conceptual model of research in standard coefficients state

Figure 4. Conceptual model of research in significance coefficients state( t value)



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A summary of the most important numbers is presented in the following table.

Table 3. Evaluation of internal model

Variables R2

coefficientt Path

Coefficient

SES ←PER 0.132 5.057 0.363

PER ← IB 0.155 4.539 0.394

The Smart Pls 3 software which is the last version of this software shows in its latest version the P value

of variable 1 which is an additional confirmation of previous criteria.

Figure 5. Conceptual model of research in p value coefficients state

6) Discussion & Conclusion

By reviewing the results obtained from testing the hypotheses, it was found that store stimuli with a

confidence level of 99% have a positive association with positive emotional response and it can be

concluded that increased store stimuli such as external variables, general internal atmosphere, layout and

design, point of purchase and decoration, and human variables resulted in positive emotions among

consumers (especially females based on this study). Moreover, the hypothesis for the effect of

consumer’s positive emotional response on impulse buying was confirmed with a confidence level of

99% which indicates that consumers with positive emotions are quite prone to impulse buying. Of course,



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it should be noted that considering the low amount of R2, it can be concluded that other factors affect

impulse buying as well which should be reviewed in separated studies.

Table 5. Results of testing the research hypotheses using Partial Least Squares (PLS) method

Also it should be mentioned that the age of 77% of females are less than 30.It means that young women

are the biggest group of cosmetics consumers in Iran.

This study can be reviewed from two viewpoints:

Marketers’ Viewpoint: Iran is a prone country in consumption of cosmetics and investment in this sector

can result in a suitable profit. Marketers should try to make popular store stimuli to create positive

emotional responses among females so that impulse buying and sale increase.

Population and Health Viewpoint:The results show that Iranian girls and women have become so stylish

and diversity-oriented in buying cosmetics. Considering the high consumption of cosmetics most of

which are not healthy, high economic and therapeutic costs will be imposed on the country as the result of continuation of this process. Moreover, efforts should be made to improve and promote among females a

culture for correct consumption of cosmetics.

Recommendation for other studies:

- Such type of purchase and emotional response should also be reviewed among men.

- This study can also be useful for other countries especially Arab countries where cosmetics are highly consumed as well.

- More separations can be made between cosmetic stores and the type of their products.

- Considering the low level of R2, other factors affecting impulse buying which may complete the model should be identified as well.

Path

Coefficient

T value Confidence

level

Result

Positive Emotional Response ←

Impulse Buying

0.363 5.057 0.001 >confirm

Store Environmental Stimuli ←

Positive Emotional Response

0.394 4.539 0.001 >confirm



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