Linking Emotions, Game Experience and Return Intentions
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The Role of Emotions in Game Experience: Linking Emotions, Game Experience and Return Intentions Mazia Seyed Yassim A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the University of Greenwich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2011 DECLARATION I certify that this work has not been accepted in substance for any degree, and is not concurrently being submitted for any degree other than that of Doctor of Philosophy being studied at the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is the result of my own investigations except where otherwise identified by references and that I have not plagiarised the work of others. Student Signature: …………………………… Date: ………………………….. Supervisor Signature: ………………………... Date: ………………………….. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was only possible due to the help and support of many people. I thank my principal supervisor Dr Sven Kuenzel for his help, support and advice over the years. Most importantly I thank him for his patient perseverance with this project. Thanks also go to my supervisory team Dr Joanna Cullinane and Professor Les Johnson for their advice and wisdom. My external advisor Dr David Savage was invaluable in helping me to understand personal construct theory and the repertory grids. The data collection for this research would not have been possible without the support of the county cricket clubs as well as the England and Wales Cricket Board. I am also very grateful to Gill Haxell, the Business School Research Degrees administrator, for all her help and support over the years. She is a real asset to all the research students and supervisors alike. Most of all, this thesis would not be possible without the support of my family. I am very grateful to my mother for always supporting me throughout my education. My husband Amin was always there for me to provide encouragement, advice, and support. Without him I do not think I would have been able to complete this thesis. Finally, my two sons, Zacharia and Yahya, for the training they provided in multi-tasking and time management along with many happy distractions. iii ABSTRACT The focus of many marketing studies is to understand the needs and anticipations of consumers and how they can be provided with positive experiences. In their efforts to understand the consumer, consumer behaviour researchers generally adopt a cognitive perspective, which propagates a rational, information processing approach to consumer behaviour (O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy, 2003). However, a unitary theory of consumption behaviour is undesirable because this restricts the way in which consumption behaviour can be studied (Foxall, 1990). As such, researchers need to use alternative theories in order to widen the scope of knowledge on consumer behaviour. Furthermore, within the field of consumer behaviour, emotional experience of consumers has become a prominent field of investigation. Richins (1997) concluded that the importance of emotions in consumer behaviour is well established. The question then is how researchers can attempt to understand the emotional experiences of consumers. This research is an attempt to understand consumption emotions of consumers with specific relevance to sports consumption. It uses an alternative psychological theory, personal construct theory, with which to understand and measure consumption emotions. Mixed methods research design is used comprising of repertory grid interviews and a quantitative survey to identify and understand the relevant emotions with regards to domestic one-day cricket spectators. The findings here show that six emotions are relevant in the cricket spectating context with most of these emotions having a strong relationship with both game experience and return intentions. This study contributes to existing knowledge on consumption emotions by demonstrating the use of an alternative approach to both measure and study consumption emotions. By using personal construct theory, the research has helped overcome some prevalent issues within consumption emotions literature. It has shown that emotions need to be understood at an individual level. Furthermore, it has demonstrated that rationality and emotions are part of the same process and provide support for conceptualising satisfaction as an emotion. iv CONTENTS Declaration………………………………………………………………………..ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………...iii Abstract……….....………………………………………………………….........iv Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………….........1 Chapter Introduction ……………………………………………………………...... .......1 1.1. Theoretical Overview…………………………………………………..........3 1.1.1. Emotions in Consumer Behaviour and Sports Marketing………………5 1.2. Research Aims and Methodology……………………………………...........8 1.3. Implications…………………………………………………………….........9 1.4. Structure of the Thesis....................................................................................10 Conclusion.............................................................................................................14 Chapter 2: Theoretical Background....................................................................15 Chapter Introduction..............................................................................................15 2.1. Emotions.........................................................................................................18 2.2. Perspectives of Emotions................................................................................19 2.2.1. Evolutionary Perspective..........................................................................20 2.2.2. Psychophysiological Perspective ..............................................................21 2.2.3. Neurological Perspective...........................................................................21 2.2.4. Dynamic Perspective.................................................................................22 2.2.5. Basic Emotions..........................................................................................23 2.2.6. Behavioural Perspective............................................................................24 2.2.7. Cognitive Perspective................................................................................25 2.2.8. Social Constructionist Perspective............................................................26 2.3. Personal Construct Theory..............................................................................27 2.3.1. Personal Construct Theory and Emotions.................................................31 2.3.2. Personal Construct Theory, Cognitive, and Social Constructivist Perspectives.............................................................32 2.4. Emotions in Consumer Behaviour....................................................................35 2.4.1. Emotion vs. Reason...................................................................................35 v 2.4.2. Emotions Research in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour.................................................................................40 2.4.3. Problem of the Concept of Rationality......................................................43 2.4.4. Problem of the Nature of Emotions...........................................................46 2.4.5. Problem of the Concept of Satisfaction.....................................................48 2.5. Emotions in Sport Marketing...........................................................................51 2.5.1. Sport Consumption and Emotions.............................................................52 2.6. Emotion and Behaviour...................................................................................56 Conclusion..............................................................................................................59 Chapter 3: Methodology.......................................................................................60 Chapter Introduction..............................................................................................60 3.1. Philosophical Orientation................................................................................62 3.1.1. Popper and Positivism...............................................................................62 3.1.2. From Positivism to Realism......................................................................64 3.1.3. From Theory to Practice............................................................................67 3.2. Research Aims.................................................................................................70 3.3. Research Context ............................................................................................73 3.3.1. Research Boundaries.................................................................................75 Conclusion..............................................................................................................78 Chapter 4: Stage One – Interviews......................................................................79 Chapter Introduction..............................................................................................79 4.1. Qualitative Study............................................................................................82 4.2. Qualitative Research Traditions......................................................................83 4.2.1. Phenomenology.........................................................................................85 4.2.2. Phenomenology and Personal Construct Theory......................................87