Hedonism, Utilitarianism, and Consumer Behavior Exploring the Consequences of Customer Orientation Daniele Scarpi Hedonism, Utilitarianism, and Consumer Behavior “Hedonic and utilitarian orientations are fundamental aspects of consumer behavior, but they have not been investigated as elegantly or as comprehensively as in this book. This book’s contributions are multi-faceted: a very informative literature review; an interesting conceptual model that integrates theories; and empirical tests of hypotheses in this model that provide valuable insights on several variables of managerial interest.” —Siva K. Balasubramanian, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA “In this useful and enjoyable book, Professor Scarpi first enhances our under- standing of shopping as a market phenomenon, and then proceeds to throw an impressive data set at a variety of questions important to marketing academics and both traditional and digital retailers. Anyone interested in the complex interplay among consumers, products and distribution should immediately go shopping for this book!” —Charles Hofacker, Florida State University, USA “Hedonism and utilitarianism hold a truly important role for marketers. Retailers, in particular, will want to know the takeaways, but the book really holds value for scholars working in the domain. The structural modelling, the review and logical thinking around the central constructs provide a template for young scholars and a solid basis to build further research.” —Roger Marshall, AUT University, New Zealand; Editor-in-Chief, Australasian Marketing Journal “Do we go shopping for fun (hedonism) or for rational reasons (utilitarianism)? Our answer to this question changes over time, as our reasons to go shopping are not always the same. This book provides a detailed and comprehensive perspec- tive on the consequences of consumer orientation on their subsequent shopping behavior. A must-read for any researchers and practitioners in consumer behav- ior and retailing!” —Eleonora Pantano, University of Bristol, UK Daniele Scarpi Hedonism, Utilitarianism, and Consumer Behavior Exploring the Consequences of Customer Orientation Daniele Scarpi University of Bologna Bologna, Bologna, Italy ISBN 978-3-030-43875-3 ISBN 978-3-030-43876-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43876-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and ­transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface This book investigates both theoretically and empirically two facets of consumers’ shopping orientation, namely hedonism and utilitarianism. Hedonism refers to the pleasure, fun, and fantasizing related to shopping. Utilitarianism refers to a rational, planned, and goal-oriented shopping behavior. The two main streams in the literature are the approach that sees hedonism and utilitarianism as characteristics of products (or of cer- tain individuals), and a more “dynamic” approach that, instead, envisions hedonism and utilitarianism as the result of an interaction between mul- tiple elements, such as products, consumers, and the specific shopping context, with a perspective related to the shopping experience as a whole. As a result, the consumers’ response may be different from time to time for each shopping trip, even in relation to the same product category or the same store environment, and the unit of analysis becomes the shop- ping expedition rather than the product category or the store atmosphere or some trait of the consumers’ personality. The main objective of this book is twofold. On the one hand, it intends to examine in depth the role and effects that hedonism and utilitarianism play in consumer behavior; on the other hand, it intends to compare dif- ferent retailing contexts. The ultimate objective is to produce significant contributions both in terms of the advancement of knowledge for mar- keting scholars and in terms of managerial implications for retailers. v vi Preface The first two chapters of the book present and explore in depth the concepts of hedonism and utilitarianism, referring to an extensive litera- ture. Chapter 2 provides a summary of the main contributions to the study of hedonism, draws a historical picture, and then examines in detail the evolution of thought both from a theoretical point of view and with regard to methodological developments from the origins till today. On the basis of a critical reading of the articles related to the topic, areas of research that are still open are outlined. In particular, the book acknowl- edges that the role of offline distribution channels has mostly been ignored in the study of shopping orientation, and runs the analysis on data from different retailing contexts. The review of the literature in Chap. 2 also reveals the dearth of analyses exploring the impact, conse- quences, and effects of hedonism on consumer shopping orientation, rather than its antecedents and drivers. The book then proceeds with some considerations on aspects necessary for a correct theoretical and methodological approach, addressing also some controversial or contra- dictory aspects that have influenced (and often hindered) the study of hedonism. Among these, particular emphasis is given to the concept of mood, value, and shopping atmosphere. Then, Chaps.3 and 4 deal with the development of a conceptual model, examining the main issues related to an analysis of hedonism and utilitarianism on the basis of the concepts previously illustrated in the review of the literature. On the basis of the review of the literature, spe- cific hypotheses are advanced on the impact of hedonism and utilitarian- ism both at a single distribution channel level and at a more general level. The method to investigate the effects of hedonism and utilitarianism on consumer behavior is introduced; in particular, dependent variables are identified: amount purchased, perceived value, store loyalty, purchase fre- quency, price consciousness, age, gender. Next, a model of structural equations is developed building on these variables. The chapter also introduces the distribution channels that will be considered in the analy- sis: intensive distribution and selective distribution. This choice derives from a series of considerations regarding the managerial relevance of the two channels, as well as the strategic implications for the creation and development of a distribution network. The methodology that will be Preface vii followed in the empirical part of the analysis is illustrated in detail, dwell- ing extensively on sampling, data collection techniques, and measure- ment of variables. Close attention is paid to problems related to the measurement of the identified variables, not only as far as the numerical indicators and statistical techniques that will be used are concerned, but also with regard to the validity and reliability of the measurements in general. Then, the empirical part of the book follows, which consists of Chaps. 5, 6, 7, and 8. Chapter 5 tests the research hypotheses on the data col- lected in intensive distribution, while Chap. 6 tests them in selective dis- tribution. Each of the chapters dedicated to empirical analysis draws the conclusions related to the single distribution channel under examination, while Chap. 7 compares the results related to the different retailing con- texts. The managerial implications that emerge from the empirical part are then discussed in Chap. 8. In particular, it is discussed whether there are substantial differences in the impact of hedonism and utilitarianism, which shopping orientation prevails, and which should be stimulated. This provides the opportunity to test empirically some theoretical posi- tions long debated in the literature, and to reach conclusions on the role played by hedonism that are also useful from a managerial point of view. The limits of the analysis and developments for future research are then introduced, identifying the main questions that remain unanswered, and indicating future directions for the study of hedonic and utilitarian shop- ping orientation, in particular virtual reality. Finally, the appendixes provide the questionnaire