The impact of culture, evaluation of store image and satisfaction on purchase intention at supermarkets.
| Autor | Watanabe, Eluiza Alberto de Morais |
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Introduction
Purchase intention is an important dimension in marketing literature, and has been used by companies as a variable to predict sales of new products or the repeated purchase of existing products (Diallo, 2012). For Wu, Yeh, and Hsiao (2011), purchase intention represents the possibility for consumers to plan or be willing to buy a specific product or service in the future. Thus, it is a variable of great relevance also in the supermarket sector, which is the target of this research.
Timmer (2004) observes that supermarkets make up a wide and robust logistics structure that depends on an accurate understanding of their consumers in order to avoid food waste or shortage. This strengthens the relevance of studying purchase intention of supermarket customers.
Purchase intention is not limited to simple aspects. On the contrary, as Oliver and Lee (2010) point out, several variables can influence it, either situational, as the evaluation of store image, consumer satisfaction, product price, among others; or motivational, such as values, beliefs and culture of the consumer society involved. In the present study, we considered as situational variables consumer satisfaction and evaluation of store image, because they are elements closer to the reality of purchasing at supermarkets. And we chose culture as the motivational variable.
Oliver (1981) defined satisfaction as the summary of the psychological state that occurs when emotion on the disconfirmation of expectations connects with consumers' priority feelings about the consumption experience. On the other hand, store image is composed of the various procedures that the customer needs to follow in the physical environment of the store, the moments of contact with employees, and the retailer's offer (Morschett, Swoboda, & Foscht, 2005). Regarding supermarkets, store image comprises several attributes. In our research, we chose the attributes layout, product and service.
Among the motivational variables, culture is an important element for understanding consumer behavior, and specific models that address consumption include such element (Alfinito & Torres, 2012; Torres & Allen, 2009). In his seminal paper, Hofstede (1980) identified four dimensions of cultural variation by investigating data of more than 116,000 questionnaires from IBM. One of its most relevant results is that culture can be used as a predictive variable. The four cultural dimensions identified in his original study were masculinity-femininity, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and individualism-collectivism (I-C). Later on, Hofstede and Bond (1988), while investigating cultural values in Asia, identified a fifth dimension, initially called Confucian Dynamism and then long-term orientation. Yet, in his work with Minkov (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010; Minkov, 2007), they also identified the dimensions of indulgence-restraint and monumentalism-flexumility.
Among the identified dimensions, I-C has received more attention from researchers (Smith, Fischer, Vignoles, & Bond, 2013). Triandis (1994, 1995) argues that people's self-concept can be defined either in terms of the endogroup (or intra-group), or as an independent entity, detached from the groups. For Triandis (1995), I-C is a very broad construct to measure accurately and suggests its measurement at the individual level of analysis. Triandis (1994) and Triandis, Chan, Bhawuk, Iwao, and Sinha (1995) proposed the personality dimensions idiocentrism-allocentrism as a construct at the individual level, which corresponds to the I-C construct at the cultural level. Idiocentrism-allocentrism can be examined through the individual definitions of the self, structure of personal goals, types of relationships emphasized by the individual, and if personal attitudes or social norms are perceived as more or less important while guiding individual behavior. They also proposed variations of idiocentrism--allocentrism in terms of their verticality or horizontality (intrinsically related to Power Distance), which are better discussed below.
However, it is important to notice that although Triandis has coined the terms idiocentrism-allocentrism to differentiate the level of I-C analysis (individual x cultural), several authors argue and accept (Smith, Fischer, Vignoles, & Bond, 2013; Smith & Schwartz, 1997) that the terms can be used interchangeably, for parsimony reasons, provided that the level of analysis used in the research is clearly indicated. In this sense, the conception of I-C at the individual level, proposed by Triandis, has received much attention, since it is a dimension that affects consumption, both in cross-cultural research and in studies of the same culture (Torres, Porto, Vargas, & Fischer, 2015). It leads to a better understanding of consumers' characteristics and attitudes (Torres & Allen, 2009).
For Triandis (1995), individuals of collectivist cultures see themselves as belonging to some group, and submit themselves to the group's wills. On the other hand, individuals of individualist cultures are independent, and the group goals are less important than personal goals. Frank, Enkawa, and Schvaneveldt (2015) observe the importance of investigating the role of I-C in developing purchase intention, considering the cultural diversity of consumers. Therefore, this construct composed the cultural dimension adopted in this research, whose objective was to analyze the influence of I-C on the evaluation of store image, and on the satisfaction of supermarket consumers regarding purchase intention. In addition, we sought to observe the influence of store image on consumer satisfaction, and the effect of I-C on store image evaluation.
We noticed the relevance of this research after carrying out a literature review on the subject, which showed the absence of studies addressing the cultural differences among supermarket consumers, and their influence on purchase intention and evaluation of store image. We conducted the search on the websites CAPES Journals, Science Direct and ProQuest, for the period 2010-2016. The keywords used, in a combined form, were "consumer" and "supermarket," and their respective English translations. We identified 71 articles, which included several variables, among them consumer satisfaction (Amorim, Lago, Moscoso, & Prieto, 2016), purchase intention (Ha, Akamavi, Kitchen, & Fanda, 2014) and evaluation of store image (Kitapci, Dortyol, Yaman, & Gulmez, 2013). The only study that superficially included a cultural aspect was the one by Zhang, Door, and Leeflang (2014).
Therefore, our study explores and analyzes a model that up to now has not been addressed, since we did not find empirical studies that investigated the relationship between I-C, evaluation of store image, consumer satisfaction and purchase intention, together, or in the context of supermarkets. These relationships were tested separately in other retail contexts, as in the study by Seock and Lin (2011). Additionally, Cunha, Spers, and Zylberstajn (2011) suggest the need to study cultural aspects in the supermarket segment; and Yildirim and Aydin (2012) observe that the retail sector shows a constant path of evolution and change, depending on the culture of the company's region or country.
We carried out the research in Brazil. After the literature review, we noticed that most of the studies that approached consumer behavior in supermarkets focused on Europe and North America. Emerging countries, especially those in South America, received little attention.
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Theoretical background
Consumer research involves several aspects that are subjective and difficult to identify. One of them is purchase intention, which, according to Cronin, Brady, and Hult (2000), demonstrates the consumer's trend to buy goods or services in the same store and share his/her experience with friends and family. Thus, an increase in purchase intention can mean a growth in the possibility of buying. Purchase intention can be seen as a dimension of behavioral intention (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1996), and can anticipate the consumer's current behavior.
Another subjective aspect relates to consumer satisfaction. Howard and Sheth (1969) define satisfaction as the degree of congruence between aspirations and the reality perceived from consumer's experiences. To Oliver (1980), satisfaction is the summary of the resulting psychological state when the excitement surrounding the disconfirmation of expectations is connected with the consumer's main feelings about the consumption experience. Following the same path, Tse and Wilton (1988) state that satisfaction is the consumer's answer to the evaluation of the perceived difference between expectations and the perceived performance of a product after its consumption.
In Latin, the word "satisfaction" derives from satis (sufficient) and facere (doing), which represents the reach, by the consumer, of what he/she wishes, and in a way that he/she considers sufficient (Oliver & Lee, 2010). Satisfaction is a judgment that the attribute of a product or service provides a pleasant level of consumption, including low or high levels of achievement. Here, the word "pleasant" implies that the achievement provides or enhances pleasure, or reduces discomfort.
In addition to the above-mentioned definitions, the literature states that there are two types of consumer satisfaction: transaction-specific satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction. The first refers to the assessment by consumers after a specific purchase, and the second regards the rating, based on experience ( Johnson & Fornell, 1991). Our research addresses the second type of satisfaction.
There are different discussions that explain the consumer satisfaction construct. The main one is the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, developed by Oliver (1980). It suggests that consumers prioritize the purchase of a particular good or service, and create an initial expectation...
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