Shopping Motives, Big Five Factors, and the Hedonic/Utilitarian Shopping Value: An Integration and Factorial Study

The present study, conducted on a sample of roughly 700 customers of two different shopping centers, focuses on verifying the existence of two stable high-order dimensions – i.e., Hedonic and Utilitarian meta-traits – over the Big Five factors of human personality, which were extracted from enduring individual differences in 11 shopping motives indicated in a seminal work by Tauber (1972). Results showed that, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Extroversion traits are correlated to the Hedonic (i.e., ludic, aesthetic, and epicurean) shopping value; whereas, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness traits are correlated to the Utilitarian (i.e., functional, task-related, and rational) shopping value. Findings confirmed the existence of two high-order factors among the Big Five, as maintained by Digman (1997), but with the transfer – at this domain-specific level of personality analysis – of the Agreeableness factor from one meta-dimension to the other. Three more differences with past categories were found: the dissolving of class A of motives (that is, shopping as a Diversion); the collapsing of Factor G (Communication with others having similar interests) and Factor F (Social experience outside the home) in one dimension (G/F) which represents Communication in general; and the proved existence of two other classes of shopping motives, which were defined Enjoying being on one's own (Y) and Freedom to decide (X). Results urge firms to classify key customers mainly on their shopping goals, and to set, in turn, satisfactory communication strategies able to influence customers' perception of the shopping center image and their purchasing experience.