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Defining and measuring recreational shopper identity

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Abstract

The concept of recreational shopper identity, a dimension of the consumer—s self-concept, is contrasted with simple shopping enjoyment, which has characterized most past research on recreational shopping. Two survey studies investigate recreational shopper identity in a clothing shopping context. In Study 1, the Recreational Shopper Identity (RSI) Scale is validated with a sample of 561 adult consumers, demonstrating that recreational shopping is experienced as a true leisure activity. In Study 2, involving 354 adult consumers, the RSI Scale is used to identify three groups of shoppers who differ in the degree to which they incorporate recreational shopping into their self-concepts. Recreational shopping enthusiasts are found to engage more extensively in a range of retail shopping behaviors, to spend more money shopping (i.e., they are not just browsers), and are more “multi-channel” than other shoppers, reporting higher levels of Internet, catalog, and TV home shopping as well as traditional “brick-and-mortar” shopping.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State University of New York, New Paltz

    Michael Guiry

  2. University of Florida, Florida

    Anne W. Mägi & Richard J. Lutz

Authors
  1. Michael Guiry
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  2. Anne W. Mägi
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  3. Richard J. Lutz
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Additional information

Michael Guiry (guirym@newpaltz.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business at the State University of New York, New Paltz. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. His research interests include recreational shopping and cross-cultural consumer behavior.

Anne W. Mägi (anne.magi@cba.ufl.edu) (Ph.D., Stockholm School of Economics) is a visiting scholar in the University of Florida Marketing Department. Her research interests include retail patronage, consumer loyalty, price perceptions and knowledge, and impulsive shopping behavior. Her research has been published in theJournal of Retailing and theJournal of Retailing and Consumer Services.

Richard J. Lutz (richard.lutz@cba.ufl.edu) is the J. C. Penney Professor of Marketing in the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research lies in the area of consumer behavior and in particular consumer response to advertising. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Advertising.

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Guiry, M., Mägi, A.W. & Lutz, R.J. Defining and measuring recreational shopper identity. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 34, 74–83 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070305282042

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