An Empirical Research on Relationship between Consumer Self Concept and Store Loyalty Affecting Shopping Behavior

Abstract

In India with the rapid economic development, socio-cultural and demographic changes, newlinethe lifestyle and consumption behaviour of the consumers have changed. This has newlineushered in a plethora of opportunity for the retail sector. The frenetic pace of retail newlinedevelopment has triggered the mushrooming of shopping malls across the country. This newlinestudy was undertaken to identify the factors influencing shopping behaviour of newlinecustomers while purchasing from organized malls and to investigate the relationship with newlinethe final purchase decision. A survey of 214 Bigbazar consumers located in Odisha state newlineof India was conducted, using a structured questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis, newlinecorrelation analysis, regression analysis, and structural equation models were applied for newlinedata analysis and getting interpretation. newlineAt this backdrop, the major research problem examined in present study was: newline To address the shortage of evidence in the literature mentioning self-concept newlinecongruity variables and retail store loyalty, more specifically, it seeks to extend newlinethe understanding of the impact of self-concept congruity by assessing the newlinerelative effects of different types of congruity variables on brand commitment, newlinetrust, and retail loyalty newlineAs per theoretical model, there were five study constructs (latent variables) involved in newlinethis research study. These are self-concept/store image congruity, store brand newlinecommitment, trust, store loyalty and shopping behavior. Self-concept/store image newlinecongruity was treated as exogenous and store loyalty leading to shopping behavior was newlineconsidered as endogenous variables. Again, in this linkage of causality, two mediating newlinevariables, namely, store brand commitment and customers trust were also considered in newlinethe present study. newlineStudy results showed that, store loyalty plays a major role in shaping the pattern of newlineshopping behavior. In comparison to Trust factor, Brand commitment has more newlinemediating role in the relationship between Store Image congruity and Store Loyalty. newlineSelf-Concept Congruity reversely affects store loyalty leading to shopping behavior. newlineTrust has insignificant mediating role in the relationship between Self-Concept congruity newlineand Store Loyalty. Self-Concept Congruity affects more to Store Brand Commitment in newlinecomparison to as that of effect on Trust. newline