Does Gender Matter in the Relationship Between Hedonic Shopping Motivation and Purchase Intentions?

Does Gender Matter in the Relationship Between Hedonic Shopping Motivation and Purchase Intentions?

Robert Davis: (PhD) Associate Professor, rdavis@unitec.ac.nz, Phone: ++ (649) 815 4321, Unitec Institute of Technology, Department of Management and Marketing, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand. Robert has published in Marketing Science, the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Service Research, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Communications of the ACM, Journal of Consumer and Retail Services, Entertainment Computing, the International Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Information Technology. Robert is on the editorial board of Internet Research.

Bodo Lang (PhD): Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, b.lang@auckland.ac.nz, Postal Address: University of Auckland Business School, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. Bodo Lang serves as an Associate Editor and is regular reviewer for a variety of journals. His research has been published in a range of international outlets, such as Advances in Consumer Research, the International Journal of Bank Marketing, Managing Service Quality, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.

Josefino San Diego: Research Assistant, Faculty of Creative Industries and Business, Phone: ++ (649) 815 4321, Postal Address: Unitec Institute of Technology, Department of Accounting and Finance, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to model the effect of the consumers’ perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour on hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions. In 2009, 550 consumers responded face-to-face to a questionnaire yielding 515 usable responses. The conceptual model was tested with confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) across 5 product categories. We conclude that there is no online gender effect but offline gendered behaviour does significantly affect online hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions for females across all product categories. Our findings support the hypothesis that rejects the definition of gender in online shopping in terms of social construction and biological determinism. Gender online is merely a prosthetic device of the private self and is an intentional manipulation and misrepresentation of the anonymous body. Online gender is a performance that is hidden by the technological veil from the offline space and public self, without social constraints or criticisms. Research implications are discussed.

Keywords: gender, hedonic motivation, online, offline, purchase intention.

Acknowledgements: Winnie Ng, Manukau Institute of Technology.

Here for the Hedonic and Gender – CB Conference 2012 – Queenstown – Final.