Entertainment events in shopping malls—profiling passive and active participation behaviors

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical framework for operationalizing passive versus active participation in the context of shopping mall entertainment events (e.g., school holiday events and fashion shows) and assesses the framework's utility for segmenting and profiling shopping mall entertainment audiences. Exploratory factor analysis of data collected at shopping mall events revealed two distinct dimensions, “relax and be entertained” and “socialize and explore,” reflecting passive and active participation, respectively. From nine activities operationalizing passive versus active participation, two distinct audience segments reporting different levels of immediate and future shopping behaviors were identified. The “engage me” segment (active‐dominant audience) was more likely to stay longer at the mall, purchase food and nonfood items, share the event experience with others, and attend similar entertainment events in the future than the “entertain me” segment (passive‐dominant audience). The activities operationalizing passive versus active participation were tested with 280 participants at two family‐oriented shopping mall entertainment events. This paper extends the knowledge in the retail event marketing literature whereby it confirms passive versus active participation levels at retailing events, and verifies that passive and active participation levels can be measured and differentiated operationally. The findings provide insights on the utility of shopper participation level as a meaningful segmentation variable, pertinent to both the marketing and management of shopper experiences within a retailing entertainment event. Managerial implications and limitations of this paper are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Capturing the multiple facets of mall experience: Developing and validating a scale

“…Although the term “mall experience” is rarely found in the literature, a large body of studies has examined the experiences of customers in shopping malls. The term experience in the context of shopping malls has been related to hedonic shopping motivations (Arnold and Reynolds, ), emotional reactions (Machleit and Eroglu, ), perceived attributes (Ganesh et al ., ), activities (Bloch et al ., ; Sit and Birch, ), excitement (Baker and Wakefield, ), and atmosphere (Dennis et al ., ). This diverse literature suggests that the mall experience is a multidimensional or higher‐order construct derived from the interaction between customers' cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social reactions and the mall environment (Haytko and Baker, ).…”

“…Some studies of mall customers' activities take into account the active role of customers as co‐creators of their own experience. These studies suggest that mall activities can be divided into four categories: consumption activities , such as making planned and unplanned purchases and browsing display windows; social activities , such as unplanned meetings with acquaintances and watching others; participation in activities initiated by the mall management ; and entertainment activities , such as going to see a movie or sitting in eateries (Bloch et al ., ; Ruiz et al ., ; Gilboa, ; Sit and Birch, ). These studies show that customers' routine practices make them co‐creators of their own experience (Carù and Cova, ).…”

“…The concept of the mall experience is marked by confusion and overlaps with many other concepts, including motivations (e.g., hedonic and utilitarian shopping), behavior (e.g., shopping or mall‐based activities), and emotional and cognitive reactions (Arnold and Reynolds, ; Michon et al ., ; Allard et al ., ; Baker and Wakefield, ; Sit and Birch, ). This conceptual heterogeneity suggests that most studies do not distinguish between the experience of shopping in general and the mall experience, where the mall is considered as a specific type of consumption space.…”

Attraction factors of shopping centers

“…Additional services and entertainment. Studies have indicated that shopping centers have improved their own image and attractiveness due to the inclusion of other services such as food, relaxation, and entertainment services (Bellenger et al, 1977;Haynes and Talpade, 1996;De Nisco and Rosaria Napolitano, 2006;El-Adly, 2007;Ahmad, 2012;Sit and Birch, 2014). This can be considered to be a favorable offer for leisure, constituted by diverse factors influencing attendance motivations (Sit et al, 2003).…”

Gıda Güvenliği Hakkında Tüketici Bilgi, Tutum ve Davranışlarının Değerlendirilmesi: Türkiye Hatay İli Örneği

“…The information given about a product by food companies is important for consumer protection, decision-making processes, and competition. Labels which are the most common form of this transfer of knowledge facilitate consumers to make healthy and informed choices by means of information about the ingredients, price, expiration date, origin and nutritional value of the product (Yılmaz et al, 2009;Uçar et al, 2012;Sit and Birch, 2014).…”