Atmospherics, Pleasure And Arousal: The Influence Of Response Moderators

Abstract The pressure to develop cost-effective retail design solutions has heightened the need to understand better the atmospherics-behaviour relationship. Drawing upon a review of salient literature, this paper develops a conceptual model highlighting the influence of response moderators, including expectations, familiarity with the environment and shopping motives. Using LISREL, the model is calibrated and tested through a survey of 1,000 shoppers within one of Europe's largest, city centre shopping malls. Consumers with strong shopping motives are found to experience more pleasure and arousal; expectations also moderate the atmospherics-mood states relationship. The shortcomings of measurement scales, developed in previous studies with student samples, when applied to real shoppers are also noted.