SOURCE:

Faculty: Management Sciences
Department: Marketing

CONTRIBUTORS:

Idoko, E. C.
Nkamnebe, A. D.

ABSTRACT:

Recently, Nigeria’s retailing environment started witnessing increasing appearance of shopping malls. This ongoing rapidand radical transformation in the retailing landscape in Nigeria seems to be silently and consistently changing the socio-psychology and ecology of shopping. Incidentally, not much is known about the dynamics operating in the emerging shopping segment; it still represents the ‘black box’ in shopping behaviour literature in Nigeria. This, therefore, calls for evidence-based conclusions regarding who shops at the mall and why they shop. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine empirically the factors that predict mall shopping behaviour in Nigeria and the profile of such shoppers. A sample of 1537 mall shoppers was surveyed from the Geo-political Zones in Nigeria where shopping mall is in operation. Following pragmatic research tradition, this study adopted sequential explanatory mixed-methods research design wherein quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized in data collection.A self-administered questionnaire using mall-intercept approach was used to collect quantitative data whereas focus group and indepth interview were employed to collect qualitative data. The reliability of the measurement items and internal uniformity of the constructs were assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability values. Inter-construct correlations was performed to determine the discriminant validity of the constructs whereas corrected item-to-total correlation and average variance extracted were used to assess convergent validity. Structural equation modeling technique was utilized to analyse the quantitative data generated from the fieldwork whereas qualitative data were analysed using Nvivo. Also, hierarchical method was used to generate the agglomeration schedule while non-hierarchical approach was employed to obtain the cluster centres. Discriminant model was used to validate the segmentation. Chi- square was employed to determine the relationship between shoppers’ socio-demographics and mall shopping, and symmetric measures (Cramer’s V and Contingency) were utilised to quantify this relationship. This study found that age and ethnic background of the shopper have significant positive influence on mall shopping. In terms of shopper segments, hedonic, indifference, deal-conscious, and zealous were identified. Social networking, role enactment, aesthetics and architectural design, promotional offers, convenience, product quality and assortment, and prices of products were the key predictors of mall shopping behaviour among the surveyed mall shoppers in Nigeria. Potential managerial and policy implications were discussed while directions for future research were suggested.