The impact of consumption utility from green retail environment on revisit intention

Abstract

Purpose: - Recently the importance of green consumption and corporate social responsibility has been increasing, thereby enhancing the importance of green consumption space as well. The retail space, as a representative consumption space, is now consuming more energy by introducing bigger retail space, 24-hour operation, cutting-edge equipment, and manless checkout system. Especially for retailers, who are constantly interacting with consumers, not only the economic consideration but also the consumer experience via retail service and physical retail space is crucial for their success. Therefore, this study intends to understand the main factors of motivating consumer perception about green retail space. In addition, we further investigate the mediating and moderating variables to encourage revisit intention and green retail space image. Research design, data, and methodology: -In order to test our hypotheses with two models, we conducted a survey using questionnaires. In model 1, 356 respondents were surveyed to determine whether consumers' green attitudes and behaviors enhance environmentally friendly perception on retail space properties. In model 2, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 69 consumers who have experience in green retail space. Questionnaire surveys were conducted with on-line panels in Korea and analyzed using regression model and Hayes' PROCESS macro. Results: - We found that consumers with green attitude put more importance on the attributes of green retail space. Also, the utility of the green retail space was found to be significant in emotional and social benefits. And, the consumers, who perceived the importance of green retail space, show higher revisit intentions. The emotional and social utilities have significant positive effects on revisit intention through green retail space image. Conclusions: - This study demonstrates that a green retail space can induce positive consumer utility, thereby increasing green retail space image and revisit intention. Thus, in order to increase the image and revisit, retailers should communicate green messages with consumers, enhance green attributes of retail space, and target green consumers. To do so, we suggest that various marketing efforts such as publicity and education are needed to appeal experiential green products and retail space to consumers. © 2018 Chinese Institute of Automation Engineers.