There is more to do at a mall than just shopping: The case of leisure activities

[2010 Academy of Marketing Conference (06-08 July, 2010)]

Chatzopoulou, E. & Syrakoulis, K.

There Is More To Do At A Mall Than Just Shopping:

The Case Of Leisure Activities

Abstract

Although, the conceptual literature of shopping centres is strong, there is identified a

gap in the theory which is the evaluation of shopping malls as entertainment centres and how

the customers affected during their visit from this shopping mall‟s perception.

Notwithstanding, there is widely acknowledged lack of research on shopping mall success

which is influenced by leisure activities that are provided inside of them. This paper examines

those specific factors, concluding that the visitors‟ satisfaction is affected positively by the

high perceived value from the leisure activities and the high level of service quality of leisure

activities delights the visitors and they remain gratifying. As well, high perceived value and

high perceived service quality of leisure activities will make customers loyal to visit again the

shopping mall in the future. Research took place in the city of Larissa, where 211 shopping

mall visitors answered correctly a structured questionnaire, forming a representative sample

with a response rate of 40%. Finally, the managerial implications are discussed, along with

the interesting research opportunities arising from this pathfinder work.

Keywords: shopping malls, leisure activities, retailing, marketing.

Tracks: Services and Channel Marketing



1. Introduction

The first appearance of shopping mall, as it is designed and planned with central

management and enclosed type like nowadays, is dated back in the early 1950s in the USA

(Anselmsson, 2006). At the end of the same decade this type of malls reached Europe and

Scandinavia. From then up to today, the number of shopping malls and their relative market

share has been increasing in Europe (Frasquet et al., 2001). In Asia the development of

shopping malls proceeds rapidly, though in USA and in Europe that their development has

already reached a high level of saturation. Greek shopper follows the zeitgeist which

European consumers enforce but lately on contrast the other European countries. The

construction of shopping malls has rapidly increased the last decade in Greece and it booms

with the opening of The Mall Athens, 2005. These dynamic business centers of today attract

many customers from urban areas who experience the convenience of 21st century shopping

(Majumdar, 2005; Rajagopal, 2009). Customers who want to combine their strong shopping

motivations with pleasure and enjoyable activities prefer the attractive habitat of shopping

malls that urges their buying behaviour (Mattila & Wirtz, 2004; McGoldrick & Pieros, 1998;

Pitt & Musa, 2009). This way of shopping is relatively new in Greece and especially in

suburban area. Thus, it is very interesting to examine how greek consumers are influenced

and adjust their consumption behaviour as a result of visiting a shopping mall. Although, they

are used to consider shopping and entertainment as two distinct experiences, now they can

combine them within a shopping mall. Evaluating the shopping malls as entertainment centre

which provides numerous leisure activities for the visitors, El-Aldy (2007) has described the

perceived benefits that customers enjoy with their visit to shopping malls. This paper extends

the above study in order to evaluate the factors that affect customer satisfaction considering

the perceived benefits from leisure activities in a shopping mall experience and the

determinants of customer loyalty from extra facilities which are provided in a shopping mall.

This section introduces the basic values of this paper, explaining briefly the objectives

of the study. The second section reviews the theoretical background through relevant studies

for shopping malls and relative dimensions. Part two illustrates exactly what this paper targets

to prove. The third part analyzes the research‟s method that has been followed in order to

accomplish the research objectives. Section four analyzes and shows diagrammatically the

research findings in order to verify or to reject the research hypotheses, discussing their

significance. The final section reports the main conclusions and implications for retailers and

proposes directions for future research.

2. Conceptual framework

Marketing literature realizes that the requirement of desirable social experiences

motivates the visitors to go to shopping malls and to enjoy a consumption excursion (Michon

et al. 2007). Entertainment consumption is a common activity in the shopping mall

environment. Hence, shopping malls provide modern colourful design, restrained shopping

and spaces for leisure which visitors‟ profile consists of different income and age groups of

society (Ertekin et al., 2008). The development of shopping malls has increased the

competition among retailers, turning the customers‟ attention to alternative ways of

purchasing through leisure activities which have nothing in common with the traditional

shopping zone (Ooi & Sim, 2007).

A cardinal and significant factor for visitors are the satisfaction which they receive

during their visit to the shopping mall, „at least as important as proximity‟. This affects their

decision about the place which they visit to do their shopping and spare their time (Leo &

Philippe, 2002). Particularly, satisfaction with the global service provided by a commercial



mall has a significant contribution in the formation of customer's behaviour. Researchers

come to the conclusion that the design of malls is influenced by the demand for overall

satisfaction which requests the entertainment visitors. At the same time, the delight of

activities affects the feeling of satisfaction which the „entertainment-seeking shoppers‟ enjoy.

Therefore, those visitors who are satisfied, not only with the services which are provided but

also with the overall design of the mall, will be loyal to it.

The kind of the loyalty which takes place in shopping malls varies. Marketing literature

focuses on how customers‟ loyalty is measured. There is the store loyalty which is explained

by the retail constitution, brand loyalty which is showed by the frequency of visits to the same

mall and the pleasure of using the services and word of mouth loyalty (Chebat et al., 2009). It

is essential to clarify that many times according to Majumbar (2005) when customers are

loyal to a specific shop inside a shopping mall, they can be loyal to the mall itself. It is

obvious that there is a relation to store and brand loyalty. A shopping mall as a unit succeeds

in having the ability of the retail shop inside it to attract loyal customers in their shops.

The basic objective of marketing literature is to measure customers‟ loyalty and shows

that through loyalty companies should gain competitive advantage. Chebat et al. (2009) study

measures the dimensions of brand loyalty and the reasons why customers prefer a mall than

other and this is particularized for a store loyalty relating with activities inside a mall. They

provided insights about how to enhance mall loyalty to shopping mall management, since the

psychological processes underlying mall loyalty are not yet well understood. In this paper

estimated the brand loyalty, the store loyalty and the word-of-mouth loyalty.

Afterwards, the dimension of service quality is usually understood as a measure of how

well the level of the delivered services matches customer‟s expectations (Santos, 2003).

However, operating attributes of shopping mall leisure activities, such as the services and the

diversity of cafeterias will have an impact on visitors‟ satisfaction. Delivering superior

services affect positively customers‟ perceived service quality. Research in the past decade

offers strong evidence that perceived service quality has an impact on customer satisfaction

(Andreassen & Lindestad, 1998; Martensen et al., 2000). Service quality appears to be an

important antecedent of consumer satisfaction (Taylor & Baker, 1994). It is a mean, which

allows every shopping mall to differentiate itself from competitors and attract new customers

through positive word-of-mouth (Arasli et al., 2005).

Furthermore, a study conducted by de Ruyter et al. (1998) in five industries, found a

positive relationship between perceived service quality and customers loyalty. It has been

shown that service quality enhances customer loyalty and retention. This view is supported by

the study of Boulding et al. (1993) which found that favourable perceptions of service quality

increased the possibility of customers having behaviours beneficial to the health of the firm.

Moreover, a study conducted in the hospitality industry by Wong et al. (1999) found a

positive relationship between service quality and customer loyalty. Therefore:

H1: Perceived Service Quality of leisure activities has a positive effect on shopping

malls’ Customer Satisfaction.

H2: Perceived Service Quality of leisure activities has a positive effect on shopping

malls’ Customer Loyalty.

Due to intangible nature of services, it is difficult for the visitors to assess them. Each

customer has different value for assessment. They may apprehend the same service in

different way. Thus, the perceived value of the customers is increased and this means that the

shopping malls‟ activities have the ability to satisfy customers‟ needs and requirements.

Customers‟ perceived value is not only the benefits that customers enjoy visiting shopping

malls but it is the positive feeling between their satisfaction and the cost (Gounaris et al.,

2007). According to Zeithaml (1988) the perceived value is defined as „the consumer‟s



overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and

what is given‟.

According to Cronin et al. (2000), judgments of perceived value have been shown to

have effect on satisfaction and customer loyalty. Perceived value is viewed as a consumer‟s

overall assessment of product utility based on perceptions of the received benefits compared

to costs (Zeithaml, 1988). According to equity theory, customers evaluate what is right,

deserved, or fair for the perceived price (cost) of what is offered, including time and energy

consumption and stress (Bolton & Lemon, 1999; Yang & Peterson, 2004). It is evident that

perceptions of value are positively related to customer satisfaction. Additionally, customer

perceived value has been found to be a key antecedent of purchase intentions and customers

loyalty (Baker et al., 2002; Grewal et al., 1998; Oh, 1999; Zeithaml, 1988). Hence:

H3: Customer perceived value of leisure activities has a positive influence on the level

of visitors’ satisfaction.

H4: Customer perceived value of leisure activities has a positive influence on visitors’

loyalty.

Considering all the above, the effective running of the fabulous design and the huge

joyful halls could keep a shopping mall on top. Still the most crowded and the largest

shopping mall in order to keep people coming should stay stylish and on the leading point of

entertainment.

3. Methodology

The descriptive cross sectional research was used because the statistical data was

needed and directly answers the questions which were set in objectives (Hester,1995).

According to research purposes the quantitative method is more appropriate. Furthermore, it

is used primary data because of the existed secondary data does not refer to solve the exact

problem which it does not reflect the certain objectives (Brassington & Pettitt, 2006). The

questionnaire is the most common way to gather data and it is important to be careful in the

designing of the questionnaire because it has to include specific questions which researchers

could not find from secondary data (Brace, 2008). The structure questionnaire in a multiple

choice form was used because it was convenience for the researcher and the respondent.

During the period of 31st August up to 30

th September 2009, 583 potential responders

were approached from the researcher and were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Research

took place in the city of Larisa in order to measure how acknowledgeable is the area‟s

shopping mall. After screening, 229 of them had visited a Thessaly‟s shopping mall and could

be able to answer the questionnaire. 211 questionnaires were correctly completed, acceptable

and usable. This number of questionnaires was effectual.

The reliability and validity of the analysis methods that were applied in this research

were maintained by the fact that was used in researches with similar objectives.

The design of the questionnaire and the layout of its questions, were based on validated

questionnaires [each part based on relate questionnaires such as Bloch et al. (2001), Ruiz et al.

(2005), Michon et al., (2007)]. Moreover, pilot testing was used in order to help towards the

validity of the questionnaire (Saunders et al., 2000). Factor analysis was employed to validate

the factors of measurement model. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (K-M-O) was used to indicate that the

factor model is appropriate and measured the sampling adequancy which should be over 0.5

for a satisfactory factor analysis. Barlett‟s Test measures the equal variance among the

questions and their level of significance. In order to test the internal cohesion of

questionnaire‟s elements and ensure that the group questions measure the same thing (Howitt

& Cramer, 2006) the method of reliability alpha was applied. As Bagozzi & Yi (1988)

suggest, an alpha that is over 0.7 can be considered as strong evidence of convergent validity.



Table I: Reliability and Validity

Scales Cronbach’s A K-M-O Barlett’s Test

X2 Sign.

Perceived Service Quality (5 items) 0.839 0.842 387.019 0.000

Perceived Value (4 items) 0.805 0.736 304.726 0.000

Perceived Satisfaction (2 items) 0.867 0.500 183.119 0.001

Perceived Loyalty

Brand Loyalty (2 items) 0.867 0.500 186.965 0.002

Store Loyalty (2 items) 0.783 0.500 112.800 0.002

Word-of-mouth Loyalty (1 item) - -

4. Findings

This part interpreted the statistical data and translated them to statements. Briefly, the

profile of shopping mall visitors should be shown below. Female are the main consumers of

the shopping malls (56.4%) and the age of the majority of the customers (38.02%) is between

23 up to 30. The education level of the respondents is the bachelor degree (52.03%) and most

of them (29.86%) work as public servants receiving 601 to 1200 € per month (36.02%). The

majority of repliers (75.83%) live at Larisa in Greece and they are single (57.35%). All the

respondents have experience a visit to a shopping mall and most of them visit the state

shopping mall up to six month for up to 3 hours in each visit.

Therefore, the vast majority of the visitors combine their shopping experience with

leisure activities. The leisure activities which are provided by the shopping malls are

motivation for consumers to visit them and spare their free time. Hence, their satisfaction is

effected by their perception of pleasant Perceived Value and their Perceived Service Quality

of leisure activities. Finally, Customer Perceived Value and Perceived Service Quality of

leisure activities affect the Customer Loyalty and these reasons encourage consumers to visit

shopping malls in the future.

Figure I: Model

Perceived Service Quality

of leisure activities

Customer perceived value

of leisure activities

Customer

Loyalty

Customer

Satisfacti

on

b=0.766

b=0.550

b=0.735

b=0.481

R2=0.361

R2=0.179

R2=0.176

R2=0.428

Significant level: 0.000

Brand

Loyalty

Word-of-

mouth

Store

Loyalty



5. Conclusions

5.1 Implications for theory

Shopping malls are a novel and rapidly developing area of research. In the frame of the

stated research questions, leisure activities in the shopping malls were addressed. The area of

leisure in malls is concerned as interesting and there is clearly a need for further research. In

summary, a theoretical implication of the present research could be the contribution to the

deeper understanding of the shopping malls and a presentation from an alternative perspective

is provided. Some aspects of leisure activities related to shopping malls are highlighted.

Moreover, reliable and valid instruments were used for assessing shopping malls as leisure

centres

The findings contribute to understanding what customers want in a shopping mall

environment. It can, therefore, be suggested that the main theoretical contribution of the

present study is to shopping mall management of marketing literature, providing a better

understanding of the leisure of shopping malls and customers needs and satisfaction in order

to keep them loyal.

5.2 Implications for practitioner

The present study has important implications to shopping mall practitioners for

assessing the overall design of shopping mall and meeting the needs of customers. Leisure in

shopping malls is a new area, which has strategic importance for retailing in the market share.

It is known that consumer behaviour in a shopping mall differs substantially from the

shopping of neighbourhood stores. Moreover, following practical implications of the present

research for shopping malls practitioners:

∞ In order to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, the administrators of shopping

malls should pay attention to the dimensions that affect consumers and are tested in this

paper. Special attention should be paid on the service quality of leisure activities and what

visitors perceived that they gain during their visit.

∞ It is common that customers would like more activities in shopping malls and more

alternative entertainment, thus the administrators should take consideration customers‟

requirements. For example some extra exhibitions and events were required by the visitors.

∞ As results show, the cinema is essential leisure for the customers and motivates them to

visit a shopping mall. Hence, the malls that do not operate classes of cinema should think to

include this in their operations in order to acquire new customers who will be loyal to it.

Nowadays, entertainment is a crucial element of people‟s life but the values of the

people change rapidly, as well as their tastes. Thus, stores and consequently shopping malls

should also change. Tomorrow will there be new trends and new germinating markets, which

should be predicted by the administrators in order to satisfy and keep loyal the visitors.

5.3 Limitations and further research

This research suffers from some main limitations, which affects the writing. One main

limitation of the research was the place where the questionnaires are handed out and the

sample, which were customers who are located in Thessaly and visit shopping malls. As a

result, the generalization of the findings might not necessarily apply to the total Greek

population of shopping malls and especially to other countries where cultural differences

could exist. Future studies can examine more samples from different areas of Greece, or

different countries instead of samples only from Thessaly area. Due to methodology based on

questionnaires, only declarative assumptions are made. It is known that consumers‟

behaviours may differ. Future studies can examine these aspects with different methodology

instruments. This study was limited by the lack of relevant to shopping malls studies, which

evaluate them as entertainment centres. As a result, it was not possible to make extensive



comparisons with other studies. Future researches can extend this study by examining

different aspects. To further this research, it could be examined other aspects that would be

able to influence the customers‟ satisfaction or loyalty. The rapid growth of shopping malls in

all around the world gives the ability to researchers, to search a variety of issues related to

leisure activities, beyond the limits of this paper.

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There is more to do at a mall than just shopping: The case of leisure activities

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