THE IMPACTS OF GENDER AND AGE ON SHOPPING MALL PATRONAGE INTENTION

Abstract

Substantial research in consumer behavior revealed that shopper’s shopping behaviors vary according to their gender and age. However, only a few studies have contrasted shopping behavior between these shoppers groups. Much of these studies examine only single segment of the shopper group, say only female or teenagers. With the existence of many researches that relate shopping mall attributes to patronage decision, this study further examines the point that the impact of shopping mall attributes on patronage is affected by shoppers’ gender and age. Five shopping mall attributes, namely, employee behaviour, design, product assortment, customer compatibility and accessibility were used to examine the impact of gender and age has on mall patronage intention. The result of a study of 405 shoppers demonstrates that they are several significant differences between model for men and women, as well as shoppers from different age cohorts. In terms of the impact of gender on shopping mall patronage, men and women were found to adhere to different attributes in their mall selection. Shopping mall attributes such as employee behaviour, customer compatibility and shopping mall accessibility were found to be evaluated differently by men and women and these result in different level of mall satisfaction as well as patronage intention. Specifically, men’s patronage intentions are largely affected by employee behaviour, followed by customer compatibility, product assortment and accessibility. On the other hand, women’s patronage decisions are largely affected by the product assortment, followed by shopping mall design, and accessibility. As for the impact of age, shoppers from three different age groups were proved to have different perception in evaluating shopping mall design, accessibility and customer compatibility. In their process of mall selection, shoppers in the age group of below 20 years old are largely affected by product assortment, followed by design and accessibility; shoppers in the age group of 20 to 39 are affected by almost all attributes except shopping mall design; shoppers in the age group of 40 and above are affected by employee behaviors, accessibility and shopping mall design.