Bachelor Thesis, 15hp

The link between consumer

perception and satisfaction - A comparative study of shopping malls and

city centres

Authors: Isabelle Lundmark Strategic Marketing Programme

Joanna Mainaud Strategic Marketing Programme

Katarina Sjögren Strategic Marketing Programme

Tutor: Soniya Billore, PhD Institution Marketing

Examiner: Setayesh Sattari, PhD Institution Marketing

Date: 2014-05-30

Coursecode: 2FE10E

Subject: Business Administration

Level: First Level/Bachelor Thesis

Spring Semester 2014

Abstract

Title: The link between consumer perception and satisfaction

Authors: Isabelle Lundmark, Joanna Mainaud and Katarina Sjögren

Tutor: PhD. Soniya Billore

Examiner: PhD. Setayesh Sattari

Level/Course: First Level/Bachelor Thesis 15hp in Business Administration,

(2FE10E) Strategic Marketing Programme, Linnaeus University Växjö,

Spring Semester 2014.

Background: It is a known phenomenon that when external shopping malls arise next

to cities the business of the city centres can be affected. This situation occurs since

many years and in various places in the world, even Sweden.

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine what factors are important to the

consumers when they are shopping in general, and then to evaluate how these factors

influence consumer satisfaction with regard to shopping malls and city centres.

Methodology: The research is based on a cross-sectional design with a quantitative

strategy. The data collection is conducted through an internet based questionnaire with a

snowball sampling approach.

Conclusion: The results are that, for consumers, store variety, atmosphere and service

quality are quite important aspects when shopping. They also shows that store variety

influences consumer satisfaction in both the shopping mall and the city centre. Finally,

convenience influences satisfaction in the city centre and the social aspect influences

customer satisfaction in shopping malls.

Keyword: Perception, Consumer/Customer satisfaction, Choice and Store variety,

Convenience, Facilities, Social, Service Quality, Atmosphere.

ii

Acknowledgements

In this preface, we would like to thank the persons who enabled this bachelor

thesis on the perception and satisfaction of shopping venues.

First and foremost we would like to extend many thanks to our tutor PhD.

Soniya Billore and examiner PhD. Setayesh Sattari at Linnaeus University in

Växjö. Thank you for your constructive feedback and encouragement

throughout the writing process of the thesis. We would also like to thank Dr.

Rana Mostaghel, who showed interest in our work and gave

recommendations regarding the analysis of the quantitative data.

We also want to thank the President of the Regional Executive, Head of

Business and Regional Development, the Business and Regional

Development and the City Planning Director of three municipalities, which

the research is based on. Thank you for the fruitful information regarding

your respective cities, which helped us to get a better, and concrete

understanding of the subject area.

Växjö 30

th of May 2014

Joanna Mainaud Isabelle Lundmark Katarina Sjögren

___________ _____________ ___________

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction _________________________________________________________ 1

1.1 Background _____________________________________________________ 1

1.1.1 The situation in Sweden _________________________________________ 2

1.2 Problem discussion _______________________________________________ 3

1.3 Purpose ________________________________________________________ 5

1.4 Research questions _______________________________________________ 5

1.5 Delimitations ____________________________________________________ 5

1.6 Outline of the investigation ________________________________________ 6

2 Literature Review ____________________________________________________ 7

2.1 Perception ______________________________________________________ 7

2.2 Consumer satisfaction ____________________________________________ 8

2.3 Factors influencing consumer behaviour _____________________________ 9

2.3.1 Choice and store variety ________________________________________ 9

2.3.2 Convenience__________________________________________________ 9

2.3.3 Facilities ___________________________________________________ 10

2.3.4 Social ______________________________________________________ 10

2.3.5 Service Quality ______________________________________________ 11

2.3.6 Atmosphere _________________________________________________ 11

2.4 Summary of the chapter _________________________________________ 12

3 Research gap, Hypotheses and Research model ___________________________ 13

3.1 Research gap ___________________________________________________ 13

3.2 Hypotheses _____________________________________________________ 13

3.3 Research Model ________________________________________________ 15

4 Methodology ________________________________________________________ 16

4.1 Research approach ______________________________________________ 16

4.1.1 Inductive and deductive approach ________________________________ 17

4.1.2 Quantitative vs. Qualitative strategy ______________________________ 17

4.2 Research design ________________________________________________ 18

4.3 Data collection method ___________________________________________ 20

4.3.1 Secondary data ______________________________________________ 20

4.3.2 Primary data ________________________________________________ 21

4.4 Data collection instrument ________________________________________ 22

4.4.1 Documents __________________________________________________ 22

4.4.2 Interview ___________________________________________________ 22

4.4.3 Questionnaire _______________________________________________ 24

4.4.4 Questionnaire design __________________________________________ 25

4.4.5 Scaling _____________________________________________________ 26

4.4.6 Pilot survey and testing of questions ______________________________ 27

II

4.5 Operationalization ______________________________________________ 28

4.6 Sampling ______________________________________________________ 30

4.6.1 Sample size _________________________________________________ 30

4.7 Data analysis ___________________________________________________ 31

4.7.1 Descriptive statistics __________________________________________ 31

4.7.2 Testing the hypotheses _________________________________________ 31

4.8 Reliability and Validity __________________________________________ 32

4.8.1 Reliability __________________________________________________ 32

4.8.2 Validity ____________________________________________________ 33

4.9 Source criticism_________________________________________________ 34

4.10 Summary of the chapter ________________________________________ 36

5 Survey Results ______________________________________________________ 37

5.1 Interview - municipalities ________________________________________ 37

5.2 Questionnaire survey ____________________________________________ 39

5.2.1 Descriptive statistics __________________________________________ 39

5.3 Hypotheses testing and result _____________________________________ 43

5.4 Comparison ____________________________________________________ 47

5.5 Summary of tested hypotheses ____________________________________ 48

6 Analysis ____________________________________________________________ 50

7 Discussion __________________________________________________________ 55

7.1 Conclusion _____________________________________________________ 55

7.2 Theoretical and managerial implications ____________________________ 56

7.3 Limitations ____________________________________________________ 57

7.4 Suggestions for future research ____________________________________ 57

8 References list ______________________________________________________ 58

9 Appendix __________________________________________________________ 64

Appendix 1. Questionnaire - English version ____________________________ 64

Appendix 2. Questionnaire - Swedish version ___________________________ 67

Appendix 3. Hypotheses testing and result – SPSS _______________________ 70

Appendix 4. Descriptive statistics – SPSS ______________________________ 72

Appendix 5. Pearson Correlation – SPSS _______________________________ 74

Appendix 6. Paired sample t-test______________________________________ 75

Appendix 7. Overview of the items constituting the variables and their SPSS

Means ____________________________________________________________ 77

Appendix 8. Interview ______________________________________________ 79

1

1 Introduction

The following chapter will present the research area and provide a discussion about the topic,

which this study is based on. This will lead to the purpose of the research and specific

research questions. This chapter will provide the reader with an understanding of the

research. The chosen problem will imbue the entire thesis. Finally, the research delimitations

for this investigation will be presented.

1.1 Background

“The development of regional shopping centres and their incorporation into a suburban area

necessarily involves change and adaptation in older, established downtown shopping districts”

(Pratt and Pratt, 1960, p.45).

According to Underhill (2004) people have been organising their lives around shopping as a

feature through decades. The author explains that there have always been places in society

where people have gathered in order to exchange products. However, shopping is, as Dennis

et al. (2005) states, not just about obtaining the things we need, shopping is also something

that people enjoy doing and we like to have a wide variety of shopping outlets and

merchandise to choose from. Dennis et al. presume that the customer’s desire of a wide range

of shops is one of the reasons explaining the progression of shopping malls. It has been a

known and studied phenomenon throughout the years that the establishment of external

shopping malls has a negative impact on the business of city centres (Underhill, 2004).

To make it clear this research will be talking about shopping venues; namely city centres and

external shopping malls, the latter will be referred to as shopping malls in order to facilitate

the reading. These two terms will be used to represent the following concepts throughout the

whole thesis. City centre is described as the high street shopping area of a city centre (Hackett

and Foxall, 1993), and a shopping mall is define as “A set of stores that offer goods and

services to consumers and that are located and operated in close proximity to each other”

(Teller, 2008 as cited in Teller and Schnedlitz, 2012, p. 1043). Due to the establishment of

suburban shopping malls in the USA, the frequency and the quantity of shopping in

established venues of cities were affected (Pratt and Pratt, 1960; Underhill, 2004). The same

problem has been recognized in several European countries, for example Turkey (Ozuduru et

al., 2014), the Netherlands (Gorter et al., 2003), and England (Svensson, 2010). Guy (1998)

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emphasizes that this development of external shopping malls has favoured those who have

access to a car and people who are looking for new experiences in shopping. He explains that

distant or new malls serve as excursion targets and are part of the modern experience of

seeking satisfaction through shopping. These external shopping malls offer conveniences such

as big parking spaces, attractiveness, atmosphere and a big variety of shopping (Ozuduru et.

al., 2014).

Hart et al. (2013) explain the differences between the external shopping mall and the city

centre when it comes to offering a total customer experience. The authors point out that the

city centre experience is often fragmented over a much bigger area than the shopping mall,

which makes it harder to manage and control. As a distinction, according to a piece of

research, published and conducted in 2011 by the Swedish retail statistics agency HUI

Research, it is observed that the new built shopping malls are often lavish projects with

advanced architecture, modern and exclusive material and design to give the visitors an

attractive shopping experience. The phenomenon, that occurs when shopping malls enter into

competition with the city centre, is a present-day one and can be related to the recent

economic climate (Grewal et al., 2009). As the authors mention, since year 2009, tens of

thousands of stores had to close in the United States because of the competitive retail

environment. When it comes to Europe, the retailing sector shows a strong trend of building

shopping malls (Lehtonen and Mäenpää, 1997, cited in Solomon et al., 2010). The shopping

malls in Europe are often inspired by American ones that combine the possibilities to shop

and socialise in a safe environment (Lehtonen and Mäenpää, 1997 cited in Solomon et al.,

2010).

1.1.1 The situation in Sweden

Bringing the focus to Sweden, a market analysis conducted in 2013 by JLL, an international

real estate company, show that it is the country in western Europe after Luxembourg, Ireland

and the Netherlands, with the highest shopping mall area (450 sq m) per 1000 inhabitants and

that one third of non-daily goods in Sweden are purchased in such venues (JLL, 2013).

According to an article published in 2013 in Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish independent liberal

daily newspaper, the shopping malls has become a new meeting place for people to socialize

and are today recognised as the new living room. On the other hand, several city centres in

Sweden are old and worn with an unattractive environment, which are factors that in many

cases affect the shopping in the city centres negatively (JLL, 2013). There have been

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nomerous articles regarding this particular issue, published by various Swedish media outlets,

that have discussed and argued that the establishment of external shopping malls has in some

cases led to the depletion of the city centres in Sweden (Svensson, 2010; Norrköpings

Tidningar, 2011; Olsson et al., 2012; Bohusläningen, 2013 ; Jensen, 2012). They mention that

the phenomenon is dramatically referred as “the centre death" and has been widely debated in

the media in the recent years. The articles show that Uddevalla, Trollhättan and Säffle are

examples of Swedish cities in which downtown commerce suffered greatly as a result of the

shopping intensity moving to nearby shopping malls.

1.2 Problem discussion

As Solomon et al. (2010) state, today we live in a consumer society where we are surrounded

by advertisements, brands, and shops that try to catch our attention and money. The authors

also state that our social lives are mainly determined by our roles as consumers. They further

explain that consumer behaviour is “… the processes involved when individuals or groups

select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experience to satisfy needs and

desires.” (Solomon et al., 2010, p.6).

The fact is that researchers have looked into understanding customer buying behaviour from

different perspectives (Kotler et al., 2009). Solomon et al. (2010) emphasise that these

perspectives of evaluating consumer behaviour are perception, beliefs and attitudes, which are

known as the psychological factors that affect the buying behaviour. The concept of

perception can be defined as “the process by which an individual is exposed to, attends to,

selects, organises, and interprets stimuli” (Morschett et al., 2005, p.426). How the consumer

actually behaves in a situation is depending on the consumer’s perception of a situation in

which he finds himself (Kotler et al., 2009). Through the act of shopping, the customer is

involved as an active participant who looks for quality (Solomon et al., 2010). Although the

consumers’ perception of quality performance is not only related to the quality of goods and

services offered (Morschett et al., 2005). The retailers must be aware that consumers’

evaluation of quality is also highly influenced by their perception of the atmosphere,

orderliness and service (Morschett et al., 2005). It is assumed that if the consumer’s

experience matches his expectations well, then the level of satisfaction is high (Anselmsson,

2006). In other words, customer satisfaction is “the extent to which a product's perceived

performance matches a buyer´s expectations” (Kotler et al, 2009, p.599). This definition of

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product satisfaction can be applied for shopping venues in general, where the consumer can

find “a set of stores that offer goods and services” (Teller, 2008 cited in Teller and Schnedlitz,

2012, p. 1043).

It is usually assumed that the decision concerning the choice of where to go shopping depends

essentially on the distance to these shopping places, but in some cases, satisfaction is also

very important (Léo and Philippe, 2002). For example, a positive and satisfactory

environment can make the customer choose to spend more time at a specific place and also

increase the social interaction with other human beings (Velitchka and Barton, 2006).

Previous researchers have defined several factors that influence the choice of a shopping

venue, like store variety and atmosphere (Anselmsson, 2006; Leo and Philippe, 2002),

convenience, facilities, service quality and even the social aspect of the place (Hackett and

Foxall, 1993). Anselmsson (2006) adds that the atmosphere of a place can actually affect

customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is, as Helgesen (2006) explains, the cornerstone

of the concept of marketing since it is highly related to customer loyalty as well as customer

profitability.

As previously discussed in the background, it is usually the case that external shopping malls

have a negative and harmful effect on the city centres in terms of business for retailers. Under

the circumstances, the efforts of optimizing the attractiveness of the city centres as retail

destinations through urban revitalisations have become increasingly important (De Nisco et

al., 2008). The authors also mention that “public and private stakeholders should be aware not

just that the physical environment is important in the customer’s experience, but also of what

specific elements of the physical setting are most significant.” (De Nisco and Warnaby, 2013,

p.66).

In order to actually find out what the situation looks like in Swedish cities, for the purpose of

the current research, key representatives of three municipalities in Sweden were interviewed.

They all state that they perceive the relationship, in their respective municipality, between the

external shopping mall and the city centre as being complementary (e-mail interview, 2014-

03-06; 2014-05-05, phone interview, 2014-05-06; 2014-05-07). Though, one of the

respondents stated that the external establishments have contributed to a decreased customer

flow in one of the city centres and that “... the municipality has a special responsibility for an

attractive city.” (e-mail interview, 2014-03-06).

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Based on the previous discussions, it is relevant in this research to understand what factors are

actually important for the consumers when they go shopping, and how these factors influence

customer satisfaction when they relate to different shopping venues; namely external

shopping malls and city centres. This comparison could help explain if the customers in

Sweden prefer to shop at the external shopping malls or if they prefer the city centres. The

results of the current research would provide implications on how the performance of both

shopping venues could be improved, and how customer satisfaction could be managed.

1.3 Purpose

The purpose of this research is to examine what factors are important to the consumers when

they are shopping in general, and then to evaluate how these factors influence customer

satisfaction with regard to shopping malls and city centres.

1.4 Research questions

RQ1: Which factors are the most important for customers when they are shopping?

RQ2: How does the perceived performance of an external shopping mall influences customer

satisfaction?

RQ3: How does the perceived performance of a city centre influences customer satisfaction?

1.5 Delimitations

The investigation has been limited to examining three Swedish municipalities located in the

south of Sweden. The number of municipalities is based on the fact it is would be difficult for

this study to include all venues in Sweden. The municipalities have been chosen due to their

similarities in terms of population size and the fact that they all have an external shopping

mall with a similar quantity of stores. The selected municipalities will be anonymous in the

study since the purpose is not to examine each of the three municipalities, but to generate a

general understanding of the different shopping venues.

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1.6 Outline of the investigation

Chapter 1: This chapter presents the background of the research and a discussion of the

identified problem. The chapter also consists of the research purpose, questions and the

delimitations of the investigation.

Chapter 2: This chapter consists of the chosen theories, which together form this research’s

frame of reference that will limit the following analysis.

Chapter 3: In this section the research gap will be presented regarding the importance of the

current investigation in terms of academic contribution and managerial implications. The

chapter also identifies the research model and the variables which are followed by a

presentation of the hypotheses.

Chapter 4: This chapter provides a presentation of the methodology of the research as well as

an argumentation of the authors’ choices.

Chapter 5: This section is covering the research results of the conducted survey.

Chapter 6: In this chapter the analysis will be presented, were the result of the survey will be

linked with research by previous scientists.

Chapter 7: In this section the conclusion of the findings is presented. The chapter also

consists of this thesis limitation, theoretical and manager implication and finally suggestion

for further research.

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2 Literature Review

The following chapter outlines the research frame of reference, which consists of perception

and customer satisfaction. Next to these concepts, the factors that influence consumer

behaviour and that can be source of customer satisfaction will be presented. The literature

review will give the reader an overall view of the area where the research is moving in and

attempting to answer, the reference frame will also limits the following analyses.

2.1 Perception

Perception is “The process by which people select, organise and interpret information to form

a meaningful picture of the world” (Kotler et al., 2009, p.602). In other words, it can be

described as how we create a context with the help of the sensory stimuli that we are exposed

to (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004). The interpretation process is, according to Schiffman and

Kanuk (2004), highly personal since it is based on our unique expectations, needs and values.

The authors explain that when visiting a store, the customer is exposed to an enormous

amount of stimuli but they only perceive a small part of it. According to the authors, this has

to do with subconscious selection, a process in which the customer selects to perceive

stimulus depending on his expectations and motives at the moment, in combination with the

nature of the actual stimulus. They further explain that a person's awareness of stimuli is

strongly dependent on whether or not it is relevant to the person´s needs and interests. The

fact is that people tend to make their purchase by those companies, which deliver the highest

perceived value (Kotler et al., 2009). In other words, it is about “the customer´s evaluations of

the difference between all the benefits and all the costs of a market offering relative to those

of competing offers” (Kotler et al., 2009, p.16).

Mossberg (2003) bring out the argument that companies must offer the customer memorable

events which affect them in a personal way in order to influence their behaviour. Through this

experience, people can create their own perceptions and attitudes towards something

(Mossberg, 2003). Thang and Tan (2003), explains further that customers develop a

perception about a marketplace based on the attributes they are exposed to, and thereafter

form a reaction, i.e. whether they should avoid or approach the actual place. When it comes to

the customer´s perceived performance in link with satisfaction, Peluso (2011) explains that if

the customer’s perceived performance of a product or service meets or exceeds his or her own

expectations, it will lead to satisfaction. He also explains that a contrary perceived

performance will lead to dissatisfaction with the product or service.

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2.2 Consumer satisfaction

Researchers broadly investigate the concept of satisfaction as a consumer behaviour, and

these various contributions have brought a lot of different definitions of the concept. One

definition of satisfaction is “ … the consumer’s response to the evaluation of the perceived

discrepancy between comparison standards and the perceived performance of the product”

(Yi, 1990 as cited in Jack and Powers, 2013). Satisfaction can be about the transaction created

between the customer and a company but can often entail a range of interactions that take

place with a variety of companies (Mossberg, 2003). As stated by Kotler et al. (2009),

customers have expectations on what the market can offer them. They explain that when

facing a broad range of products and services, their satisfaction is translated by the act of

buying and a positive word-of-mouth. Kotler et al. (2009) add that, on the contrary,

dissatisfaction would be translated by negative word-of-mouth and shifting towards

competition. This is the reason why marketers should not set expectations to low nor too high,

as satisfaction is the key to a good customer relationship (Kotler et al., 2009).

Bitner (1992) explains that if a place does not live up to the individual’s expectations, this

may lead to them not choosing to not visit the place. However, if expectations are satisfied or

even surpassed, this could have a positive impact on the visit (Bitner, 1992). The author

clarifies that expectations are influenced by previous experiences but also by what others have

told us about the place. According to Jones et al. (2006), word of mouth, customer satisfaction

as well as repatronage anticipation, which is the likelihood of revisiting a retail place, is

strongly related by the hedonic aspects of shopping. The hedonic value of shopping reflects,

not the product-related, but the emotional aspect of the shopping experience (Jones et al.,

2006). Bitner (1992) also states that our behaviour, cognitive, emotional and physiologic, can

be influenced by staying in a specific environment. Finally, Jones et al. (2006) add that the

feeling of accomplishment, by finding the information or product that the customer was

looking for, is a driver for customer’s utilitarian, task-oriented product shopping value and

could also function as a driver for the intention to visit the store again.

In terms of measurements, Léo and Philippe (2002) affirm that there are different ways of

measuring satisfaction, apart from direct questioning. The affective dimension can describe

the pleasure of using something, and the cognitive one can evaluate actions like the future

behaviour of the customer or the fact of recommending a place to others (Léo and Philippe,

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2002). The authors also include the comparative dimension, which is that the consumer can

establish choices according to his judgment of other opportunities.

2.3 Factors influencing consumer behaviour

The factors choice and store variety, convenience, facilities, social and service quality are

based on the research by Hackett and Foxall (1993). Their findings are complemented by the

result of other studies from various scientists in order to explain the impact of each variable

on the behaviour of consumers in the context of shopping. The authors of this thesis added

the atmosphere factor as it is according to several researchers also considered as an important

dimension which can affect behaviour.

2.3.1 Choice and store variety

Consumer choice can be described as “the selection, consumption, and disposal of products

and service” (Bettman et al., 1998, p.187). The authors found out that choice can be affected

by different factors such as context, time pressure, number of choice, and even environment.

Previous studies have showed the tenant mix being one of the major determinants for visiting

a shopping venue (Leo and Philippe, 2002; Anselmsson, 2006; Teller, 2008), and for

customer satisfaction (Anselmsson, 2006). When talking about tenants mix, Brown (1992)

refers to the relative location of outlets within shopping areas. These have shown to be

important when it comes to attracting a customer, like for example the role of magnet stores

and secondary attractors (Brown, 1992).

2.3.2 Convenience

According to Kelley (1958) when shopping, consumers balance commodity costs and

convenience costs. The author defines commodity costs as “the monetary price paid the seller

to obtain possession of goods and services” (Kelley, 1958, p.32) and convenience costs as

“incurred through the expenditure of time, physical and nervous energy, and money required

to overcome the frictions of space and time, and to obtain possession of goods and services”

(Kelley, 1958, p.32). A research by Anselmsson (2006), conducted in Sweden, shows that

convenience has an impact on customer satisfaction through the availability of parking spaces

and the ability to easily locate themselves in the shopping mall. He states further that location,

in terms of the geographical distance between the shopping venue and the home, are found to

be a determinant of satisfaction. The study of Im and Ha (2011), recommends having a

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convenient mall atmosphere, which can include adequate temperature and easy navigation, in

order to provide customer satisfaction.

2.3.3 Facilities

The physical surroundings in which consumers shop can have a strong impact on their

purchase decisions (Solomon et al., 2010). Myers et al. (2008) states that interesting design

and architecture, as well as easy access are important when it comes to the experience of

shopping venues, but offering the basics such as clean and safe shopping environments,

adequate toilets, good signage and places to sit, are of equal significance. Miller et al. (2005)

claims that the feeling of safety, like the presence of security staff, in some cases, is of great

importance for customers when shopping. The image of a shopping area, as studied by Wee

(1985), is significant in predicting and explaining shopping behaviour. In his research, he

focused on the relationship between shopping area image and patronage behaviour. Different

image components were studied by Wee, and the results showed that factors like “product and

service offering” were much less significant to the customer's patronage behaviour than

operational (like store hours for example) and facilitative factors (like washrooms or play

areas for children). Also transport facilities can have an impact, as Ozuduru et al. (2014)

found evidence that car owners more frequently visited shopping malls than they visited street

shops.

2.3.4 Social

Shopping is not just about acquiring products or services (Tauber, 1972; Babin et al., 1994).

Tauber (1972), describes a number of psychosocial needs which motivate shopping, such as

the possibilities of socialising. The social aspect of shopping refers to shopping with friends

or communicating with others (Tauber, 1972; Arnold and Reynolds, 2003; Davis and Hodges,

2012). Bäckström (2011) states that the social interaction is sometimes the principal activity

for shopping, and the products are just peripheral objects. In leisure shopping, outing is the

actual purpose and shopping is only one of the components in the experience (Schiller, 1999

cited in Howard, 2007). The mall is a social environment (Feinberg et al., 1989; Solomon et

al., 2010), and the social aspects of the mall may have an important part of its success to

attract and keep consumers (Feinberg et al., 1989). Matzler et al. (2005) explains that positive

as well as negative emotions have a crucial role in customer satisfaction.

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2.3.5 Service Quality

Service quality, according to Bolton and Drew (1991) is defined as the contrast between the

expectation of the consumer and the actual performance of the service. According to May

(1991), aspects such as demand for quality, value and variety of goods influence a customer’s

choice of shopping venue. A customer´s perception of a store and patronage intention are also

positively influenced if the salespersons are friendly, helpful and perceived overall as

trustworthy (Clopton et al., 2001; Jayawardhena and Farrell, 2011). In fact, to offer customers

a helpful staff is a major influential factor which has a great impact on customer satisfaction

(Keh et al., 2013). A study by Terblanche and Boshoff (2001) states that internal store

environment, like cleanliness or also having attractive product displays and promotional

offers, is an important dimension when assessing customer satisfaction.

2.3.6 Atmosphere

The fact is that today, for companies, it is not enough to only offer the customer products or

services in order to create customer value and to differentiate themselves from the competitors

(Kotler et al., 2009). Kotler et al. (2009) highlight that it is no longer the physical product or

service that is the focus, but in fact, many companies now also offer an intangible experience

that is beyond the actual product or service. As Kotler et al. state, "They are buying what

those offers will do for them" (Kotler et al., 2009, p.231). A way of creating a customer

experience is through atmosphere, for example (Bitner, 1992). The term atmospherics can be

defined as “the conscious designing of space to create certain effects in buyers” (Kotler, 1973,

p.50). Kotler is the researcher who first defined atmospherics (Turley and Milliman, 2000;

Yalch and Spangenberg, 2000; De Nisco and Warnaby, 2013). He “was the first to use and

define the term /.../ as the intentional control and structuring of environmental cues,...”

(Turley and Milliman, 2000, p.193). Atmospherics are also defined as “the use of space and

physical features in store design to evoke certain effects in buyers” (Solomon et al., 2010,

p.643).

De Nisco and Warnaby (2013), state that an important part of the customers’ experience lies

within the perception of the physical environment of a shopping area. The physical design,

area layout and external appearance are, according to the authors, some of the factors on

which the customers base their evaluation of the service quality. The perceived service quality

impacts both the customers’ intention to stay longer and visit the area again (De Nisco and

Warnaby, 2013). Furthermore, Bitner (1992) states that the physical environment can be used

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as a tool for positioning and to differentiate the organisation from its competitors. Also, the

usage of pleasant music and scents enhances the experience of shopping (Mattila and Wirtz,

2001). Finally, research shows that the atmosphere of a shopping mall is the influence factor

that has a high impact on customer satisfaction (Anselmsson, 2006; Teller, 2008).

The impact of music on consumer behaviour is well documented (Milliman, 1982; Yalch and

Spangenberg, 2000; Broekemier et al., 2008). Music influences the customers’ perception of

service quality (Sweeney and Wyber, 2002; Chebat and Michon, 2003). It may also increase

customers’ intention to shop or to visit the store again (Broekeimer et al. 2008). Concerning

design, according to the study of Baker et al. (2002), customer’s perception of design cues,

namely high image store design (colour, display, layout) have a strong influence on patronage

intentions and service quality. The authors also found out that the perceived merchandise

value in a store was affected by design cue perception. According to Mazursky and Jacoby

(1986) store interior design and layout influences the store image perception of customers.

Also the exterior structure of the shop, such as the window displays, has an influence on the

customer’s feelings and experience of the store’s identity (Giacoma-Claire, 2013) as well as

their decision to enter a store (Sen et al., 2002). When it comes to scent, according to Chebat

and Michon (2003), odour presence can influence the customer´s perception of the

environment in which he is shopping, and the quality of the products available, through the

effect of odours on mood. The study of Herrmann et al. (2013) has shown that a scent´s nature

could positively enhance the processing fluency of a customer in a store. The authors also

found out that when complex scent are present, the customer spend less money than in stores

where simple ambient scent is present.

2.4 Summary of the chapter

To sum up, this chapter consists of the research frame of reference. The theory regarding

customer perception brings up the aspect of how consumers select, organise and interpret the

surrounding information, according to their personal expectations and motives. The chapter

also discusses the theory consumer satisfaction, which occurs when the perceived

performance of companies’ offerings meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations which

increases the possibilities of repatronage and positive word-of-mouth. Furthermore, six

factors have shown to influence consumer behaviour when shopping, namely choice and store

variety, convenience, facilities, the social aspect, service quality and atmosphere. These

factors can have an impact on consumer’s satisfaction and patronage intention.

13

3 Research gap, Hypotheses and Research model

The following chapter defines the research gap, the independent and dependent variables of

the studied construct. The hypotheses and the research model will also be presented.

3.1 Research gap

Previous studies within the area have mostly focused on customers on either the external

shopping mall (see Frasquet et al., 2001; Anselmsson, 2006) or the city centre (see De Nisco

and Warnaby, 2013; Hart et al., 2013). Few academic comparative studies on both venues in

Sweden have been found. Thus, this investigation should be relevant. The findings of this

investigation could bring leads for managers to understand consumer’s perceptions and act

upon creating more attractive shopping venues.

3.2 Hypotheses

The following section present this research’s independent and dependent variables, which are

based on the previous literature review. The variables will form the hypotheses that the

research is going to measure, in order to find a possible relationship between them. To make it

clear, a research model will be presented in order to provide an overall view of the construct.

The independent variables are:

X1 (Choice and store variety), X2 (Convenience), X3 (Facilities), X4 (Social), X5 (Service

Quality), X6 (Atmosphere).

For the first research question, Which factors are the most important for customers when they

are shopping?, the six independent variables represent the customer’s perception of the

importance of different factors when shopping.

The dependent variables are:

Consumer satisfaction of the shopping mall and consumer satisfaction of the city centre.

The twelve following hypotheses, which will be tested, are presented below:

H1a: The perceived performance of choice and store variety in the shopping mall influences

customer satisfaction.

14

H1b: The perceived performance of choice and store variety in the city centre influences

customer satisfaction.

H2a: The perceived performance of convenience in the shopping mall influences customer

satisfaction.

H2b: The perceived performance of convenience in the city centre influences customer

satisfaction.

H3a: The perceived performance of facilities in the shopping mall influences customer

satisfaction.

H3b: The perceived performance of facilities in the city centre influences customer

satisfaction.

H4a: The perceived performance of the social aspect in the shopping mall influences

consumer satisfaction.

H4b: The perceived performance of the social aspect in the city centre influences customer

satisfaction.

H5a: The perceived performance of service quality in the shopping mall influences customer

satisfaction.

H5b: The perceived performance of service quality in the city centre influences customer

satisfaction

H6a: The perceived performance of atmosphere in the shopping mall influences customer

satisfaction.

H6b: The perceived performance of atmosphere in the city centre influences customer

satisfaction.

The possible correlation between perception of importance of the factors and customer

satisfaction will also be measured. This will show if there is a correlation between what

customers perceive as important and their level of satisfaction of the both shopping venues.

15

3.3 Research Model

The research model shows the six independent factors in relation to the two dependent ones.

The model also presents the perception of importance, which could have a possible

correlation with customer satisfaction of each of the shopping venues.

Model - H1a to H6b

Figure 1: Research Model - Own development

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4 Methodology

The following chapter describes the methodology chosen for the investigation, which has

shaped the study. This section begins with a presentation of the selected research strategy,

approach and design. A second part will present the methods used for collecting data. Finally

a critical review is presented and discusses the methodology’s reliability and validity.

4.1 Research approach

A study can be characterised as exploratory, descriptive or explanatory depending on what the

purpose of the research is (Christensen et al. (2010). The quantitative research is characterised

as descriptive and explanatory while the qualitative is usually exploratory, descriptive and

explanatory (Christensen et al., 2010). The exploratory research is generally used at the

beginning of a research process when there is inadequate knowledge regarding the area to be

studied (Christensen et al., 2010) and therefore it aims at creating an pre-understanding

(Christensen et al., 2010; Björklund and Paulsson, 2003). Christensen et al. (2010) adds that

this kind of research is concerned with What, How and Why questions. In an exploratory

investigation the researcher undergoes a journey of discovery as “intended to identify and

narrow the problem area” (Christensen et al., 2010, p.57). Because this form of research is not

depending on statistical calculations or systematic techniques, it requires that the researcher is

curious, creative and pays attention as the survey is controlled by an individual's personal

capabilities to collect relevant data (Christensen et al., 2010).

When it comes to a descriptive research, Björklund and Paulsson (2003) and Christensen et

al. (2010) state that then the research aims to describe relationships. Thus, in this case the

researcher has already existing knowledge about the actual problem but lacks a clear and

updated view of it (Christensen et al., 2010). Björklund and Paulsson (2003) add that it aims

to describe probable connections and not to explain the current problem. Christensen et al.

(2010) mentions that the descriptive is not searching for explanation of new phenomena,

which is causing the problem. A descriptive research concerns with questions as How, Who,

Where and When but mainly deals with How questions (Christensen et al., 2010). The authors

state that to be able to describe a problem, there must be an understanding, in order to enable

an description of the current problem. This means that the researcher will also be exploratory

by seeking knowledge to achieve this (Christensen et al., 2010). Björklund and Paulsson

(2003) explain that the explanatory research has many similarities with both the exploratory

and the descriptive, but unlike the descriptive approach is the purpose of the explanatory is to

17

identify and determine the causal relationship between variables. The authors further state that

the explanatory approach is used when the aim of the research is to both explain and describe

a phenomenon in search of a deeper understanding. The exploratory research aims to explain

why something is as it is and therefore questions which concern Why will be asked

(Christensen et al., 2010). Finally, Björklund and Paulsson (2003) mention normative

research, which aims to propose measures to the current problem.

The current research is an explorative and descriptive research. The exploratory part of the

study aims at identifying what factors are important to customers when shopping and will

answer to the first research question. The descriptive part aims at describing the relationship

between the factors important to customers when shopping and customer satisfaction in

regard to city centres and shopping malls. This research is based on what and how questions

which are connected to the exploratory and descriptive research.

4.1.1 Inductive and deductive approach

There are two approaches that describe the relationship between theory and practice,

deductive and inductive approach (Bryman and Bell, 2013; Christensen et al., 2010;

Björklund and Paulsson, 2003). A deductive approach means, according to Bryman and Bell

(2013) that the research is based on knowledge that already exists within the specific area and

theories derived from it. They also explain that from this basis, a number of hypotheses are

formulated which will be subjected to empirical scrutiny. This method is usually adopted in

the quantitative research (Bryman and Bell, 2013). Induction, on the other hand, is associated

mostly with qualitative research, meaning the opposite, i.e. that research results provide a

basis by which theories or generalised conclusions are generated (Bryman and Bell, 2013).

This thesis is engaged in a deductive approach, as the study is based on existing theories in

order to create a ground for the research. Hypotheses will be formulated from the theories and

will thereafter be tested.

4.1.2 Quantitative vs. Qualitative strategy

The research problem can, according to Bryman and Bell (2013) and Backman et al. (2012),

be carried out from two different strategies, qualitative research and quantitative research. The

authors state that the perspective is determined depending on what the researcher wants to

achieve with the investigation. A qualitative approach is suitable when the researcher is

18

interested in people’s description of their world or observing their behaviour (Bryman and

Bell, 2013). Thus, the emphasis in the qualitative strategy is on words (Backman et al., 2012;

Bryman and Bell, 2013; Creswell, 2014) and their interpretation (Bryman and Bell, 2013). On

the other hand, the quantitative strategy focuses particularly on figures that allow

quantification of variables (Christensen et al., 2011; Backman et al., 2012; Creswell, 2014), in

order to see the relationship between them (Creswell, 2014).

Bryman and Bell (2013) separate variables into two groups, independent variables and

dependent variables. An independent variable is defined as “a variable that performs a causal

impact on another variable (the dependent variable)” (Bryman and Bell, 2013, p.718) and a

dependent variable is defined as “a variable that is causal affected by another (independent)

variable” (Bryman and Bell, 2013, p.714). The two strategies qualitative and quantitative are

not always inseparable (Christensen et al., 2010; Bryman and Bell, 2013; Creswell, 2014), but

can complement each other in order to get a more nuanced view of the research problem

(Christensen et al, 2011; Bryman and Bell, 2013). Finally, Creswell (2014) adds that a

research tends to be more quantitative or qualitative.

The purpose of this research is to examine what factors are important to consumers when they

are shopping, and to evaluate the influence of the perceived performance of these factors in

both an external shopping mall and a city centre on customer satisfaction. The focus of the

study is to evaluate this specific link between a perceived performance and satisfaction, in

order to measure a possible correlation. In order to do so, the most suitable research method

would therefore be the quantitative one, since it enables determination of the variables as well

as measuring the relationships between the different variables. The research also has

qualitative elements through exploratory interviews with municipalities.

4.2 Research design

Bryman and Bell (2013) distinguish the concepts of research design and research method as

they have different meanings in a study. Yin (2007) clarifies that the research design is a

logical plan and its purpose is to help to collect the right information. Bryman and Bell (2013)

explain the research design as being the framework in which the data collection and analysis

is being made and the research methods are the techniques that are used to gather information.

They also state that the design chosen in the analysis should reflect the decisions taken

regarding the priority of certain aspects of the research process. The five research designs that

19

the authors define are: experiment, comparative, longitudinal, case study and cross-sectional

design.

Experimental design is according to Bryman and Bell (2013), used when the researcher is

interested in examining how the individuals in the experimental group or groups are affected

by the changes in their environment. When using a comparative design, the researcher wants

to gain a better understanding of a certain social occurrence, which can only be made through

the study of two or more contrasting cases (Bryman and Bell, 2013). Christensen et al. (2010)

state that a longitudinal design is preferable for studies with an explanatory or descriptive

purpose. The authors also explain that the same type of data is collected on a number of

occasions over a period of time, which allows an explanation of trends or changing processes.

A case study is, according to Bryman and Bell (2013), a detailed study of one single case,

such as an organisation, a place, person or a specific situation. They state that this design

shows strong similarities to the cross-sectional study but the distinction lies in the researchers

interest in the particular case. Bryman and Bell (2013) also explain that cross-sectional design

means studying several cases in order to generate quantifiable data that can be linked to a

number of variables and thus to study the relationships between them. The authors explain

that this design is suitable when the researchers are interested in finding variations between

for example, organisations, individuals or nations. This design is, as explained by Christensen

et al. (2010), also used when the aim of the study is to give a quantifiable description of

something since the quantitative primary data, which often is the basis of the cross-sectional

design, allows the researcher to draw statistical generalisations. The information drawn from

this kind of study is therefore often of big value for a company since it for example can

provide information on their customers satisfaction with their offerings (Christensen et al.,

2010).

Bryman and Bell (2013) clarify that examining several cases increases the likelihood of

variation between the variables and the possibilities of making exact distinctions between

cases. The collection of data is done at a certain time, and often consists of questionnaires and

structured interviews but may also include other data collection methods (Bryman and Bell,

2013). The disadvantage of the cross-sectional design is, as Bryman and Bell (2013) explain

it, the difficulty in determining the causal direction between the variables. This difficulty is

according to them due to the simultaneous gathering of information, which prevents the

20

possibilities of manipulating the variables. The researcher can therefore not be sure of the

relation between the variables being causal, according to the authors. Despite the uncertainty,

it is not impossible to draw causal conclusions from a cross-sectional study (Bryman and Bell,

2013). Since the purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the

customer’s perceived performances of two different shopping venues and customer

satisfaction, the cross-sectional design was found to be appropriate for this study. It is of

significance in this research to do a broad study of several cases in order to find relationships

between the variables, and give them a quantifiable description.

4.3 Data collection method

The researcher must decide based on the chosen method, which type of information is

required in order to answer the research question (Björklund and Paulsson, 2003). The

information is categorised depending on when it was collected, where and for what purpose it

was collected (Christensen et al., 2010; Björklund and Paulsson, 2003). The two different

forms of data, which often are used to complement each other, are termed as secondary data

and primary data (Christensen et al., 2010; Björklund and Paulsson, 2003). In order to execute

this investigation and respond to the research questions and test the hypotheses, the results of

the study will be based on both secondary and primary data.

4.3.1 Secondary data

Secondary data implies information that is already available and is produced for a different

purpose than the researcher's current investigation (Christensen et al., 2010; Björklund and

Paulsson, 2003; Hair et al., 2011). Christensen et al. (2010) and Hair et al. (2011) explain that

the secondary data is often used initially in the research process in order to create a basic

knowledge of the problem area, which is to be investigated. In fact, by using secondary data,

the researcher can make a comparison and see what kind of primary data is required for the

study (Christensen et al., 2010; Hair et al., 2011). Secondary data was collected which

discussed the phenomena of competitiveness between shopping venues in Sweden in order to

get a basic understanding of the topic. The data consists of newspapers and research by the

Swedish retail statistics agency HUI Research and market analysis by JLL, an international

real estate company. Secondary data can comprise external data such as published or

commercial sources (Christensen et al., 2010; Hair et al., 2011). The authors explain that it

21

can also consist of internal data regarding information on organisations of customers, sales

performance and marketing activities.

It is important to ensure the reliability of the secondary data before it is used in the study

because information can be biased and not correspond to the reality (Christensen et al., 2010;

Hair et al., 2011). It is therefore of importance that the data is reviewed before being used in

the research (Christensen et al., 2010; Björklund and Paulsson, 2003). Bryman and Bell

(2013) explain that if the information is thoroughly reviewed, it also means that it maintains a

high quality. Making use of secondary data, researchers can save both time and money

because the collection of primary data often requires greater resources (Bryman and Bell,

2013; Christensen et al, 2010).

The secondary data, in this study, consists of academic literature and scientifically reviewed

articles. The articles were used in order to assure an updated but also a high academic level of

the research quality. The scientifically reviewed articles have been retrieved from

academically approved databases, such as BSP - Business Source Premier. The used data

servers are OneSearch and Google Scholar with the following keywords; Shopping mall, City

centre, Perception, Customer satisfaction, customer experience, Factors influencing consumer

behaviour, Choice and Store variety, Convenience, Facilities, Social, Service Quality and

Atmosphere. The used articles are chosen due to their relevance to the subject of this study

and focus on the factors which influence customer in the context of shopping. To increase the

reliability of this research, authors of this thesis critically reviewed the selected articles,

before using them. The academic information is forming the frame of reference in this

research. This frame aims to narrow and identify the area, which is explored (Creswell, 2014).

4.3.2 Primary data

When there is not enough existing information available to answer the specific problem, it is

often required that the researcher has to complement theory with new information which he

then collects himself, for his investigation (Christensen et al., 2010). This kind of information

is defined as primary data and can be collected by various techniques, but must

simultaneously fit the identified research problem (Christensen et al., 2010). Bryman and Bell

(2013) point out that qualitative investigations often consist of participant observation and

interviews or focus groups as techniques to collect information. When it comes to quantifying

the data, investigations will very likely be based on questionnaire surveys in order to collect

22

primary data (Bryman and Bell, 2013). The benefit of primary data, in comparison with

secondary data, is that the information is not only updated, but the researcher also knows how

reliable the information actually is (Christensen et al, 2010). The primary data, in this

research, is mainly based on a quantitative questionnaire (see appendix 1 and 2), also known

as survey, in order to confirm the previous scientific findings regarding factors influencing

consumer behaviour when shopping. This technique of collecting data is explained in the

following section. The primary data also consists of exploratory interviews in order to get a

fundamental knowledge of the studied municipalities.

4.4 Data collection instrument

4.4.1 Documents

As mentioned earlier, the current research is partly based on secondary data. Secondary data

is already existing documents, which can help the researcher to design questions, and themes,

which then can be compared with primary data (Bryman and Bell, 2013). Bryman and Bell

(2013) states that there are different types of documents depending on the specific source.

One type of document is defined as; mass media outputs which implies sources such as daily

newspapers and magazines (Bryman and Bell, 2013). Christensen et al. (2011) define this

type of sources as external data. In this thesis, the mass media outputs are data from the

Swedish media and research from analysis institutes, and are presented in the background of

this thesis. Documents can also take the form of virtual documents, which according to

Bryman and Bell is information published over the Internet. In this thesis, these documents

are presented as articles and books by previous scientists, and newspaper articles, published

on the Internet. Even if Bryman and Bell (2012) do not mention literature as a form of

document, it can be considered as a type of documented source.

4.4.2 Interview

The fact is that the quantitative and the qualitative strategy are not always inseparable, but can

complement each other in order to get a more nuanced view (Christensen et al., 2010; Bryman

and Bell, 2013). Bryman and Bell mention that qualitative research can consist of various

forms of interviews. The research in this thesis is mainly characterised as quantitative but has,

however, elements of the qualitative because interviews have been conducted with various

municipalities in Sweden. The use of interviews was an exploratory phase in the research in

order to get a basic knowledge of the situation of three cities in Sweden, on which the

23

forthcoming investigation is based on. Questions were asked to key representatives, in order

to get their perspective on their municipalities’ relationship between two shopping venues; the

shopping mall and the city centre (see appendix 8). The contacted persons were a President of

the Regional Executive, a Head of Business and Regional Development, a Business and

Regional Developer and a City Planning Director, each from a different municipality. The

data was collected through email interviews and phone interviews. The same questions were

asked in both of the two interview techniques and used for each municipality in order to see

similarities and differences of the answers (see appendix 8). The answers from the email

interviews were collected on the 6th of March and the 5th of May. The phone interviews were

conducted on the 6th and 7th of May.

Regarding the advantage of using phone interview, it is an efficient way to collect data

(Christensen et al., 2010). Bryman and Bell (2013) distinguishes different types of interviews

such as, unstructured and semi-structured, which reflects the respondent's point of view. The

difference between a semi-structured interview and unstructured interview is that in the semi-

structured-one, different themes are used which will be touched during the interview (Bryman

and Bell, 2013). The authors state that unstructured interview can be seen as a conversation

which also has themes to start from, but where the researcher gives the respondent more

responsibility to answer freely and to have more control over the conversation. Christensen et

al. (2010) mentions that phone interviews can be unstructured but is, however, usually

standardised where the moderator has predetermined questions to be answered during the

interview process. The advantage of phone interviews is the flexibility, which allows the

interviewer to ask follow-up questions, which could generate unexpected and deeper answers

(Bryman and Bell, 2013).

Since this study involved interviewing several respondents with different positions in different

municipalities, it was important to start with the semi-structured interview to avoid getting

irrelevant and unmanageable amount of information. The interview guide for the email and

phone interview was based on an opened-ended question in order to generate unforeseen

answers. The phone interviews were semi-structured in character, and follow-up questions

where asked based on the respondents answers. Although, Bryman and Bell (2013) explains

that it can be beneficial to ask open-ended questions in investigations of new areas, but can be

more time consuming than asking closed questions. It was, in this case, substantial to use

24

open-ended questions because the lack of knowledge regarding the municipalities’

perspective of their situation.

4.4.3 Questionnaire

Hair et al. (2011) point out one technique in order to collect information, which is using self-

completion surveys, that consist in structured questionnaires with a set of predetermined

questions in order to collect a large quantity of data in numerical form. The authors explain

that the questionnaire has to have a specific design and be delivered in a chosen way. In the

current study an electronic self-completion questionnaire has been delivered, through a web-

hosted Internet survey. It is an effective way of collecting data and the answers can be quickly

gathered thank to the server, but it also allows the participants to stay anonymous

(Christensen et al., 2010; Hair et al., 2011; Bryman and Bell, 2013). The used webpage was

Webbenkater.com, a Swedish questionnaire creating website which offer a free usage for

students. The questionnaire was accessible to respondents from the 1st to the 7th of May. To

increase the response rate among respondents, they were informed that they would remain

anonymous. The selection of this particular technique in order to collect data is based on the

fact that this study requires a large number of responses for a limited period of time. It is

therefore not adaptable for this investigation to use other techniques. It is important to add

that the choice is also based upon that the fact that participants should not be affected by the

environment, which would be the case if they were approached in the actual venues. Instead,

the survey allows them to answer the questions based on their previous experience and

perception of the two shopping venues.

To get as high a response frequency as possible, social media was chosen as a communication

channel to distribute the questionnaire survey among inhabitants of each municipality. The

surveys were published through the social network Facebook, where several Facebook

groups, related to the municipalities in question, were selected and used to spread the survey.

This groups target different kinds of people, both men and women in various ages. The

questionnaire was also spread further through the contacts that the authors in this study had

within each municipality. Theses contacted persons sent on their turn the questionnaire

forward to people they knew who lived in the municipalities. The reason for publishing via

social media was it effectiveness and rapidity to pass on information to people, but also to be

able to get access to people located elsewhere. In order to further increase the response

25

frequency, the authors sent reminders every day to encourage as many people as possible to

complete the questionnaire.

4.4.4 Questionnaire design

A structured questionnaire can be based on open-ended or/and closed questions with

predetermined options (Christensen et al., 2010; Bryman and Bell, 2013). The questions of

this survey consist of closed-ended questions with a set of alternatives from which the

respondents can choose what best matches their opinion. The advantage of making use of

fixed alternative answers, according to Bryman and Bell (2013), is the efficient way to

process the responses, but also to allow the researcher to easily compare the responses,

because the variation in the answers is minor in comparison to asking open-ended questions.

It is, however, an advantage to ask open-ended questions because it can generate more

interesting answers, which are not expected (Christensen et al., 2010; Bryman and Bell,

2013). It is important to add that the validity can be negatively affected if the respondents do

not understand the questions (Bryman and Bell, 2013). It is therefore, in this study, important

to test the questions in order to ensure that respondents understand and perceive the questions

correctly before publishing the questionnaire. When the questions are formulated, it must be

taken into account not to ask questions that lead the respondent to answer in a certain

direction (Christensen et al., 2010; Bryman and Bell, 2013). It is of great importance, in

closed questions, to have as complete response options as possible to ensure that the

respondent's answers are not controlled (Christensen et al., 2010).

The first questions of the questionnaire concern the respondent’s information, like gender, age

and occupation. For the next two parts of the questionnaire, the design of the questionnaire is

inspired by the questionnaire of Hackett and Foxall (1993). The research from Hackett and

Foxall studies consumer’s location specific values in a high street and a shopping mall, using

an opportunity sampling. The mentioned sampling method is based on that the researcher

needs respondents who happen to be there (Christensen et al., 2010; Bryman and Bell, 2013).

Thus, it seemed relevant for the study to use their previous research and content areas as a

basis to construct the questionnaire. For the last part of the questionnaire, the design is a close

replication of Léo and Philippe’s (2002) “Satisfaction measurement scale”. Following Léo

and Philippe, the measurement includes questions about overall satisfaction, pleasure of use

and future behaviour of the customer, intention to recommend the place and comparison with

other shopping venues. Some questions were rephrased to fit the scaling of the questionnaire.

26

4.4.5 Scaling

Measuring a variable consists in assigning a number to it that reflects the aspect of the object

or event (Hair et al., 2011). According to Hair et al. (2011) there are numerous types of

scales, but broadly two types of scales can be defined, metric scales which are a type of

quantitative scales, and non-metric scales. The authors define different types of metric scales,

which among others include rating scales and likert scales. An interval scale consists of

numbers which allow the respondents to rate objects, with equal distances between numbers

(Hair et al., 2011). For the measurement of opinions or perceptions, a rating scale can be used

(Hair et al., 2011). The likert-scale help, as explained by Hair et al. (2011) measuring

opinions by assessing how strongly the participant agree or disagree about an item. Zikmund

et al. (2013) explains that a odd number of scale points are appropriate to use if it is assumed

that the respondent could have a neutral opinion of the subject in question. Even scale points

are, according to the authors, preferable for issues that people tend to have strong opinions of,

since it forces the respondents to choose side.

The questionnaire used in this study is divided in three parts, the rating scale was used for

measuring the customers opinion on the importance of factors when shopping, and a likert-

scale was used to measure their agreement on the performance of the two shopping venues,

and on their satisfaction. An odd number of the scaling was used since the authors of the

thesis considered it likely for the respondents to have a neutral opinion. The first part of the

questionnaire asks the respondents to rate each item according to the criteria of importance

when shopping, on a 5-point scale, from “not important at all ” to “very important”. The

choice of a five point scale in this part is based on the recommendations from Hair et al.

(2011), which explains this number to be adequate for measurement of importance.

The second part of the questionnaire asks respondents to scale the performance of each item

according to the criteria of perception on a 7-point scale, rating from “strongly disagree to

“strongly agree”. The same scale is used for the third part of the questionnaire in which the

respondents are asked to scale questions on their satisfaction of the two shopping venues.

Zikmund et al. (2013) explains that a scale with 7-10 points generally seems to perform better

but it is up to the researcher to determine which grading is best for the actual case. “This issue

of identifying how many meaningful distinctions respondents can practically make is

27

basically a matter of sensitivity, but at the operational rather than the conceptual level.”

(Zikmund et al., 2013, p.327). The seven-point scale was used for the measurement of

perceived performance and satisfaction since it was considered to provide a more precise

indication of the respondents ‘opinion.

4.4.6 Pilot survey and testing of questions

Bryman and Bell (2013) explain that a pilot survey, known as pre-testing, is of great

importance to investigations, and especially for research, which is based on questionnaires.

The authors add that it is a requirement that the questionnaire goes through verification tests,

before it is published for public, in order to ensure that the questions are clearly asked and

well formulated. Doing so, the researcher is sure that respondents understand the question in

order to be able give correctly answers (Christensen et al., 2010; Bryman and Bell, 2013). The

pre-testing also helps to assure that the questionnaire is coherent and that respondents

understand how it should be filled in (Christensen et al., 2010). Christensen et al. (2010)

recommend having 5 to10 participants in the tests and that the researcher interviews the

participants afterwards regarding what they think about the questions, in order to get a

generalised point of view on the questionnaire.

Bryman and Bell (2013) explain that with a pilot study the researcher has also the possibility

to get a view of the survey as a whole. In order to increase the validity of this study's

questionnaire the questions went through a control test before it were published for the public.

The questionnaire was constructed in English and then translated to Swedish since it would be

addressing both Swedish- and English speaking persons. A group of 5 Swedish participants

were gathered in order to get an understanding on how the questions were perceived and if

there were any misunderstanding regarding these. The participants were three women and two

men aged from 25 to 34. Three of them were working and two were students. It was important

to have participants in different ages, gender and different occupation in order to get as

realistic result as possible. The first step was to let the participants do the web survey over the

Internet in order to provide a natural way of doing it.

The individuals were timed in order to see how long the questionnaire took to complete. In the

second step, the participants were handed a printed version of the questionnaire and were

asked to write comments on the questions they have found strange or difficult to answer. Step

three was to gather the individuals into a group where they could discuss the experience of the

28

survey completion and perception of the questions. There was some lacking of clarity

concerning the formulation of a few questions. As a result, some of the questions were

adjusted to fit the Swedish vocabulary. The adjustments were also made in the English

version in order to have the exact same questions in both questionnaires.

4.5 Operationalization

Table 1: Operationalization

Concepts

/Factors

Definition Measures based on

literature review

Construct Question

number

Perception Perception is “The

process by which people

select, organise and

interpret information to

form a meaningful

picture of the world”

(Kotler et al., 2009,

p.602).

-Stimulus being

relevant to the

person’s needs and

interests (Schiffman

and Kanuk, 2004).

- Attributes meet or

exceed the person's

expectations (Peluso,

2011).

- Perception of

importance

-Perception of

performance

5

6

Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is

“The extent to which a

product´s perceived

performance matchers a

buyer´s expectations”

(Kotler et al, 2009,

p.599).

-Recommending a

place to other

customers

- Repeated buying of

a product/service

-Comparison relating

to other opportunities

- Pleasure associated

with use (Léo and

Philippe, 2002)

- Satisfied with the

venue

- Recommend it to a

friend

- Comparison with

other venue

- Pleasant to walk

there

- Enjoy going there

- Usually go

shopping there

- Regularly use its

services

7.1

7.2

7.3

7.4

7.5

7.6

7.7

Choice and

store variety

Choice is “the selection,

consumption, and

disposal of products and

services” (Bettman et

al., 1998, p.187).

- Tenant mix, magnet

stores and secondary

attractors (Brown,

1992)

- Number of choice

(Bettman et al., 1998)

- Wide choice of

shops/goods

- Large departmental

store

- Get a bargain

- Large supermarkets

- Find small

specialist stores

6.1

6.7

6.13

6. 15

6.19

Convenience Commodity costs are

“the monetary price

paid the seller to obtain

possession of goods and

services” (Kelley, 1958,

p.32). Convenience

costs are “ incurred

- Location

(Anselmsson, 2006). -

Parking (Anselmsson,

2006).

- Ability to easily

locating themselves

-Stay warm and dry

- Shopping area

close to my home

- Park easily

- Short distances

between shops

- Easily find shops

6.2.

6.14.

6.27.

6.20

29

through the expenditure

of time, physical and

nervous energy, and

money required to

overcome the frictions

of space and time, and

to obtain possession of

goods and services”

(Kelley, 1958, p.32).

in the shopping mall

(Anselmsson, 2006;

Im and Ha, 2011).

-Temperature, easy

navigation (Im and

Ha, 2011).

Facilities A comfortable, clean

and safe shopping

environment (Myers et

al., 2008).

- Transport (Ozuduru

et al., 2014).

- Adequate toilets,

seating, security

(Myers et al., 2008)

- Washrooms, play

areas for children

(Wee, 1985)

- Baby

feeding/changing

- Security staff

- Place to leave

children

- Place to sit down

- Toilets

- Good transport

links

6.3

6.9

6.21

6.25

6.28

6.8

Social The social aspect of

shopping refers to

shopping with friends or

communicating with

others (Tauber, 1972;

Arnold and Reynolds,

2003; Davis and

Hodges, 2012).

- Shopping with

friends (Arnold and

Reynolds, 2003).

- Positive emotions

(Matzler et al., 2005)

- Places to meet

others

- Nice place to shop

with friends

- Enjoying myself

6.5

6.11

6.17

Service

Quality

The contrast between

the expectation of the

consumer and the actual

performance of the

service (Bolton and

Drew, 1991).

- Friendly and

helpfull salesperson

(Clopton et al., 2001;

Keh et al., 2013).

- Store environment

like cleanliness

(Terblanche and

Boshoff, 2001)

- Quality, value and

variety of goods

(May, 1991)

- Friendly and

helpfull staff

- Clean area

- High quality goods

- Value for money

6.4

6.10

6. 16

6.22

Atmosphere The conscious

designing of space to

create certain effects in

buyers” (Kotler, 1973,

p.50).

- Music (Broekeimer

et al., 2008).

- Design (Baker et al.,

2002).

- Scent (Chebat and

Michon, 2003).

- Attractive product

and promotional

displays (Terblanche

and Boshoff, 2001)

- Nice window

displays

- Nice design

- Pleasant music

- Nice smell

6.6

6.12

6.18

6.23

30

4.6 Sampling

Sampling as part of the research process involves collecting information thanks to a chosen

group of people, known as a population, who share similar characteristics (Hair et al., 2011).

A sample has to be representative of this population, and a relevant target population has to be

defined, from which the sample unit will be selected for the research (Hair et al., 2011). A

probability sampling is, according to Hair et al. (2011), a method where a random selection of

elements is used, and the non-probability sampling, where the researcher decides to include or

exclude some elements. Snowball Sampling is a non-probability sampling method, that

consists in using initial respondents to help the researcher identify other ones in the chosen

population (Christensen et al., 2010; Hair et al., 2011; Bryman and Bell, 2013). Bryman and

Bell (2013) explains that the snowball sampling is a relatively uncommon method in

quantitative studies but it can be relevant when the researchers are interested in finding

relation between persons.

The chosen population of this research can be define as people living in Sweden, and more

precisely in three cities in the south of Sweden. The choice of cities is based on the size, they

are all mid-size cities, of the respective external shopping malls regarding their number of

stores, which is around 70-80. The sample unit used will consist of individuals over 18 years

and older, who are familiar with both their local city centre and their external shopping mall.

Non-probability sampling will be used, as there is a need for this particular study to include

specific elements. The most efficient way for the study to find relevant participants is to

proceed to a snowball sampling, for each of the studied cities.

4.6.1 Sample size

Hair et al. (2010) explains that the sample size rule of thumb is ten times as many respondents

as variables, and 50 respondents are a minimum. In order to calculate the sample size for this

study, the method of Rule of thumb as explained by Hair et al. (2010) was used. For the

second part of the questionnaire, there are 6 independent variables, thus the calculation is the

following: 10*6= 60 respondents. The total amount of responses collected was 111, which

were used as data for the first part of the questionnaire. Nevertheless, some of the surveys

were incomplete, which left 75 of them to be used for the second part of the questionnaire.

This mean that the minimum of the needed responses according to Hair et al. (2010) was

exceeded.

31

4.7 Data analysis

Analysing quantitative data can be done through the use of descriptive statistics, and through

the testing of the hypotheses (Hair et al., 2011). The IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 21

will be used throughout the data analysis of the internet based survey in this thesis. SPSS -

Sta