With the South African retail industry being a major and attractive industry, marketers and retailers are pressured to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage by developing marketing strategies that appeal to various consumers. Retailers need to focus on satisfying consumers’ needs, as well as offering a full shopping experience. Shopping entails more than the mere selection of products. Consumers’ motivation or driving force behind the act of shopping is embedded in satisfying internal needs. These motivations are grouped into two collections, namely hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. Consumers driven by hedonic shopping motivations are interested in the shopping experience, as well as the experiential and emotional aspects thereof. However, consumers driven by utilitarian shopping motivations are goal-oriented and concerned with the task-related value and the functional aspects of shopping. Marketers and retailers may use consumer-shopping motives to divide the market into segments and develop strategies to target specific segments. Published literature on the consumer behaviour of the South African black Generation Y cohort is limited and an absence occurs with reference to the shopping motivations of this cohort. In the South African context, individuals born between 1986 and 2005, labelled Generation Y, account for 38 percent of the total South African population, and the black Generation Y individuals represent 83 percent of the total Generation Y cohort. Individuals within the black Generation Y cohort attaining tertiary qualifications are likely to represent the future ‘Black Diamonds’, enjoying higher earnings and a higher social status, which together is likely to make them opinion leaders amongst their peers. For that reason, the black Generation Y student cohort is an exceptionally attractive market segment, and it is critical for retailers and marketers to understand their shopping behaviour and motivations in order to develop effective marketing strategies. The purpose of this study was to determine South African black Generation Y students’ utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations. The target population of this study comprised full-time undergraduate black Generation Y students; aged between 18 and 24 years and enrolled at South African registered public higher education institutions (HEIs). The sampling frame comprised the 23 registered South African public HEIs. A non-probability judgement sample method was utilised to select one traditional university and one university of technology in the Gauteng province, from the sampling frame. For this study, a convenience sample of 600 black Generation Y students enrolled at these two South African HEIs during 2013 was drawn. The relevant primary data was obtained by means of a self-administered questionnaire, which was hand delivered to the contacted lecturers at each of these two HEIs. These lecturers distributed the self-administered questionnaire during one lecture period. This questionnaire requested the participants to indicate on a six-point Likert scale the level of their agreement or disagreement on 26 items designed to measure their utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations, as well as to provide certain demographic data. The findings of this study indicate that within the hedonic subscale, black Generation Y students found value and adventure shopping to be the strongest motivators for shopping. Within the utilitarian subscale, black Generation Y students found achievement to be the strongest motivator for shopping. Previous research found gender to have an influence on the hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations of consumers. This study confirms previous findings where statistically significant differences were found between the shopping motivations of male and female black Generation Y students. The study found significant differences concerning the first-, second- and third-year black Generation Y students’ hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. Insights gained from this study will help both marketers and retailers understand the current black Generation Y consumers’ motivations for shopping with reference to hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. / MCom (Marketing Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

With the South African retail industry being a major and attractive industry, marketers and retailers are pressured to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage by developing marketing strategies that appeal to various consumers. Retailers need to focus on satisfying consumers’ needs, as well as offering a full shopping experience. Shopping entails more than the mere selection of products. Consumers’ motivation or driving force behind the act of shopping is embedded in satisfying internal needs. These motivations are grouped into two collections, namely hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. Consumers driven by hedonic shopping motivations are interested in the shopping experience, as well as the experiential and emotional aspects thereof. However, consumers driven by utilitarian shopping motivations are goal-oriented and concerned with the task-related value and the functional aspects of shopping. Marketers and retailers may use consumer-shopping motives to divide the market into segments and develop strategies to target specific segments. Published literature on the consumer behaviour of the South African black Generation Y cohort is limited and an absence occurs with reference to the shopping motivations of this cohort. In the South African context, individuals born between 1986 and 2005, labelled Generation Y, account for 38 percent of the total South African population, and the black Generation Y individuals represent 83 percent of the total Generation Y cohort. Individuals within the black Generation Y cohort attaining tertiary qualifications are likely to represent the future ‘Black Diamonds’, enjoying higher earnings and a higher social status, which together is likely to make them opinion leaders amongst their peers. For that reason, the black Generation Y student cohort is an exceptionally attractive market segment, and it is critical for retailers and marketers to understand their shopping behaviour and motivations in order to develop effective marketing strategies. The purpose of this study was to determine South African black Generation Y students’ utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations. The target population of this study comprised full-time undergraduate black Generation Y students; aged between 18 and 24 years and enrolled at South African registered public higher education institutions (HEIs). The sampling frame comprised the 23 registered South African public HEIs. A non-probability judgement sample method was utilised to select one traditional university and one university of technology in the Gauteng province, from the sampling frame. For this study, a convenience sample of 600 black Generation Y students enrolled at these two South African HEIs during 2013 was drawn. The relevant primary data was obtained by means of a self-administered questionnaire, which was hand delivered to the contacted lecturers at each of these two HEIs. These lecturers distributed the self-administered questionnaire during one lecture period. This questionnaire requested the participants to indicate on a six-point Likert scale the level of their agreement or disagreement on 26 items designed to measure their utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations, as well as to provide certain demographic data. The findings of this study indicate that within the hedonic subscale, black Generation Y students found value and adventure shopping to be the strongest motivators for shopping. Within the utilitarian subscale, black Generation Y students found achievement to be the strongest motivator for shopping. Previous research found gender to have an influence on the hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations of consumers. This study confirms previous findings where statistically significant differences were found between the shopping motivations of male and female black Generation Y students. The study found significant differences concerning the first-, second- and third-year black Generation Y students’ hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. Insights gained from this study will help both marketers and retailers understand the current black Generation Y consumers’ motivations for shopping with reference to hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. / MCom (Marketing Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

The purpose of this study was to better understand how consumers of fast fashion clothing with different shopping motivations consider sustainability during their purchase. The different shopping motivations are hedonic and utilitarian, which are respectively the emotion of shopping and the function of shopping. The main question for this research was “How do consumers of fast fashion clothing with different motivations (hedonic or utilitarian) consider sustainability during their purchase?” This qualitative research made use of 11 focus groups and a total of 44 participants to obtain in-depth data. The participants were divided into whether their main shopping motivation was hedonic, or utilitarian based on how they answered specific questions. The answers from both groups were compared with each other to find possible differences. When weighing the evidence and conclusions from the research, it appears relatively likely that there are no significant differences between consumers with a hedonic main shopping motivation and consumers with a utilitarian main shopping motivation. This leads to the conclusion of the main question, which is that there is no difference in how consumers of fast fashion clothing with different motivations consider sustainability during their purchase.

Millennials, or Generation Y, represent one of today’s most prominent age cohorts: with their increasingly stronger purchasing power and importance in the global economic landscape, it is no wonder that marketers are striving to find new ways to appeal to the taste of this peculiar generation of consumers. Among the various modern research fields in business, one in particular is offering incredibly interesting insights to both scholars and professional marketers: the concept of nostalgia proneness in consumer behavior. While several studies examine the dynamics of this phenomenon, none of them so far examined the impact of nostalgia proneness in shopping behavior, especially examining the dynamics on a sample of Generation Y consumers. This study was conducted in order to explore the dynamics of nostalgia proneness, linking the constructs to both desire for uniqueness and shopping behavior, using the framework provided by the Consumer Styles Inventory (Sproles & Sproles, 1990). After a theoretical review on the matter, several hypotheses and a conceptual model were developed to serve as the core framework of the quantitative analysis. The data, obtained from a convenience sample of 222 respondents, were subsequently examined using several statistical techniques (ANOVA, correlation and factor analysis), with the intent to test the hypotheses and shed light on the research questions. The outcome was then presented and interpreted using both the theoretical background and other complementary relevant literature. The results showed a positive relationship between nostalgia proneness and desire for uniqueness, with both variables being further connected to several shopping traits of the Generation Y consumer. The cluster and factor analysis eventually showed patterns that could be interpreted using the theory of hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations.

[pt] Considerando-se que traços de personalidade impactam em muitas variáveis e contextos, a presente tese teve como objetivo verificar o poder preditivo do bemestar subjetivo sobre o comportamento de compra por impulso e sobre a escolha de itens de compra, controlando-se o efeito da personalidade. Para tanto, foram realizados quatro estudos, cujos dados foram coletados por meio de questionários disponibilizados em plataforma na internet. O primeiro estudo teve o objetivo de buscar evidências de validade da escala Hedonic Shopping Motivations. Verificaram-se evidências de validade satisfatórias para o instrumento. A mensuração desse construto testou padrões correlacionais e de predição das motivações hedônicas sobre variáveis de compra, e os resultados revelaram uma rede nomológica que favorece formulações teóricas mais robustas sobre comportamento do consumidor. O segundo estudo consistiu na busca por evidências de validade da escala Short Affect Intensity Scale (SAIS-BR) para o contexto brasileiro. Esse segundo instrumento adaptado mensura a intensidade com a qual uma pessoa experimenta emoções, concentrando-se na consistência das reações afetivas que ela costuma ter diante de estímulos emocionais. O instrumento adaptado mostrou satisfatórias evidências de validade. As diferenças individuais na intensidade afetiva foram associadas a personalidade, frequência de afetos e satisfação de vida, ampliando o conhecimento a respeito de como afetos são experimentados e sobre os impactos da intensidade afetiva no cotidiano. As correlações encontradas entre fatores da SAIS-BR e dimensões do bem-estar subjetivo reforçaram a ideia de que a dimensão emocional do bem-estar subjetivo refere-se tanto à frequência de sentimentos e emoções, quanto à magnitude de suas expressões. O terceiro estudo testou o poder preditivo do bem-estar subjetivo, da intensidade afetiva e da personalidade sobre a tendência de comprar por impulso. Além de corroborar achados anteriores sobre poder preditivo de afetos negativos, os resultados também mostraram o papel dos fatores de personalidade nessa predição, gerando novas evidências empíricas sobre compras por impulso e bemestar subjetivo no Brasil. O quarto estudo verificou o poder preditivo do bem-estar subjetivo e da personalidade sobre a preferência por compras experienciais e materiais. Os resultados mostraram a ausência de poder preditivo da frequência de afetos sobre a variável desfecho, além de indicar que algumas variáveis sociodemográficas e traços de personalidade podem predizer tais preferências dos indivíduos. No geral, os achados tiram das emoções parte da carga de responsabilidade sobre comportamentos de compra, indicando impacto leve do bem-estar sobre impulsividade nas compras e sobre escolhas de tipos de produtos. Uma importância fundamental desta tese é a produção de conhecimentos aplicáveis tanto para o campo do comportamento do consumidor quanto para o campo da psicologia positiva, destacando-se a relevância da interdisciplinaridade e da pesquisa transformativa do consumidor no Brasil. / [en] Considering that personality traits impact many variables and contexts, the present thesis aimed to verify the predictive power of subjective well-being on impulse buying behavior and on the choice of purchase items, controlling for the effect of personality. To this end, four studies were carried out and data were collected through questionnaires made available on an internet platform. The first study aimed to seek evidence of validity of the Hedonic Shopping Motivations scale. There was satisfactory evidence of validity for the instrument. The measurement of this construct tested correlational and predictive patterns of hedonic motivations on purchase variables, and the results revealed a nomological network that favors more robust theoretical formulations on consumer behavior. The second study consisted of searching for evidence of validity of the Short Affect Intensity Scale (SAIS-BR) for the Brazilian context. This second adapted instrument measures the intensity with which a person experiences emotions, focusing on the consistency of the affective reactions that they usually have when faced with emotional stimuli. The adapted instrument showed satisfactory evidence of validity. Individual differences in affective intensity were associated with personality, frequency of affections and life satisfaction, increasing the knowledge about how affections are experienced and about the impacts of affective intensity on daily life. The correlations found between SAIS-BR factors and dimensions of subjective well-being reinforced the idea that the emotional dimension of subjective well-being refers to both the frequency of feelings and emotions and the magnitude of their expressions. The third study tested the predictive power of subjective well-being, affective intensity, and personality on the tendency to buy impulsively. In addition to corroborating previous findings on the predictive power of negative affects, the results also showed the role of personality factors in this prediction, generating new empirical evidence on impulse buying and subjective well-being in Brazil. The fourth study verified the predictive power of subjective well-being and personality on the preference for experiential and material purchases. The results showed an absence of predictive power of the frequency of affections on the outcome variable, in addition to indicating that some sociodemographic variables and personality traits can predict such individual preferences. Overall, the findings remove part of the burden of responsibility on purchasing behaviors from emotions, indicating a mild impact of well-being on impulsive buying and on product choices. A fundamental importance of this thesis is the production of knowledge that is applicable both to the field of consumer behavior and to the field of positive psychology, highlighting the relevance of interdisciplinarity and transformative consumer research in Brazil.