Impulsive buying behavior
The effect of mood on impulsive
buying behavior and
snack choice
Master Thesis
Impulsive buying behavior
The effect of mood on impulsive buying
behavior and snack choice
By
Sly Chow
University of Groningen
Faculty of Economics
Msc Marketing
August 19, 2010
Sly Chow
Amsteldijk 155a III
1079 LH Amsterdam
06-42105538
s.chow@student.rug.nl
S1657976
Supervisor: Debra Trampe
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MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
This research relates to someone’s mood, impulsive buying behavior and their choice for healthy foods. This research was derived from a model which suggests that a depleted and therefore a more negative mood would lead to impulsive buying behavior and the choice for unhealthy foods. This research suggests quite the same, but still the opposite. I expected that respondents in a positive mood would buy more on impulse and are more likely to choose for a healthy snack. Another important factor was personality. The literature review showed that a person’s personality is an important influence on impulsive buying behavior as well. Therefore this factor was taken in account as well. The Buying Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) from Rook and Fisher (1995) is a measurement which is appropriate for this research, it measures a person’s impulsivity, and therefore this scale was used. I expected that a person who is very impulsive is more likely to buy more on impulse and to choose for unhealthy snacks.
First of all, to find out what type of snack is considered as healthy and unhealthy, a pretest was set up. Ten different types of snacks were shown to sixteen respondents. These respondents had to rate the products in their healthiness, tastiness and how often they consumed this product. Based on this information, two healthy snacks and two unhealthy snacks were chosen to use for the field research and the experiment. The results show that an apple and a Sultana had the highest scores on healthy snacks and Mars and Kitkat had the highest scores on unhealthy snacks.
However, it was still credible to believe in the expectations, therefore an experiment was set up. In one experiment, respondents’ mood was manipulated. The goal from this experiment was the same as for the field research. There were three mood groups after manipulation, a positive group, a neutral group and a negative group. The respondents were asked to write a story to get them in a specific mood, this was the manipulation. After that, respondents had to assign prices to different products, this was the Willingness to Pay. After completing this, respondents had to fill in a form about their personality, namely the BIS, this was made up to correct for differences in personalities. The respondents were rewarded with a snack for their help, they could choose between a healthy snack and an unhealthy snack. This study showed that there was no significant difference between the mood groups. A positive mood did not significantly influence impulsive buying behavior and the choice for healthy snacks. Also, an impulsive person is not more likely to buy more on impulse and choose for unhealthy snacks as well. It therefore did not support the expectations of this research, but it does support the field research.
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PREFACE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 8
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 9
2.1 IMPULSIVE BUYING BEHAVIOR AND MANAGERIAL RELEVANCE 9
2.2 DEFINITIONS AND VIEWS 10
2.2.1 POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE VIEWS 11
2.3 FACTORS WHY PEOPLE BUY ON IMPULSE 12
2.3.1 EMOTIONAL FACTORS WHY PEOPLE BUY ON IMPULSE 14
2.3.2 MOOD 15 2.4 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 16 2.5 FOOD 17 2.6 STUDY 18 2.7 HYPOTHESES 19 3. PRETEST 22 3.1 METHOD 22 3.2 RESULTS PRETEST 22
4. RESEARCH DESIGN FIELD RESEARCH 24
4.1 METHOD 24
4.1.1 Sample and data collection 24 4.1.2 Procedure and measurement 24
4.1.3 Mood groups 25
5. RESULTS FIELD RESEARCH 26
5.1 Factor analysis 27
5.2 Reliability analysis 27
5.3 General results 27
5.4 The influence of mood 29
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5.5.4 Impulsive buying behavior and personality 31 5.5.5 Impulsive buying behavior and snack choice 32
5.6 The influence of personalities 32
5.6.1 Personalities and age 32 5.6.2 Personalities and snack choice 32 5.7 Impulsive buying behavior, mood and personalities 32
6. DISCUSSION FIELD RESEARCH 34
7. RESEARCH DESIGN EXPERIMENT 37
7.1 Method 37 8. RESULTS EXPERIMENT 38 8.1 Factor analysis 38 8.2 Reliability analysis 38 8.3 General results 38 8.4 Manipulation check 38 8.5 Willingness to pay (H3, H4, H7, H8) 39 8.5.1 Outlier analysis 39 8.5.2 Price assignments 40
8.5.3 Effect of Buying Impulsiveness Scale 40
8.5.4 Interaction Effect 40
8.6 Snack choice (H7, H8) 41
8.6.1 Effect of mood 41
8.6.2 Effect of Buying Impulsiveness Scale 42
8.6.3 Interaction effect 42
9 DISCUSSION EXPERIMENT 44
10. GENERAL DISCUSSION 45
10.1 Conclusion 47
10.2 Limitations and recommendations for further research 47
LITERATURE 49
APPENDICES APPENDIX I PRETEST : OUTCOMES SPSS
APPENDIX II RESULTS PRETEST
APPENDIX III QUESTIONNAIRE FIELD RESEARCH
APPENDIX IV SECOND QUESTIONNAIRE FIELD RESEARCH
APPENDIX V FACTOR ANALYSIS
APPENDIX VI OUTCOMES FIELD RESEARCH APPENDIX VII QUESTIONNAIRE EXPERIMENT
INTRODUCTION
Since times have changed and consumers have more money to spend, more consumers buy on impulse. There are not many consumers who use a shopping list (Block and Morwitz; 1999) and when consumers do not have a specific list, the possibility to buy something without planning can arise. Did you ever come home with something which you did not plan to buy? Or saw something which attracted you so much that you had to buy it? Or did you ever buy something which was on sale, but you did not really need it?
Impulsive buying behavior has been an interesting topic for many years. Impulsive buying behavior is relevant in business administration and specifically marketing because it is related to consumer behavior and therefore interesting to investigate. What can be learned is what the causes and consequences are from impulsive buying behavior. Managers can learn to get a better understanding of consumers and serve their needs better. Managers can stimulate impulsive buying behavior and improve their financial results.
There are many factors which could influence impulsive buying behavior. For example environmental displays (Peck & Childers; 2006), and therefore the environmental factors and mood (Rook & Fisher; 1995). This could mean that the psychological side is interesting to investigate, because we could get a better understanding of what happens within the consumer.
Mood can be a trigger for buying on impulse, this topic is quite interesting as there are many type of moods. It could be interesting to find out what type of mood infleunces impulsive buying behavior. Another topic is food. Food has been related to impulsive buying behavior quite often. Making impulsive purchases and eating snacks are both a type of behavior that typically fits within this category that leads to short-term pleasure (Verplanken et al.; 2005). Thus it could be interesting to find if there are more relations between impulsive buying behavior and food.
9 2.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this literature review information of what is already available about impulsive buying behavior and other topics which are necessary to investigate for this study will be mentioned. The first topic will be the managerial relevance of impulsive buying behavior. Secondly, definitions and views from different authors will be mentioned. The types of views will be specified as well, these are positive and negative views. Another topic which is interesting to investigate are factors why people buy on impulse, this topic will be mentioned in chapter 2.3. This will be specified into emotional factors why people buy on impulse. Mood is a part of emotional factors and this will be described in the same paragraph. The last part of the literature review will be literature about individual differences and food. This review will end with more detailed information about this research, such as the research question and the hypotheses.
2.1 IMPULSIVE BUYING BEHAVIOR AND MANAGERIAL RELEVANCE
There are already many articles available about impulsive buying behavior. Firstly, the relevance from impulsive buying behavior for managers has been investigated. What will be mentioned are factors which managers can adjust to influence impulsive buying behavior.
Managers can moderate impulsive buying behavior through distribution, advertising and store promotions (Stern; 1962). Also, managers can create new impulsive buying centers to supplement the heavily trafficked checkout stand to influence impulsive buying behavior within their stores (Stern, 1962). Rook and Hoch (1985) have investigated this as well. They mention that stores can increase sales results through product displays and promotions that are specifically designed to encourage impulse purchases. Brighter colors, point-of-purchase displays and special premiums are ways to boost buying levels that concern impulse purchases (Rook and Hoch; 1985).
There are also other factors which encourage impulsive buying behavior. Stern (1962) identifies nine factors. These factors can be used as criteria in identifying impulse items. The factors are as following: low price, marginal need for item, mass distribution, self-service, mass advertising, prominent store display, short product life, small size or light weight and ease of storage. This can help managers to choose what kind of products they want to offer. They can identify impulse items and choose for this strategy or choose not to offer impulse items.
excitement and interest. It should be fun to shop and impulsive buyers will go to a specific store which brings them pleasure. This will ultimately encourage visitors in stores to buy on impulse.
Managers could encourage impulsive buying behavior and gain a positive short-term effect. In contrast, managers can discourage impulsive buying behavior as this could be seen as socially responsible. It could be questioned whether a socially responsible retailer should be alert to the potential negative outcomes and consequences resulting from impulsive buying behavior. By limiting the negative impacts of impulsive buying behavior, this could cause positive social impacts for a retailer. Many authors write about the dark side of impulsive buying behavior, for example Silvera et al. (2008), they state that a high level of impulse buying behavior can be harmful and potentially self-destructive. This behavior can be driven by avoidance of negative psychological states, such as a low self-esteem. Other problems which can exist with impulsive buyers are financial problems. This can be caused by spending too much money on impulsive purchases. Nowadays, it is easier to buy on impulse. Credit cards and consumption on the Internet on websites such as eBay are moderating impulsive purchases. The negative outcomes will be specified later in this research. Due to all these different outcomes and causes of impulsive buying behavior, it makes it interesting to further investigate impulse buying behavior. Especially the psychological side can be important in this topic.
To sum up, managers can use many different techniques to encourage or discourage impulsive buying behavior. They can choose how to fill in their impulse strategies in stores. Low price and promotions are techniques to boost impulsive purchases which can be interesting for further research. Impulsive buying behavior is not stimulated by the environment only, but also from within a consumer (Rook; 1987), therefore it is interesting to investigate the psychological side from impulsive buying behavior as well. Authors who have written about impulsive buying behavior have different points of view and different opinions about what impulsive buying behavior exactly is. To get a clear view about the available information about impulsive buying behavior, different authors and different points of view from authors will be shown in the next paragraph.
2.2 DEFINITIONS AND VIEWS
In this part different definitions and views from authors will be mentioned. After discussing this, the definitions and views will be used which are most appropriate for this research.
Historically, many authors define impulsive buying behavior as an unplanned purchase. Some authors define impulsive buying behavior as thoughtless actions which are characterized by quick acting, for example Rook and Hoch (1985). These are aspects that describe impulsive buying behavior and are quite general.
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scheme, planned buying behavior involves a time-consuming information search which ends in rational decision-making. Unplanned buying behavior refers to purchases without such advance planning and impulsive buying behavior is distinguished by the relative speed when buying decisions occur. With the relative speed is meant that it mostly happens in a relative short time, this without a long consideration about future consequences.
Another definition is from Rook (1987), this author mentions that impulsive buying behavior fulfills a short-term need, without considering potential long-term consequences. The purchase is unplanned and sudden which are initiated on the spot. This behavior is based on the presence of an immediate stimulus object and is often accompanied by feelings of excitement and pleasure and a powerful urge to buy. This means that the environment is an important factor concerning this definition. This would suggest that the type of environment can stimulate impulsive buying behavior. The weather, the holidays and also someone’s mood are factors that can influence impulsive buying behavior according to this definition. The definition from Rook is comparable with Beatty and Ferrel’s (1998) definition as they define impulsive buying behavior as a sudden and powerful urge that arises within the consumer to buy immediately. These authors have extended the definition by including the aspect of purchases which could have been done in the future, but was not planned during that trip.
Definitions evolve through time; the same authors use different definitions for their articles. For example, Rook has written an article with Fisher (1995), they define impulsiveness as a consumer’s tendency to buy spontaneously, unreflectively, immediately and kinetically. These authors mention in another article that impulsive buying behavior is often emotion-related, but there is also evidence of a cognitive component in impulsive buying behavior (Sneath, Lacey and Kennett-Hensel; 2008). Hoch and Loewenstein (1991) support this evidence. These authors characterize impulsive buying behavior as a conflict between the desire to consume and the willpower to resist it.
What the definitions have in common is that they are mostly related to spontaneity and a sudden urge whereby consumers do not think about consequences. Purchases are unplanned and can be seen as not rational. Rook’s definition “when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately” fits well in this research as this author’s definition mentions emotion related factors. What can be suggested is that the environment’s influence could play a role and the spontaneity that impulsive buying behavior brings. Rook’s view includes both the environment aspect and the feelings of temptation within the customers themselves.
2.2.1 POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE VIEWS
In the beginning of research in impulsive buying behavior, this kind of behavior was mostly seen as something negative. A consumer cannot resist the urge to purchase and does not have the will-power to be more rational, nor consider the consequences and neither to buy on impulse. Also in general, impulsive buying behavior is mostly associated with negative traits (such as lower intelligence and immaturity) and outcomes (such as financial problems and lower self-esteem). Impulsive buying behavior has been linked to a variety of psychological markers (such as spontaneity and lack of persistence) and general correlates (such as thrill-seeking and need for stimulation) (Hoch and Loewenstein; 1991). Impulsive buying behavior is also strongly associated with eating habits concerning unhealthy snack foods and thus eating problems. (Verplanken et al. ;2005)
From a rational view, buying something on impulse can be considered as something wrong, because the consumer has not researched and assessed the needs and therefore makes a non-rational decision. Impulsive buying behavior does not necessarily have to be problematic, but it is still often associated with a variety of negative traits and outcomes, such as the outcomes which are mentioned before (Hoch and Loewenstein; 1991).
From a more positive view, Hausman (2000) proposes that impulsive buying behavior is not always viewed as something negative. Impulsive buying behavior does satisfy needs, but mostly hedonic. It seems that impulsive buying behavior can be something fun, it can give a consumer positive feelings and a consumer can break out of a negative state of mind. Arnold and Reynolds (2003) distinguish six types of hedonic shopping motives. Impulsive buying behavior could fit adventure shopping, social shopping and gratification shopping. It could be something that is a thrill for a consumer, the consumer could look for excitement and get out of a bored mood. Social shopping could also be a motive, because shopping could be a social pleasure to get away from a stressful working day or simply a fun day out. Gratification shopping is another motive, someone could reward oneself also to relieve stress, relax or alleviate a negative mood. These types of hedonic shopping motives can be seen as emotion related and something positive that impulsive buying behavior brings.
Impulsive buying behavior is interesting because it has many different views. However, some views which are more negative could be a bit outdated. For example, Stern has written his article in the 60s and measured impulsive buying behavior at that time. Therefore, the negative, neutral and positive aspect should all be taken into consideration in this research. Also, the hedonic shopping motives will be taken into consideration. For example the motive to buy to make you feel better or to reward yourself can be appropriate. These are factors which will be used for further research.
2.3 FACTORS WHY PEOPLE BUY ON IMPULSE
13 The type of society is a factor that plays a role in impulsive buying behavior. Earlier research from Kacen and Lee (2002) suggests that members of an individualistic society may exhibit more impulsive consumption than members of collectivistic societies, this is because interdependent people are more motivated to suppress their impulses than members of individualistic societies. These interdependent people are less individualistic and more related to their social lives. Zhang and Shrum (2009) look at the possible influence of self-construal, both at the cultural and individual level, on impulsive consumption. Self-construal refers to how people perceive themselves to be linked or not to other people (Markus and Kitayama 1991). People with predominantly interdependent self-construals see themselves as a part of a larger group. The Netherlands is more an individualistic society, this type of country is for example characterized by characteristics such as less marriages, low fertility and empowerment of women (Schoenmaeckers and Lodewijckx; 1999). As consumers are more individualistic, they get to think less about their social image and the consequences. Their actions will not damage their social life that much in comparison to consumers in a collectivistic country. This would suggest that consumers from an individual country would buy more on impulse than consumers who live in a collectivistic country, thus impulsive buying behavior will be relatively high. The relation between culture orientation and impulsive buying behavior has been researched as well. The type of culture is also a factor that influences the type of people, thus independent or interdependent. An individualistic cultural orientation and an independent self-construal were positively correlated with consumers’ impulsive buying behavior (Kacen and Lee; 2002). This would suggest that in this research a quite high level of impulsive buying behavior can be expected in The Netherlands.
According to Ainslee (1975) there are three possibilities why people buy on impulse. The first explanation is that people give into an impulse because people do not understand the consequences of their behavior, the second is that people know that the consequences are bad, but feel impelled by another need and the third explanation is that people know the consequences but place too much weight upon satisfying present desires. This is in line with the opinions and views from many authors such as Rook and Fisher. They also involve the consequences from impulsive buying behavior in their articles.
Stern (1962) states that impulsive buying behavior is influenced by a variety of personality, time, location, economic and cultural factors. These factors can vary among different shoppers considering the purchase of the same item, but can also differ under buying situations. Stern mentions four factors that influence impulsive buying behavior, which are money, time, physical effort, such as walking or driving to the purchase location, mental effort, or scheduling the trip to the store and budgeting for the purchase. The author states that when buying is easy, that is when the expenditure of money, time, physical effort, or mental effort is small, there is a greater possibility that the purchase will be an impulse purchase. For this research, money can be an important aspect. As mentioned before, people nowadays have more money to spend and there is a larger chance that people will buy on impulse. Also, it could be possible that when products are on sale consumers will buy more of these products on sale, simply because it is cheaper. Further, the factors which are mentioned in the managerial relevance part can also be factors that influence consumers to buy on impulse, for example a positive environment (Rook; 1987) and low prices (Stern; 1962).
2.3.1 EMOTIONAL FACTORS WHY PEOPLE BUY ON IMPULSE
Impulsive buying behavior occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately. The impulse to buy is hedonically complex and may stimulate emotional conflict (Rook; 1987). This can be explained by Freud’s theory, Freud saw impulses as involving a struggle between two competing forces which are the pleasure and reality principle. Also, impulsive buying behavior is prone to occur with diminished regard for its consequences (Rook, 1987, p. 191).
Silvera et al. (2008) have investigated the role of affect, social influence and subjective well-being on impulsive buying behavior. Their results show that women score significantly higher than men on both the cognitive and affective subscales of the Impulse Buying Tendency Scale (IBTS). This scale is set up by Weun, Jones, and Beatty (1997) and this scale is defined as the “degree to which an individual is likely to make unintended, immediate, and unreflective purchases (i.e. impulse purchases). This scale is composed of five items and consists of affective and cognitive items. In this research, age is not a significant factor that moderates impulsive buying behavior. However, research from Kacen and Lee (2008) state from authors such as Eysenck et al. (1985) and Helmers et al. (1995) suggest that younger individuals score higher on impulsivity compared to older people.
15 with pressing psychological drives or states. This supports the research from Rook and Fisher (1995) as they state that impulsive buyers are likely to experience buying impulses more frequently and strongly than other consumers. This means that psychological states are important in impulsive buying behavior and these differences can affect this research.
This part also suggests that women score significantly higher on IBTS, this could mean that women are more likely to buy more on impulse. The difference in gender is an influence that will be taken into consideration. Also age could be an influencing factor, there are researches which suggest that younger people are more likely to act impulsively than older people.
2.3.2 MOOD
As mentioned above, there are different factors which influence impulsive buying behavior. Mood is also a factor that plays a role in this process. In this part different types of mood that can occur or influence impulsive buying behavior will be mentioned.
According to Sneath et al. (2008) depressive states, caused by loss of control and losses of possessions which contribute to stress, lead to impulsive buying behavior. This implies negative influences and thus a negative mood. Stress can also lead to drinking, eating unhealthy or gambling which are often related to impulsive buying behavior (O’Guinn and Faber; 1989, Vohs, Baumeister and Loewenstein; 2007).
Multiple studies have shown that not only negative moods trigger impulsive buying behavior, positive moods are likely to trigger impulsive buying behavior as well (Mick and Demoss, 1990; Rook and Gardener, 1993; Youn and Faber, 2000). In the research of Weinberg and Gottwald (1982), a field research was done and to compare groups, the authors divided an impulsive group of persons and a impulsive group of persons. This research found out that impulsive persons in comparison to non-impulsive persons in their experiment experienced significantly more interest, enthusiasm, joy, and glee, but less astonishment and indifferences than non-impulsive persons. The impulsive persons also assess themselves as significantly more amused, more delighted, and more enthusiastic than the non-impulsive group. When comparing these results, the self-perception of the non-impulsive person’s emotional behavior differed significantly from non-impulsive group. The main conclusions that can be drawn from the research of Weinberg and Gottwald is that impulsive buyers assess themselves as being more emotionalized than non-impulsive persons.
As said before, there is an element of fun involved in impulsive buying, but there is also evidence which suggests that impulsive buying behavior serves the function of satisfying unpleasant psychological states. For example, elevating a negative mood through gifts or sacrificing self-control and allowing oneself to make impulsive purchases (Mick and DeMoss, 1990 and Baumeister, 2002). Rook and Gardner (1993) have found relationships between impulsive buying behavior and both positive and negative mood states.
If someone’s mood is an important factor for buying on impulse, then it is important to know what someone’s mood is before they buy something on impulse. Therefore someone’s mood beforehand should be further investigated. Both negative and positive mood should be taken into account to create a representative research.
2.4 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Personalities from individuals also differ in the probability to buy on impulse. Youn and Faber (2000) have found that individuals being controlled are negatively related to impulsive buying behavior and individuals who are in general more impulsive, thus in contrast to being controlled, will be more likely to implement impulsive buying behavior. Impulsive buying behavior can cause an individual to feel temporarily out-of-control.
Many researchers have found that individual differences in impulsivity are explained as the differential accessibility of pleasure-seeking versus self-regulation goals. Moreover, research suggests that when situational factors inhibit activation of self-regulatory goals, people are more likely to behave impulsively. The difference between product choices occurs when resource constraints inhibit the activation of self-regulation goals for impulsive consumers (Vohs & Faber; 2007). This is not the case for non-impulsive consumers. Also, when people are induced to suppress a desire for a hedonic product, impulsive consumers increase their liking, but non-impulsive consumers decrease their liking, for the hedonic product over time (Zhang and Shrum; 2009).
Rook and Gardner (1993) have found evidence for individual differences which already exists in someone’s nature. It seems that individuals who have strong impulse buying tendencies are low in conscientiousness, autonomy, personal need for structure, and need to evaluate, but are high on extraversion and action orientation. (Dittmar and Drury, 2000; Hausman, 2000; Verplanken and Herabadi, 2001)
17 (2007) have used this measure for their research, this also involved a type of mood. Rook and Fisher (1995) have measured a person’s impulsivity with a nine-item Buying Impulsivity Scale (BIS). This scale can be used for this research to measure someone’s personality.
What can be concluded is that someone’s personality is a strong factor and someone’s mood can trigger impulsive buying behavior. Previous literature mentions that it is the environment and the individual differences that influence impulsive buying behavior. This means that individual differences are important in impulsive buying behavior and these differences can affect this research as well.
2.5 FOOD
Vohs and Faber (2007) mention that individual differences in impulsive consumption have been linked to differences in the motivation and ability to suppress or control momentary urges to seek short-term pleasure at the expense of long-term consequences. These authors use the term impulsive consumption, this can also be related to food consumption. Consumers could tend to overeat when they cannot resist the urge. Vohs and Faber (2007) have the same view as Verplanken et al. (2005), they mention that making impulsive purchases and eating (unhealthy) snacks are both a type of behavior that typically fits within this category that lead to short-term pleasure.
As mentioned before, stress can influence impulsive buying behavior, but also unhealthy eating. Verplanken et al. (2005) mention in their article that Oliver, Wardle, and Gibson (2000) found an increase in the intake of fatty and sweet snacks through stress. Tice et al. (2001) found the same results concerning eating unhealthy, they demonstrated that stress may lead to eating fattening snacks. A study from Mercer & Holder (1997) provides evidence for a relation in unhealthy food and a depressed and stressful mood. They mention that unhealthy snacking is also associated low self-esteem and emotional instability. Also, the authors expect that impulsive consumers are more likely to eat unhealthy as impulsive persons are particularly vulnerable to this food category.
Vohs and Faber (2007) have done research in consumer’s thoughts and feelings. In their research they have investigated the relation between impulsive buying behavior and a depleted mood. Their first outcome is when consumers are depleted, they are willing to pay more money for a product than when they are not. The depleted respondents in their research assigned significantly higher prices to 18 different products in comparison with the non-depleted respondents.To support the outcomes of Shiv and Fedorikhin (1999), Vohs and Faber have researched the difference between buying healthy or unhealthy products when respondents are depleted. Their outcomes did not suggest a difference. This would support the findings of Rook and Fisher’s findings, as they have concluded that impulsive buying behavior does not arise from a special product feature, but rather from within the consumer. Vohs and Faber (2009) propose that consumers in a depleted mood would choose for unhealthy food, but after their research, this proposition was not supported by their findings. Their view could suggest that when consumers are in a happy mood they would choose for healthy food. This could be interesting, because the proposition that a sad mood and the choice for unhealthy food and a happy mood and the choice for healthy food still sounds credible. Due to this idea, it can be interesting to investigate this topic further and to support one of these authors.
2.6
STUDY: THE INFLUENCE OF MOOD ON IMPULSIVE BUYING
BEHAVIOR AND TYPE OF SNACK
19 Another conclusion from the literature review was that many types of factors influence impulsive buying behavior. The most important factors which will be used in this research are age, gender and promotions. What also will be used is in how far consumers have bought something to make oneself feel better or to reward oneself and their overall satisfaction from their purchase.
There have been fewer authors who have measured a positive mood in relation to impulsive buying behavior. From the literature review, many authors write about the negative aspect from impulsive buying behavior, but there were also a few authors who suggest that a positive mood could contribute to impulsive buying behavior. These authors have mentioned that it is fun to buy something on impulse, consumers can relax and have a good time while shopping on impulse and it ultimately gives them pleasure. In this research a positive mood will be tested, this considers a consumer’s happy mood. Thus, do consumers buy more on impulse if they are happy? What could be expected is that consumers know that impulsive buying behavior brings them joy and therefore consumers will buy things on impulse while they are in a happy mood. What has not been investigated yet, is the relation of a positive mood to buying on impulse and the choice for healthy products. The tendency to buy on impulse is strongly related to the habit of eating snack foods (Verplanken et al.; 2005). Vohs and Faber (2007) have only investigated this concerning a depleted mood. Thus, in this research it will be questioned whether consumers will choose for healthy or unhealthy products while in a positive mood. To investigate this, it is also important to test other moods, which are neutral or negative. The research question of this paper is as follows: Does a positive mood influence impulsive buying behavior and snack choice?
2.7 HYPOTHESES
Many variables which might influence impulsive buying behavior are mentioned in the literature review. Age seemed to be a factor that could influence impulsive buying behavior. Eysenck et al. (1985) suggest that younger individuals score higher on impulsivity than older individuals. The next hypothesis will be set up:
Stern (1962) mentions four factors that influence impulsive buying behavior, one of these factors is money. The author states that when buying is easy, that is when the expenditure of money is low, there is a greater possibility that the purchase will be an impulse purchase. This could suggest that when products are on sale consumers will buy more of these products on sale, simply because it is cheaper. Therefore, the next hypothesis is set up:
Hypothesis 1: Younger individuals buy more on impulse than older individuals.
The personality from consumers seems to be an influence as well, some people tend to be more impulsive by nature than other people. Rook and Fisher (1995) have measured a person’s impulsivity with a nine-item Buying Impulsivity Scale (BIS). This scale can be used for this research to measure someone’s personality and to find out whether impulsive persons buy more on impulse than non-impulsive persons. This brings me to the following hypothesis:
What can be expected in this research is that consumers in a positive mood will probably buy more on impulse than consumers in a negative mood. Consumers in a positive mood can be considered as happy. This could mean that these consumers do not think about the bad things in their lives and buy something which brings them pleasure. Also, happy consumers could be more generous and willing to pay more for different products. The opposite is that happy consumers are more rational and that these consumers will probably only buy products if they really need it and when they have planned it beforehand. But after many positive outcomes, I suggest that a happy mood will cause more impulsive buying behavior. Therefore, the next hypothesis is set up:
Silvera et al. (2008) have found evidence that women score significantly higher than men on both the cognitive and affective subscales of the Impulse Buying Tendency Scale (IBTS). This would suggest that women will buy more on impulse than men.
The reason for buying on impulse can differ as well. Arnold and Reynolds (2003) have distinguished hedonic shopping motives. It could be interesting to find out whether this motive to buy influences impulsive buying behavior in this research. What will be used is in how far consumers have bought something to make oneself feel better or to reward oneself.
Hypothesis 3: Consumers with a high BIS buy more on impulse than consumers with a lower BIS.
Hypothesis 4: Mood influences impulsive buying behavior.
Hypothesis 5: Women buy more on impulse than men.
Hypothesis 6: Consumers are more likely to buy on impulse to make themselves feel better than for no reason.
21 Considering the snacks, a negative mood or negative affect triggers overeating and eating unhealthy (Spoor et al.; 2007). Also, eating unhealthy is related to stress and depressed states (Oliver, Wardle, and Gibson ;2000). This suggests a negative mood as well. And this is in line with the idea that people in a negative mood would eat unhealthy. This could mean that a positive mood suggests eating healthy. The research of Armitage et al. (1998) suggest that a positive mood moderates health related behavior in food choice. Lyman (1982) has shown in his article a greater tendency to consume healthy foods during positive emotions and a greater tendency in unhealthy food during negative emotions. Therefore, I expect that respondents in a happy mood will choose healthy snacks. The main hypothesis includes both mood and type of food:
Another important aspect what came forward in the literature review is a consumer’s personality. If a person is more impulsive by nature, it can be expected that this person will buy more on impulse. The nine-item scale from Rook and Fisher (1995) can be used for this, this is the Buying Impulsivity Scale (BIS). This can measure someone’s personality and correct for mood or other factors. This brings me to the last main hypothesis:
To test the hypotheses a field research and an experiment will be conducted. Rook and Gardner (1993) mention that impulsive buying behavior is most often measured in the context of a shopping environment, therefore an experiment could make this research more interesting. Both methods have pros and cons and by using both methods, uncertainties can be lowered. The methods can be seen as a control mechanism for each other. If both methods have the same significant outcome, these methods can support each other and then I have more evidence to support the hypotheses. First, a pretest will be done to choose the healthy and unhealthy snacks.
Hypothesis 9: A consumer with a high BIS buys more on impulse than a consumer with a low BIS and is more likely to choose for unhealthy food than for healthy food.
3.
PRETEST
A pretest had to be performed as there are healthy and unhealthy snacks needed to make this research possible. First the method will be mentioned and this chapter will end with the results from the pretest.
3.1 Method
In this research, the influence of impulsive buying behavior on healthy and unhealthy food was investigated. Therefore, it was important to find out what consumers think which products are healthy and which products are unhealthy. The goal of this pretest was to find out which snacks could be used in the field research and the experiment. This pretest concludes four types of snacks which the respondents can choose from in the field research and experiment. This would mean that respondents have the choice between two healthy snacks and two unhealthy snacks.
First of all, it was important to add more levels to this subject. If a product was rated healthy, but no consumer would choose the product, this would mean that the snacks would not have been chosen, because consumers simply do not like the snack. Also, if a consumer rates a snack as healthy, it would not mean that this consumer would eat this snack. Therefore, the usage and how much the snacks are liked by consumers had to be taken into consideration. Other levels which were added to this research are the package sizes from the snacks, this because it could be expected that consumers would choose the largest product for their benefit. In total, three types of questions are considered for every snack. Beforehand, I had taken into consideration ten types of snacks. In my opinion, there were five healthy snacks and five unhealthy snacks. The data was obtained through online questionnaires. Respondents had the choice to rate the snacks in a scale from 1 to 7. The snacks were chosen by the ones which were perceived as most unhealthy, most liked and most consumed, these are the unhealthiest snacks. And for the healthiest snacks, these were chosen by most healthy rated, most liked and most consumed. This will give a representation of the snacks which can be used in this research.
The first question from the pretest was in how far a respondent liked a snack. The second question was in how far respondents think that the snack is healthy. In both these questions respondents could indicate their opinion in a 7-point Likert scale. This would mean that the higher the score, the tastier and healthier the snack. The last question considered how many times a respondent consumed a snack, this question gave five possible answers.
3.2 Results pretest
23 Tastiness Healthiness Consumption
Sultana 4.1 (1.53) 4.8 (1.24) At least 50% consumes once a month
Apple 5.2 (1.56) 6.8 (.45) The average consumption of an apple is once or twice a week
Mars 4.7 (1.59) 2 (.73) 47% once a month or more, 53% less than once a month
KitKat 4.8 (1.42) 2.7 (.77) 47% once a month or more, 53% less than once a month
Table 1: The average outcomes and standard deviations from the chosen snacks
The outcomes for the healthy snacks were quite obvious. It seemed that a few healthy snacks, such as raisins and rice waffles, were hardly consumed and therefore could not be used for this research. Liga was not that liked in contrast to a Sultana or an apple.
The method is nominal, because there are four different types of snacks and the scores which are given are on a scale of 1 to 7, this means that this variable is on an interval level. Therefore, One-Way ANOVA tests have been conducted to find out if there are significant differences between the mean scores from all four snacks. By conducting One-Way ANOVA tests, I found out that there are significant differences concerning tastiness from all four snacks, the F-values are far above 1 and p < .05. Considering the healthiness, all snacks differed significantly from each other. The healthiest snacks scored an average score of 4.8 and 6.8 on a scale of 1 to 7. Therefore, the Sultana’s and apples are chosen to use for the healthy snacks. All outcomes are significant, because p < .05. More specific outcomes are shown in Appendix I.
4.
RESEARCH DESIGN FIELD RESEARCH
In this field research, the hypothesis “Mood influences impulsive buying behavior and snack choice” was tested. The field research was done in a shopping street and respondents were randomly chosen to answer questions about their purchase. Only shoppers with a shopping bag were questioned whether they had bought something which they not intended to buy. After this, this group was asked several questions about for example, their purchase, their mood and their personality. I expected that respondents in a positive mood would buy more on impulse than respondents in a negative mood and that the positive group is more likely to choose for healthy food than the negative group. There was another group needed for a group in between, this was the neutral group.
4.1 Method
This part will mention the sample and data collection. After that, the procedure and measurement will be mentioned and this paragraph ends up with an explanation about the composition of the mood groups.
4.1.1 Sample and data collection
A total of 80 respondents were surveyed during two Mondays in July, both between 12.00 o’clock and 18.00 o’clock. The response rate was around 20 percent, refusals were mostly too busy to answer the questions. Eight respondents did not buy on impulse, these respondents did not fill in the questionnaire.
4.1.2 Procedure and measurement
A field study was conducted in a regional city center of Amsterdam. Shoppers with a shopping bag were recruited randomly and were asked whether or not they had bought something on impulse. The shoppers who bought something on impulse were asked to answer other questions from the questionnaire. The number of shoppers who did not buy anything on impulse was also written down, there were eight persons out of eighty who did not buy something on impulse, this means that 10% did not buy something on impulse. This shows how many people bought on impulse in proportion to non-impulsive buyers. Only respondents who bought on impulse were questioned, because three groups were needed in a type of mood, these were positive, neutral or negative. All these mood groups had to be respondents who bought on impulse, otherwise the influence of mood on impulsive buying behavior could not have been measured.
25 “In what type of mood were you before you bought something on impulse?”. Most questions were asked in a 7-point Likert Scale and some of the questions were nominal, with the possibility of “yes” or “no”. There were also open questions, these mostly considered mood. The questions are shown in Appendix III. Afterwards, the respondents were rewarded with a snack which could have been healthy or unhealthy. These snacks were chosen during the pretest. The type of snack which was chosen by the participant was also written down. Only the 72 respondents who participated in the entire field research were used for further research. These respondents received the questionnaire by mail about their personalities. They were contacted a week after the first meeting to find out if they were still satisfied with the product. They were told to answer the question about their satisfaction and to fill in some questions about their personality. The participant had to fill in the Buying Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) from Rook and Fisher (1995). This had to function as a control method to correct for differences in personalities. The statements were questioned in a 7-point Likert scale. Statements such as “Sometimes I feel like buying things on the spur-of-the-moment” and “I buy things according to how I feel at the moment” were part of the questionnaire. These questions and statements are shown in Appendix IV. For the respondents who did not fill in the questionnaire, a reminder was sent two weeks after the first email. After sending the personality questionnaire, there were in total 39 fully completed questionnaires. This means that the response rate was over 50% percent.
4.1.3 Mood groups
27
5 RESULTS FIELD RESEARCH
First a factor analysis and a reliability analysis are conducted. After that the general results will be mentioned. And then all variables which could influence impulsive buying behavior or snack choice will be described together with the outcomes of the statistical tests.
5.1 Factor Analysis
Firstly, a factor analysis was done with the nine items from the Buying Impulsiveness Scale. This analysis is conducted to find out if the items score high enough on their factor loadings, thus this is a confirmative factor analysis. The scale has been used many times by different authors such as Vohs & Faber (2007). Therefore it is less important to know what the underlying construct is from the components. What can be concluded from the communalities table is that there are three items which have a low score, these are all below .5. Three components explain over 60 percent of the total variance. The component matrix shows that only item 8 has a low score at all three components. All other items have a score above .5 in at least one of the components. After rotation, item 8 still has the lowest score. According to this analysis, this item can be left out for further research. The tables are shown in Appendix V. What is coincedental, is that the only reversed item, which was item 8 had a score lower than .5.
5.2 Reliability Analysis
After conducting the reliability analysis, it seems that when item 8 is left out, Cronbach’s Alpha does not get a higher score. When using all items, Cronbach’s Alpha has a value of .665 and after deleting item 8, Cronbach’s Alpha has a value of .664. What can be concluded from this reliability analysis is that Cronbach’s Alpha has a higher score when using all nine items. However, factor analysis shows that it is not necessary to use all items. I have chosen to use all nine items as it scores a higher Cronbach’s Alpha and also because many other authors have used this BIS. Therefore, these nine items can still be seen as reliable, but not quite high.
5.3 General results
The field research was conducted to accomplish sub goals and a main goal. Firstly, the results from the sub goals will be mentioned.
I have hypothesized that the happier a respondent’s mood was, the more the respondent would buy on impulse and the higher the chance a respondent would choose for healthy food. Before testing this hypothesis, other factors were tested first to see if there were other significant results.
In the next table all means and standard deviations are shown from the included variables. This is made up to get a clear view from the differences between the mood groups. This is done by selecting cases and analyzing descriptives. Thus, only the percentages from the neutral group and the positive group will be mentioned. Later on, these outcomes will be specified and differences in impulsive buying behavior will be mentioned.
Variable Neutral group Positive group
Age 32.81 (10.55) 27.1 (9.56)
Promotion Yes: 56,3%
No: 43,8%
Yes: 56,3% No: 43,8%
Impulsive Buying Tendency 32.13 (5.86) 36.12 (6.28)
Amount spent €54,- (65.77) €67,38 (65.41)
Type of purchase Clothing: 75%
Other: 25% Clothing: 81,3% Other: 18,8% Gender Male: 12,5% Female: 87,5% Male: 43,8% Female: 56,3% Buy something to reward
yourself
3.81 (2.14) 3.19 (1.80)
Buy something to make you feel better
3.75 (1.77) 4.31 (1.96)
Snack choice Healthy: 50%
Unhealthy: 50%
Healthy: 25% Unhealthy: 75% Satisfaction after purchase
Satisfaction one week after purchase
5.69 (.95) 4.94 (1.44)
5.94 (1.00) 5.75 (1.29)
Table 2: Variables and their means and standard deviations per mood group
29 means that 90 percent of the respondents bought something on impulse. This percentage is relatively high and therefore also what I expected. This could also be due to the nice weather and the holidays in The Netherlands. This could cause consumers to buy more as they are in a good mood. From all respondents, only one respondent claimed to be in a negative mood. This outcome does support the hypothesis as the hypothesis proposes that a happy mood moderates impulsive buying behavior. The field research was conducted during two days with nice weather, it was around 22 degrees.
5.4 The influence of mood
First all results will be mentioned concerning mood. This is a more specified description which is based on the outcomes of table 2.
5.4.1 Mood and impulsive buying behavior
My expectations were that the positive group would spend more than the neutral group, this is hypothesis 4. Table 2 shows that the neutral group spent on average €54,- and the positive group spent on average €67,38. By conducting an Independent-samples t-test, I found out that the different mood groups did not differ significantly in their amount spent (t = .08, p > .05).
5.4.2 Mood and type of purchase
The respondents mostly bought clothing, therefore the type of purchase was coded as clothing or other. From all respondents, 78.1% bought clothing. A Chi-Square-test showed that there was no significant difference between the mood groups (χ2 = .18, p > .05). This means that there is not a mood group that bought more clothing or other products.
5.4.3 Mood and “buy to make you feel better” and “buy to reward yourself”
5.4.4 Mood and snack choice
The main goal from the field research was to find out if a positive mood would contribute to impulsive buying behavior and ultimately the choice for healthy foods, which is hypothesis 8. I expected that a positive mood influences impulsive buying behavior and the choice for healthy foods. In this part only the influence of mood on snack choice will be tested. I hypothesized that respondents who are in a positive mood will choose for healthy food. From the Chi-Square-test, I found out that the field research did not support this hypothesis (χ2 = 2.13, p>.05) This test shows that the choice for healthy food was not significant. The statistical test is shown in Appendix IV.
5.4.5 Mood and satisfaction
The first part from this paragraph shows whether the satisfaction from the respondents has changed between the time just after their purchase and one or two weeks after the purchase. The second part of this paragraph shows whether mood influences the satisfaction of the respondents.
The satisfaction from respondents was measured as well. This was measured just after their purchase and also one to two weeks after their purchase. Respondents could give a score from 1 to 7 in how far they were satisfied with their purchase. The average score from the respondents just after their purchase is 5.81 (SD = .97). The average score on satisfaction after one to two weeks was 5.34 (SD = 1.41). This score shows that the average satisfaction has decreased. To find out if this change is significant, a regression analysis is conducted. The satisfaction from the respondents just after the purchase and the satisfaction one or two weeks after were compared to each other. This test shows that this is a significant difference (t = 2.43, p < .05). This could suggest that an impulsive purchase does not necessarily give higher satisfaction on the long run. The results are shown in Appendix IV.
To find out if there is a difference between the mood groups and their satisfaction, an Independent-samples t-test was conducted. The satisfaction just after the purchase will be mentioned first. The test showed that there was no difference between the mood groups and their satisfaction (t = .73, p> .05). There was also no difference concerning the mood groups and the satisfaction afterwards (t = 1.68, p > .05). This means that there is no difference between the mood groups and that a particular mood does not give a higher satisfaction.
5.4.6 Conclusion mood
31
5.5 The influencing factors on impulsive buying behavior
After mentioning the influences of mood on different aspects. Now the influencing factors on impulsive buying behavior will be mentioned.
5.5.1 Impulsive buying behavior and age
However, I expected that younger individuals would buy more on impulse than older individuals, but a regression analysis showed that age did not have a significant influence on impulsive buying behavior ( F = 1.27, p > .05). This means that younger individuals did not buy more on impulse.
5.5.2 Impulsive buying behavior and promotion
I expected a difference concerning the promotion variable. Hypothesis 2 suggests that if there is a promotion, respondents would buy more on impulse. Thus, overall I expected that there would be a significant majority who bought on impulse concerning products on sale. The percentages were as follows:
Promotion Percentage
Yes 56.3
No 43.8
Table 3: Percentage respondents who bought on sale
The table above shows that there were more respondents who bought on sale. By conducting a One-Sample t-test, I found out that the difference is also significant (t = 4.91, p < .05). This means that the field research supports hypothesis 2, there are more products bought on sale.
5.5.3 Impulsive buying behavior and gender
Considering gender, there was also no significant influence between the neutral group and positive group (F = .03, p > .05). An Independent-samples t-test has been conducted to find this out. The literature part suggested that women would buy more on impulse than men, but this is not supported in this field research. This means that hypothesis 5 cannot be confirmed in this research.
5.5.4 Impulsive buying behavior and personality
Fisher (1995); the higher the score of a respondent, the more impulsive a respondent is. I expected that the impulsive group would buy more on impulse, but this is not confirmed by the field research.
5.5.5 Impulsive buying behavior and snack choice
This part is set up to find out if impulsive buying behavior influences snack choice. A regression analysis is conducted and the test showed that impulsive buying behavior does not influence snack choice (F = 1.73, p > .06). This means that when a respondent had spent more money, the person is not more likely to choose for healthy food.
5.6 The influence of personalities
Now the influences of personalities will be mentioned. These are the scores concerning the nine-item BIS from Rook and Fisher (1995). This paragraph will show whether personality influences other aspects or whether other aspects influence personality.
5.6.1 Personalities and age
The first hypothesis concerns age. What I found out after conducting a regression analysis is that age has an influence on respondents’ impulsivity. This research shows that when respondents are older, they are more impulsive than younger respondents (F = 6.89, p < .05). This is not what I expected. I expected younger respondents to spend more on their purchases than older respondents. This means that older persons are more impulsive, but (paragraph 5.5.1) they did not buy more on impulse.
5.6.2 Personalities and snack choice
To find out if someone’s personality influences snack choice, a regression analysis is conducted. I expected that impulsive persons were more likely to choose for unhealthy snacks. However, this test showed that there is no difference in impulsivity and the choice for snacks (F = .26, p > .05). This means that a respondent’s impulsiveness does not influence snack choice.
5.7 Impulsive buying behavior, mood and personalities
This paragraph includes two variables, which are mood and BIS, and the influence on impulsive buying behavior. This part showes whether these variables together have a significant influence on impulsive buying behavior.
33 the lowest score is the group who is not impulsive and the second group is the impulsive group of persons. Now it is possible to conduct a Two-Way ANOVA-test. By conducting a Two-Way ANOVA-test I have looked for a main effect from respondents’ personality and respondents’ mood on impulsive buying behavior. Also, I expected an interaction effect between respondents’ personality and respondents’ mood. The test showed that there was no main effect from respondents’ personality (F = 1.78, p > .05) and neither on respondents’ mood (F = 0.05, p > .05) There was no interaction effect found between the two variables (F = .02, p > .05). This means that there are no significant influences of the different mood groups concerning spent amount, neither was there a significant influence of the impulsive group and non-impulsive group concerning spent amount. And what also can be concluded is that someone’s mood together with someone’s impulsiveness does not have an influence on the spent amount as well. The statistical tests are shown in Appendix IV.
6 DISCUSSION FIELD RESEARCH
The field research was set up to find out if someone’s mood would influence impulsive buying behavior and the choice of snacks. I expected that a respondent in a positive mood would buy more on impulse and would choose for healthy snacks. However, this field research did not support this idea. There are different aspects which could have influenced this result. These will be mentioned in this discussion.
The results I obtained from this field research indicates that someone who is in happy mood does not buy more on impulse, as their spent amounts do not differ per mood group. The results indicate that a person’s personality concerning impulsiveness does not influence the spent amount as well and therefore will not buy more on impulse. I expected that a person who is more impulsive would spend more on purchases. However, this field research did not show any differences between a person’s impulsivity and their impulsive buying behavior. This research suggests that impulsive persons are not more likely to buy more on impulse and are not more likely to choose for healthy snacks.
An explanation for the impulsiveness could be the way how persons have rated their impulsiveness. This would concern Cronbach’s Alpha. Cronbach’s Alpha had a score of .665 with nine items. This can be seen as reliable but not that high. An explanation for this could be that there were 32 respondents. A larger amount of respondents could have made the items more reliable. The questionnaire was sent a week after the questioning on the street. It could have been an entire different setting. It could have been that the respondents were sitting behind their desk and doing multiple tasks at one time. Or that they just did not care that much about the questionnaire and filled in the questionnaire fast and not with attention and care. Concerning the factor analysis, I expected that all items would have a high score on one of the components as the BIS is a scale which is used more often and can be seen as reliable. It is quite coincidental that only item 8 has a low score. Especially because item 8 is an item which had to be recoded. This is the only item which had to be recoded from all nine items, because this statement was questioned opposed. Thus the lower the score, the more impulsive that person would be. However, all other eight items were questionned as follows: the higher the score, the more impulsive that person would be.
35 The satisfaction from the respondents just after the purchase was significantly higher than one or two weeks after the purchase. This could support findings from Rook (1987) as this author mentions that impulsive buying behavior is characterized by quick acting and this author defines impulsive buying behavior as something which fulfills a short-term need without considering the long-term consequenses. The satisfaction shows a decrease and this would suggest that consumers did not consider the long-term consequenses and may have acted too quick.
Other aspects which could have influenced impulsive buying behavior or snack choice were not significant. The literature showed that mostly women would buy more on impulse than men. Also, respondents with a high BIS would buy more on impulse and it could have been possible that respondents would buy more on impulse to make themselves feel better or to reward themselves than for no reason. This because I found out in the literature review that these are hedonic shopping motives. However, all these aspects were not supported by the field research. This field research also suggests that a person who acts impulsively in general, does not necessarily act impulsive in a shopping situation.
The results from the field research indicate that a person who is in a positive mood will not buy more on impulse and is not more likely to choose for healthy foods. This outcome is in relation to the neutral group. It could be that the weather and the time of year had influenced consumers’ mood. At the time of the study, it was the Dutch summer holiday. This could explain the minor presence of respondents who were in a negative mood. Also, the weather could have influenced respondents’ mood. The sun was shining and it was around 22 degrees. This could have influenced the mood of the respondents positively. As there were not enough respondents who were in a negative mood, this group could not be tested. Only the differences between the neutral group and the happy group were tested. If there had been a negative group, there could be the possibility that the outcomes could differ.
37
7 RESEARCH DESIGN EXPERIMENT
This experiment was set up to accomplish the same goals as the field research. The experiment functions as a control mechanism for the field research. If the experiment provides the same outcomes for the main hypotheses as the field research, then there will be more evidence to reject the hypotheses. I already mentioned that I still believe in the expectations which were drawn from the literature review, therefore in this experiment I expect respondents who are in a negative mood to assign lower prices to products, and respondents in a happier mood to assign higher prices to products. I also expect that respondents in a happy mood are more likely to choose for healthy snacks. However, this would contradict the field research.
7.1 Method
