Investigating post-purchase dissonance within the grocery shopping context: A study using virtual reality simulation

• Main Authors: Agustin, John Cyrill P., Regala, Adrian Nicole A., Silang, Racelle S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Subjects: Grocery shopping; Customer services; Customer relations; Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/7885
• Institution: De La Salle University

According to Festinger (1957), cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a discrepancy exists between what a person believes and his actions. Cognitive dissonance occurs when the action taken by the customer is not in line with the belief where the conflict manifests through the form of regret. In the shopping context in grocery stores, cognitive dissonance can be experienced in the post-purchase stage, where a customer tends to recall a certain aspect of his or her shopping experience to substantiate the experience as well as the purchases made. However, previous studies have not considered the effect of cognitive dissonance, caused by the service encounters namely salesperson responsiveness and assortment variety on future repatronage intentions, and positive affect search to reduce it. The study aims to determine how cognitive dissonance manifests in the post purchase stage of grocery shopping by investigating its causal factors on the service encounter, particularly salesperson responsiveness and assortment variety. It aims to give importance to time as a limited resource consumed by shoppers and it's bearing on cognitive dissonance in the post purchase stage. Moreover, it aims to discover the shopper's response when it comes to feelings of dissonance by looking at their patronage intentions. Retailers can use the outcomes of the study to determine and further understand the factors that affect dissonance, thus providing retailers notion on how to minimize feelings of regret and maintain repatronage intentions. The experimental set-up requires the use of the virtual grocery store, preassembled in software called, Vizard. There are two independent variables, salesperson responsiveness and assortment variety, manipulated inside the virtual grocery store to distinctly show the different setting. Participants are immersed in the virtual grocery store and they are provided with a shopping tasks and list of products to find in the virtual grocery store. Four dependent variables are observed-- time spent shopping, cognitive dissonance, positive-affect search and repatronage intentions. The dependent variables are measured using a post-survey questionnaire adapted, while the actual time spent shopping was also measured using a stopwatch. A regression equation is used in order to determine the relationship between the dependent variables and their correlation. This approach was applied because the equation could straight forwardly show the predictive behavior of both the dependent and independent variables by means of predicting future outcomes of the independent variable, assortment and salesperson responsiveness, to the dependent variables. Results indicate that both the independent variables have significant relationship with the dependent variable (time spent shopping). Both assortment variety and salesperson responsiveness was found to have a positive and negative correlation with the time shoppers spent in the store. By considering the view of the retailer, high assortment positively affects the time shoppers spend in the store by prolonging their stay since they are provided with plenty of choices whereas a high salesperson responsiveness may support customer's decision by providing information on the product the customer is desiring to buy. However, it is also shown that both have a negative correlation with the time spent shopping of customers since at high levels of the independent variables, the effects can bring prolonged time for customers in the store and could manifest dissonance at the post purchase stage due to the choices they make while the greater their feelings of post-purchase dissonance. Hence post-purchase dissonance is then negatively correlated with repatronage intention, with positive affect search acting as a mediating variable between their relationships. With the help of these findings, grocery owners or retailers can be aware of what drives customer repatronage in the grocery setting. Experiencing post purchase dissonance involves all the activities the shopper encounters after purchase that may negatively draw effects on the levels of customer satisfaction. In order to minimize the effects of post purchase dissonance to customer patronage, retailers must incorporate opportunities for shoppers that can substantiate their final decision. Additionally, focus must be given on the utilitarian needs of shoppers so as to facilitate a faster and more effortless shopping experience, given the large number of alternatives provided. Future researchers can exploit the advantages of using virtual reality to perform experiments, and expand on the study of cognitive dissonance by considering affective design as a dissonance reduction strategy.