An empirical study on the impacts of retail agglomeration image on customer citizenship behavior

Abstract

Retail agglomeration is critical for the development and prosperity of modern metropolis, commodity distribution center and industrial park. According to M-R model and cognitive-affective-behavior theory, retail agglomeration image is the important factor leading to customers' buying behavior and loyalty. Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS7.0 was employed to explore the mediation mechanism of consumer emotion and identification between retail agglomeration image and customer citizenship behavior in this paper. The empirical result shows that consumer identification acts as partial mediator, while customer emotion has no significant direct effect on customer citizenship behavior but indirect effect via customer identification. In other words, consumer emotion and identification act as chain multiple mediating effects. For business operation, this paper reveals an inner impact mechanism of retail agglomeration image on customer citizenship behavior, significantly contributing to customer relationship management especially customer loyalty management.