Demystifying hedonic shopping motivation and consumer buying behavior during the post-global pandemic: evidence from a developing country

Abstract

ABSTRACT The recent hit global pandemic brought a paradigm change in consumer buying behavior worldwide. The present study aims to investigate the influence of hedonic motivation on post-pandemic consumer behavior. Data collected from 1163 respondents from the urban population in southern India were analyzed. First, the psychometric properties of the survey instrument were checked using LISREL software of structural equation modeling (SEM), and then path analysis was done to test hypothesized relationships. For double moderation, Hayes PROCESS macros were used. The results indicate that (i) hedonic happiness and hedonic fun are positively related to hedonic shopping value (HSV), (ii) HSV is positively associated with impulsive buying tendency (IBT), (iii) pandemic cues are positively associated with compulsive buying tendency (CBT), (iv) IBT and CBT are positively associated with e-purchase, and (v) e-purchase is positively related to customer satisfaction. The results also support that (a) perceived enjoyment moderated the relationship between HSV and IBT, (b) perceived usefulness (second moderator) moderated the moderated relationship between perceived enjoyment (first moderator) and HSV in influencing IBT. The implications for marketing theory and practice are discussed.