Chapter Six: Discussion
Appendix 1: Study Introduction
Dear participant,
Thank you very much for choosing to participate in this study on decision making
in a consumption environment. It is important for us to understand what makes
consumers decide to participate in certain consumption activities; hence we
appreciate your honest opinion. Please answer all questions to the best of your
ability. There are no wrong or right answers. The following questionnaire will
take between 10-15 minutes to complete and it is important you complete it in
full. In doing so, you have the chance to win a $50 Prezzie Voucher. Your
responses are completely anonymous and will be kept confidential. The results of
this study will be reported in the form of a Master’s Thesis and future academic
articles. If you choose to participate in this study, you have the right to:
Refuse to answer any question
Withdraw from the survey at any time until you have completed and submitted the survey
Ask further questions about the study that arise during your participation in the study
Be given access to a summary of the findings upon the conclusion of the study (please send an email to the email address below to request these
130 Once again, thank you for your participation.
Talia East Dr Alexandra Hess
[email protected] [email protected]
Department of Marketing
Waikato Management School
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton, New Zealand
Please click >>> to begin
On the next page, you will see a retail scenario. Try to imagine yourself in this
scenario as if it were a real life situation. Please read the text carefully as it will
not be repeated again.
Once you have read the scenario, select the >>> button to move through the
131 Appendix 2: Study Conclusion
Thank you very much for your time.
If you are interested in the findings of this study, or have any questions regarding
your participation, please contact Talia East at the following address:
Please click the SUBMIT button to finish and submit this questionnaire. If you
132 Appendix 3: Experimental Conditions
Poor v Control
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing, holding items vastly below what you can afford to
spend.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
There is a sales person behind the counter organising some stock.
Poor v Helped
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing, holding items vastly below what you can afford to
spend.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
You attempt to gain the attention of the sales person. The sales assistant rushes
over to you and is happy to help answer your queries.
Poor v Rejected
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
133
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing, holding items vastly below what you can afford to
spend.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
You attempt to gain the attention of the sales person. The sales assistant ignores
you and chooses to help the other shopper instead.
Rich v Control
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing, holding items vastly beyond what you can afford to
spend.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
There is a sales person behind the counter organising some stock.
Rich v Helped
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing, holding items vastly beyond what you can afford to
134
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
You attempt to gain the attention of the sales person. The sales assistant rushes
over to you and is happy to help answer your queries.
Rich v Rejected
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing, holding items vastly beyond what you can afford to
spend.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
You attempt to gain the attention of the sales person. The sales assistant ignores
you and chooses to help the other shopper instead.
Control v Control
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
There is a sales person behind the counter organising some stock.
135
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
You attempt to gain the attention of the sales person. The sales assistant rushes
over to you and is happy to help answer your queries.
Control v Rejected
Imagine you need to shop for new headphones. You take a trip to a local
electronics store. You find a pair of headphones that would fit your needs
perfectly and you like them very much. When continuing to shop, you notice
another shopper browsing.
You would like a closer look at the headphones and decide you need assistance.
You attempt to gain the attention of the sales person. The sales assistant ignores
136 Appendix 4: Questionnaire
140 Appendix 5: Post-Hoc Analysis for Moderators
Self-Esteem
A one-way ANAVO revealed a significant difference between the self-esteem
ratings of the three shop assistant groups (F(2, 118) = 25.8, p = .000). Scheffe post
hoc analysis showed that the means for the helped group (M = 27.06, SD = 4.99)
were significantly larger than the rejected group (M = 18.06, SD = 6.28) and the
control group (M = 22.4, SD = 6.45) (p = .000 and p = .004 respectively). The
difference between the rejected group and the control group was also significant
(p = .008; see Figure 13).
Reactance
There was a significant difference between the three shop assistant groups for the
variable reactance (F(2, 104) = 3.49, p = .034). Scheffe post hoc analysis revealed
that the control group (M = 18, SD = 4.03) was significantly different from the
rejected group (M = 15.2, SD = 4.78) (p = .036). Helped (M = 16.58, SD = 3.52)
did not significantly differ from rejected (p = .371) or the control group (p = .405;
see Figure 14).
Situational Feelings for the Wealth Groups
A one-way ANOVA revealed that there was a marginal difference within the three
wealth groups for the variable embarrassment (F(2, 92) = 2.49, p = .088). Scheffe
post hoc analysis showed that the control group (M = 2.97, SD = 1.42) was
marginally lower than the poor group (M = 3.79, SD = 1.54) (p = .092). Rich (M =
3.24, SD = 1.37) was not significantly different from control (p = .744) or poor (p
141 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 M e an s o f Sel f- Este e m