Patronage, only for happiness? – An analysis on Coexistence of Multiple Consumption Emotions

Abstract

Consumption emotion is the perceived feeling of customers when they use products or enjoy service. This feeling can exist for a long time in the minds of consumers and influence their purchase decisions. Consumption emotion falls into three categories, namely positive emotion, negative emotion and neutral emotion. During consuming process, customers may experience a variety of emotions. So it is natural to wonder how these emotions influence decision-making of customers when they coexist. Based on previous studies, this research proposes hypotheses and collects 756 valid data with questionnaire method applied. With employment of multiple linear regression models, hypotheses are verified to draw the final conclusions. Positive and neutral emotions can exert significantly positive effect on patronage intention, while negative emotion significantly affects patronage intention in a negative way. Meanwhile, negative influence on patronage intention is conspicuously reflected from interaction of positive and neutral emotions. Interaction of negative and neutral emotions does not generate obvious effect on patronage intention. However, positive effect on patronage intention is observed in interaction of positive and negative emotions. In different retail formats, interaction of consumption emotions exerts different influence on consumers. According to research results, in real business management, negative emotion of customers does not necessarily lead to worse consequence. Customer satisfaction can still be obtained if it is possible for them to experience positive emotion from other aspects.