The mediating effect of consumers’ price level perception and emotions towards supermarkets

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to reveal the impact of consumers’ price sensitivity on their purchase intention within the scope of supermarkets. Besides, the study aims to examine the impact of consumers’ price sensitivity on their price perception level and emotions and the impact of consumers’ price level perception and emotions toward supermarkets on their purchase intention. It also aims to detect the mediating effects of consumers’ price level perception and emotions toward supermarkets between their price sensitivity and purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachThe quota sampling method was used to form the study sample. The population was 20–69-year-old consumers. The study sample included 513 consumers, 276 of whom were men, and 237 of whom were women. Data were collected via a questionnaire by the researchers in Mersin’s (Turkey) five central counties. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation models were used to analyze data.FindingsConsumers’ price sensitivity, perception of cheapness, perception of expensiveness and positive emotions toward supermarkets affect their purchase intention. Besides, price sensitivity affects their perception of cheapness while it does not affect their perception of expensiveness. It influences negative emotions, but not on positive emotions. Consumers’ perception of cheapness and perception of expensiveness have impacts on positive emotions toward supermarkets. It was additionally discovered that perception of cheapness and perception of expensiveness affected negative emotions toward supermarkets. A contributed finding was that perception of cheapness had a partial mediating role between price sensitivity and purchase intention.Practical implicationsThe study provides managerial implications in terms of understanding consumers’ behavioral changes, developing effective pricing strategies and achieving competitive advantages over the other retailing companies.Originality/valueThe study illustrates that consumer behavior can be explained by a theoretical construct considering the price perception levels and emotions toward supermarkets in examining the effect of consumers’ price sensitivity on their purchase intention. Therefore, it contributes to explain consumers’ behavior by bringing the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model into a theoretical construct.

Influence of Utilitarian Motivation, Ideal Self-Concept, and Perception of Consumers on Intention to Use Islamic Banking Products

“…Trust has a positive effect on the Intention to Use (Cakici & Tekeli, 2021) stated that perception affects intention because consumers can differentiate between good and bad products. Individual perceptions of the product can describe it as a whole, thereby enabling comparison (Roth et al, 2017).…”

“…This finding is in line with previous research by (Dean et al, 2021), which showed a significant positive relationship between trust and intention to use. (Roth et al, 2017) and (Cakici & Tekeli, 2021) stated that higher perceptions result in lower intentions. The research revealed that when consumers have good knowledge, their perception of risk is reduced, with an increase in intentions and vice versa.…”

Cognitive, emotional and inferential paths from price perception to buying intention in an integrated brand price image model

“…The theoretical framework of this study integrates different research streams, such as research on retail price images (Graciola et al 2018;Hamilton and Chervev 2013;Zielke 2010), value perception (Zeithaml 1988), price fairness (Homburg et al 2005;Lu et al 2020), the role of emotions in price-related contexts (Cakici and Tekeli 2022;Peine et al 2009;Zielke 2011) and research on price as an information cue (Palma et al 2016;Völckner and Hofmann 2007). We group the model variables into cognitive (price-level perception, value for money perception, price fairness), emotional (positive, negative) and inferential (quality perception, symbolic value) dimensions.…”

“…In particular, older studies with a product focus analyze the interplay between price, quality and value perception (Chang and Wildt 1994;Dodds et al 1991;Dodds 1995;Teas and Agarwal 2000;Zeithaml 1988) or antecedents and consequences of price fairness (Campbell 2007;Xia et al 2004). Older studies in retailing and services also focused on price level, quality and value (Baker et al 2002;Varki and Colgate 2001), but then started to integrate emotions as mediators between cognitive price perception and outcome variables (Cakici and Tekeli 2022;Peine et al 2009;Walsh et al 2011;Zielke 2011Zielke , 2014. Several recent studies refer to the value dimensions suggested by Sweeney and Soutar (2001), such as price, quality, emotional and social value (Diallo et al 2015;France et al 2020;Rousta and Jamshidi 2020;Slack et al 2020), but do not analyze relationships between these values.…”

A New Method for Calculating Consumer Price Indices: Incorporating Consumer Perceptions and Attitudes with Item Response Theory

“…This is particularly problematic for rapidly changing markets where new products and services are frequently introduced, or in cases where consumer preferences change significantly (Felix, 2015). Cakici & Tekeli (2022) also point out that current methods of calculating CPIs do not take into account individual differences in perceptions and preferences. Consumers may differ in their ability to detect quality differences or perceive price changes.…”