The Impact of National Cultural Values, Retail Sector Regulations, and Physical Infrastructure Factors on Retail Structure

The number, scale, and type of retailers comprising the retail sector within any given geographical area such as a town, a county, or a country is referred to here as retail structure. Because retail structure plays such a crucial role in the everyday lives of millions of consumers around the globe, the study of retail structure has attracted the attention of scholars and researchers. Investigations of retail structure have focused mainly on the impact of various environmental forces such as demographic and competitive factors on retail structure, but national cultural values, retail sector regulations, and physical infrastructure factors may also be important retail structure determinants. Indeed, some authors argue that these factors have led to a metamorphosis in retail structure in many countries around the world. But this relationship has been supported only anecdotally. No systematic empirical studies examining the impact of these three environmental variables on retail structure have been conducted. The purpose of this dissertation is to empirically examine the relationship between national cultural values, retail sector regulations, and physical infrastructure factors and retail structure.;In Study 1, we examine the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) restrictions and road infrastructure development on two retail structure components: (1) retailer intensity and (2) retailer scale. Retailer intensity refers to the number of stores per 1000 people while retailer scale refers to average sales per store. We also examine the impact of two moderators: (1) an indicator for transition economies (TEs), which are former communist nations and (2) a country's level of economic development, on the relationship between FDI restrictions and road infrastructure development and retail structure.;In Study 2, we examine the impact of four clusters of national cultural values represented in two dimensions: (1) the traditional vs. secular-rational dimension and (2) the survival vs. self-expression dimension, one set of retail sector regulations—property regulations, and one physical infrastructure factor—railway infrastructure development, on grocery retail structure. Once again, we examine the impact of two moderators: (1) an indicator for TEs and (2) a country's level of economic development, on the relationship between property regulations and railway infrastructure development and retail structure.;In Study 3, we examine the impact of one national cultural value dimension—Hofstede's individualism vs. collectivism dimension, store opening hours regulations, and electricity supply improvements on grocery retail structure. We also examine the impact of two moderators: (1) an indicator for TEs and (2) a country's level of economic development, on the relationship between store opening hours regulations and electricity supply improvements and retail structure.;The results of Study 1, Study 2, and Study 3 show that national cultural values, retail sector regulations, and physical infrastructure factors are indeed important retail structure determinants. We also find that there are two moderators of the relationship between retail sector regulations and physical infrastructure factors and retail structure: (1) an indicator for TEs and (2) a country's level of economic development.