A Research On The Relationship Among Social Motivation, Social Satisfaction And Cross-buying

Retailing carry the social function.At the ancient time,people get together with friends at the fair.At the same time,they have tea,listen to music,buy and sell goods together.So,It can be seen that the social function in retailing can bring cross-buying.Cross-buying is defined as the purchase of products from multiple categories(Reinartz,2008).With the development of urban commerce,shopping center gradually replaced the previous bazaar.And the behavior of cross-buying caused by social contact is more common in the shopping center.Just like in the ancient times people go to the bazaar and temple fair for social fellowship and emotional communication,one of the main motive for people patronizing shopping center in modern times is the social motivation(Tauber,1972).In fact,the relatives and friends who have not seen each other for a long time can always go to shopping center out of social motivation,and can always bring about cross-buying among ratail,catering and entertainment.Shopping center’s managers eager to increase the number of consumers’cross-buying in order to realize the overall revenue growth(Blattberg,1996;Rust,2001;å¼ èˆ',2013).But actually in the process of socializing,whether consumers deeply feel social satisfaction determines the extent of their cross-buying.Social satisfaction is defined as a member’s evaluation of the psychosocial aspects of its relationships,in which interactive experiences are fulfilling,gratifying and facile(Geyskens&Steenkamp,2000).If consumers cann’t feel social satisfaction in shopping center,they will not continue to spend time in this shopping center,even won’t patronize this shopping center.If consumers can feel high social satisfaction during socializing in shopping center,they will be more likely to make full use of the facilities inside the shopping center and realize the cross-buying among ratail,catering and entertainment.So,how social motivation influence cross-buying?Whether social motivation can influence cross-buying via social satisfaction?In order to explore the relationship among social motivation, social satisfaction and cross-buying and definitize agglomeration encounter’s moderating effect on the relationship between social motivation and social satisfaction, this research constructed a relationship model and put forward six hypotheses. We collected data in shopping center, used Regression Analysis etc. to test six hypotheses and get following conclusions:First, the impact of social motivation on cross-buying has been supported. Nowadays, shopping center has become a main place for consumers and family socializing, customers can meet the social need by cross-buying among retail, catering and entertainment.Second, the impact of social motivation on social satisfaction has been supported. This verify that Motivation can force consumers to meet their internal needs.Third, the impact of social satisfaction on cross-buying has been supported. When consumers socialize with their family and friends, and experience high social satisfaction, then they will be more likely to make full use of the facilities inside the shopping center and bring cross-buying among retail, catering and entertainment.Fourth, social satisfaction completely mediates the relationship between social motivation and cross-buying. It can be seen that, in the process of socializing, whether consumers deeply feel social satisfaction determines the extent of their cross-buying.Fifth, The strength of social satisfaction from consumers who have social motivation will not change as the agglomeration encounter’s change.This study expands the research about width of the customer relationship in shopping center, which will make researcher fully understand the patronage behavior of retail agglomeration. Meanwhile, this study identifies another driving factor of cross-buying, which reveals the controllable factors and effects of cross-buying. This enriches the study of cross-buying to some degree. In addition, based on shopping center environment factor’s influence on consumer behavior, this study introduces the agglomeration encounter as a moderator variable. Although moderator effect didn’t get data support, this is likely to find that there are not consistent theory towards the reality and we need a new theory to explain the actual situation. Shopping center managers can draw lessons from the conclusion of this study, such as when making competitive strategy and marketing strategy, they should aim at consumers who have strong social motivation, try to meet their social need and the amount of cross-buying and improve shopping center’s business income.