Measuring shopping values of Malaysian retail consumers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to verify the measurement scale of shopping values in the Malaysian context. Both hedonic as well as utilitarian shopping value measurement scales were tested for their reliability and validity. Further, a series of hypotheses was developed to test the differences in the shopping values across the market segments based on demographic characteristics of the consumers. Finally, the discriminant analysis was used to determine the relative importance of each variable measuring shopping value in discriminating between the groups of interest. Design/methodology/approach – The scale developed by Babin et al. for measuring shopping values has been put on test with modifications on selected questions to fit the local content. A convenient sampling technique was used to obtain information on hedonic and utilitarian values on a seven‐point Likert scale from a sample of 200 consumers from major shopping centres in Klang Valley, the most developed region in Malaysia. Statistical tools such as Cronbach's Alpha test, confirmatory factor analysis and discriminant analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings – The findings reveal that hedonic shopping value measurement scale is a reliable and valid scale to be used for Malaysian consumers. However, the same could not be ascertained on the utilitarian shopping value measurement scale. The results further reveal that there are significant differences in the shopping values across the groups of interest. The sense of joy and escape are the most important variables discriminating between the groups based on gender, age and marital status. Originality/value – The research in the area of shopping motivation is very limited in Asian countries, including Malaysia. This study undertakes an empirical examination of consumer value that encompasses the entire consumer shopping experience associated with the context.