University business students' perceptions of retail shopping behaviour : A Canadian and Estonian comparative study

Purpose – Retail shopping behaviour is one of the major tenets of the retail marketing literature. The purpose of this research is to presents the empirical findings of two quantitative studies of Estonian and Canadian university students' interpretation and perceptions of retail shopping behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – Paper and pencil questionnaires administered in Estonia and Canada. The data was analysed from two perspectives. The first was to determine if the retail service quality construct differed between the two samples, and secondly to use using confirmatory factor analysis, and regression analysis to test a model of shopping behaviour and to make comparisons between the shopping behaviour of university students in the two countries. Findings – The results indicate a level of commonality in retail shopping perceptions, as well as non‐trivial differences in how shopping practice in terms of the construct structure, and individual service drivers, should be theorized. The Canadian sample indicated a greater focus on retail service quality perception at the sub‐dimension level while the Estonian sample indicated a greater focus on retail service quality at an overall or integrated level. Research limitations/implications – The findings are limited as to the consumer type (university students) selected. This limitation is lessened as the university age sector represents one of the most dynamic and growing segments of the Estonian retail market. Practical implications – Retail sales per capita within Estonia, and the other Baltic states, represents the fastest growing region in the European Union. Thus, there is a need for empirical and academic research that attempts to highlight the transferable (i.e. western) and the solely domestic consumer knowledge that will allow this growth to continue. Caution needs to be taken when simply implementing best retail practices from the West as erroneous conclusions may be drawn. It may not be the practices from the West that are fuelling the retail success, and thus research such as this helps to draw attention to the need to understand the more sustainable localized nature of retail shopping behaviour. Originality/value – This paper represents an initial focus on an unknown area of retailing research.