Thomas Rudolph
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Rudolph
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  • Publication
    Scale Development For Consumer Confusion
    (Association for Consumer Research, 2006)
    Schweizer, Markus
    ;
    Kotouc, Alexander J.
    ;
    Rudolph, Thomas
    Given the increasing importance of Consumer Confusion as part of the everyday grocery shopping process, this study identifies a comprehensive inventory of triggers that support this phenomenon. The scale development is based on a two-step procedure. A qualitative study conducted by means of four focus groups revealed 26 potential items for confusion. The subsequent quantitative study - combined with environment shopping tests - exposed a six-factor scale that consists of stimuli variety, similarity, complexity, conflict, irritation and non reliability. The utility of the proposed scale is valuable both for future research and retail strategy.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Advances in Consumer Research
    Volume: 33
    Issue: 1
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/84007
  • Publication
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Die Unternehmung
    Volume: 6
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/72115
  • Publication
    Assessing the Hierarchical Dimension of Shopping Motivation
    ( 2005-02-11)
    Rudolph, Thomas
    ;
    Wagner, Tillmann
    ;
    Schweizer, Markus
    For more than 30 years, shopping motivation has remained a current topic, discussed in leading academic journals (see, e.g., Tauber 1972, Cox et al. 2005). Moreover, since different retail strategies correspond to varying shopping motives (Gröppel-Klein 1998), research in this area has been ascribed considerable potential to generate meaningful managerial implications (Keng and Ehrenberg 1984). Given the long-enduring scholarly efforts to explain consumers' shopping motivation, it comes as a surprise that empirical studies commonly simplify different motives in that they are not classified as belonging to specific degrees of abstraction or hierarchical levels of specificity (see DeVellis 2003). Yet, conceptual work has introduced the hierarchical dimension of consumer shopping motivation to the academic discourse (see, e.g., Rudolph et al. 2004). In particular, scholars such as Mooradian and Olver (1996) point out that consumers' shopping motives "can be organized hierarchically with broad higher-order motives encompassing multiple specific motives" (p. 587-588). This hierarchical perspective seems logical in that "a single shopping behavior enables individuals to acquire a set of hierarchically arranged benefits which can include cognitive, emotional, experiential, sensory, affiliative, and material benefits" (Darden and Dorsch 1990, p. 301). However, whereas research in the areas of general psychology (see, e.g., Rifkin 1985) and organizational behavior (see, e.g., Cropanzano et al. 1993) has long recognized and investigated the hierarchical nature of human motivation, this phenomenon has been widely ignored in the literature on shopping behavior. To the authors' best knowledge, there is no published empirical research that investigates consumers' shopping motivation from a hierarchical perspective. This shortcoming surprises in particular as among today's scholars it seems "generally accepted that consumer behavior is goal-oriented, and that goals at different levels of abstraction are hierarchically related" (Warlop et al. 2000, p. 203). The present research takes first empirical steps towards the development of a hierarchical theory of shopping motivation. In this view, we "think of goal-directed behavior in terms of a hierarchical model of action and [...] make specific suggestions as to what the levels in the hierarchy might be" (Pieters et al. 2001, p. 416). As recommended by Mitchell (2001) as well as McGoldrick (2002) the theory of means-end chains is adopted to investigate consumer shopping motivation under different degrees of abstraction. The means-end approach seems appropriate since its strength lies in revealing the causal relationships among different theoretical stages of motivation (Bagozzi and Edwards 1996), thereby facilitating an "in-depths redefinition of the concepts and hypotheses relevant to a problem" (Laurent and Pras 1999, p. 253). A four-level framework by Olson and Reynolds (2001) was adopted, differentiating among attributes, functional consequences, psychosocial consequences, and personal values. From this motivational perspective on means-end chains, the elements of the framework can be regarded as "motivational layers" (Cohen and Warlop 2001, p. 404) whereby the relationships among them express the underlying reasons why certain attributes or consequences are desired by the consumers (Reynolds and Gutman 2001). Data was collected by means of 40 in-depth interviews with retail customers inside store facilities, referring to the context of apparel shopping. During the interview procedure, relevant store attributes were elicited using Breivik and Supphellen's (2003) technique of ideal description, followed by a series of subsequent questions based on the laddering guidelines by Reynolds and Gutman (2001). Consumer responses were content-analyzed, summarized in an implication matrix, and depicted in three hierarchical value maps. As a key finding, four motivational patterns represent shoppers' predominant cognitive driving forces in apparel shopping, namely, shopping pleasure, frictionless shopping, quality seeking, and value seeking. In particular, however, the current research underscores that a unique advantage of the means-end chain methodology consists of relating consumer motivation directly to its corresponding attribute preference. That is, the relationship between specifically desired characteristics of retail stores and underlying motivations are revealed, thereby reducing the shortcoming of current motivational theories to "account for specific actions and to point to particular strategies for influencing behavior" (Bagozzi et al. 2003, p. 915-916). Accordingly, the findings of this work may provide first insights to align retail marketing strategies with shoppers' underlying motivations in addition to stimulating the development of a comprehensive hierarchical theory of shopping motivation.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/85000
  • Publication
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/68020
  • Publication
    Rethinking Consumer Shopping Motivation: Integrating the Hierarchical Dimension
    ( 2004-02-06)
    Rudolph, Thomas
    ;
    Wagner, Tillmann
    ;
    Schweizer, Markus
    Shopping motivation is one of the key constructs widely employed in scholarly consumer research. An investigation of the current research findings reveals that different shopping motives evident in the literature tend to relate to different degrees of abstraction. The authors posit that shopping motivation can be regarded as a hierarchical construct. An analytical framework is derived in order to discuss the extant literature. Based upon the theoretical findings, it is proposed that consumer shopping motivation is comprised of three distinct hierarchical levels, namely fundamental, purpose-specific, and choice-specific shopping motivation. The utility of the proposed theory is discussed for further research efforts.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/68021
  • Publication
    Linking Personality Traits with Customers' In-Store Choice Behaviour: Conceptual Findings of a Two Step Segmentation Process
    ( 2002-06-28)
    Rudolph, Thomas
    ;
    Schweizer, Markus
    ;
    Wagner, Tillmann
    Patterns of choice behavior have been examined in retailing for long with the intention to align marketing instruments to specific customer needs. Predominantly socioeconomic and demographic variables have been constituent in clustering customers in different homogenous target groups. Yet, the tendency of tradition losing its value limits the ability of socioeconomic and demographic aspects to discriminate among consumers (Flemming and Bak-Jensen 1972). New approaches for identification of consumption patterns have been distinctions due to reaction to innovation, lifestyles (e.g. Wells 1975), values (e.g. Mitchell 1978). The distinction of these typologies, however, often rests on uni-dimensional attributes which doubtfully reflects the complexity of the underlying dynamics. Our studies propose a new approach to segment customers. As some comparable psychographic segmentation methods have already reflected (e.g. Kahle 1983), it can be assumed, that shared psychological profiles determine collective consumption patterns. Research in analysing the relationship between these two variables is far from complete (Fournier Antes and Beaumier 1992). The findings suggest a two step segmentation process whereas customers typologies are portrayed through actual consumption behaviors rather than abstracted constructs (e.g. lifestyles, values), which are believed to support certain in-store customer choice behavior. As the conceptual foundation, we apply the theory of the Optimum Stimulation Level (OSL) which presumes, that people tend to prefer intermediate levels of stimulation (e.g. Berlyne 1960; Fiske and Maddi 1961). The need for stimulation is thereby operationalized through different personal characteristics such as personal traits, demographic variables and general exploratory tendencies (Raju 1980). These personality variables are crucial to cluster customers in a first step segmentation process. The literature suggests furthermore that the individual OSL affects the degree of exploratory tendencies across many situations. These OSL-specific in-store choice patterns can be revealed and compared to each other (identification of discriminate variables) through verbal-protocol coding schemes (e.g. Bettman 1971; Biehal and Chakravarti 1982). This method (second step segmentation process) subsequently leads to a synthesis between personal traits (OSL) and in-store customer choice behavior. Since these typologies are characterized through stable individual differences (McReynolds 1971; Steenkamp and Baumgartner 1992), the distinction on the basis of the OSL is promising for segmenting customers. Given that the OSL influences the extend of individual curiosity-motivation, variety seeking, risk taking and innovative behavior (e.g. Berlyne 1960), OSL-adapted marketing measures could be effective for augmenting the profile of retail businesses. It can be emphasized that it is crucial to address the different OSL-categories properly. There is a general agreement, that if external stimuli (e.g. information overload or conflicting messages) disturb the individual's OSL, their behavior gets disrupted as well (Raju and Venkatesan 1980). Deviations from the optimum leads either to stimulus seeking or avoidance behavior - this in order to maintain the OSL. For the draft of retail strategy these findings imply, that sophisticated marketing measures tempt to confuse customers (especially the ones with low OSLs) whereas slight assortment variety tends to bore individuals (especially the ones with high OSLs) in the retail store. Confused or bored customers are inclined to abort the buying decision process or to switch brands/retail stores respectively. These kinds of reactions cause consumer buying tiredness and lead consequently to lower revenues for retailers. To summarize our conceptual findings: Through segmenting consumers by their OSL it is possible to address customers in such a way, that the individual obtains exactly as much stimuli as he requires to maintain a pleasant level of stimuli (OSL). Due to this segmenting method, it is possible to retain customers by means of customer-oriented measures without confusing or boring them.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/71176
  • Publication
    HIGH 5 - Erfolgreiche Geschäftsmodelltransformation in disruptiven Zeiten (2. Auflage)
    (Forschungszentrum für Handelsmanagement, 2019-02)
    Rudolph, Thomas
    ;
    Schweizer, Markus
    Type: book
    Volume: 2
    URL: https://www.handelsliteratur-hsg.ch/fach-lehrb%C3%BCcher/details/#cc-m-product-11321799197
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/98944
  • Publication
    HIGH 5 - Erfolgreiche Geschäftsmodelltransformation in disruptiven Zeiten
    (Forschungszentrum für Handelsmanagement, 2018-06-06)
    Rudolph, Thomas
    ;
    Schweizer, Markus
    Type: book
    URL: https://www.handelsliteratur-hsg.ch/fach-lehrb%C3%BCcher/details/#cc-m-product-11321799197
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/100374
  • Publication
    Type: book
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-322-82502-5
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/68937
  • Publication
    Customer Value im Handel
    (mi-Fachverlag, Redline GmbH, 2006)
    Rudolph, Thomas
    ;
    Schweizer, Markus
    ;
    Belz, Christian
    ;
    Bieger, Thomas
    Type: book section
    Volume: 2., aktualis. Aufl.
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/83913