The Influence of Personality-Related Variables on Microspatial Consumer Research

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Abstract
The results of a study designed to investigate whether microspatial shopping behavior is related to variables reflecting the personality of consumers are presented. Data were gathered by questionnaire from 166 households in Maidstone, England. The number of shop usually considered during spatial search, termed the evoked set, was used as a diagnostic variable measuring consumer search. Rating scales were used to assess the following four personality-related variables: consumers'' interest in shopping, their perceptions of risk, the social status of the purchase, and the perceived time pressure they faced. We found that perceived risk and interest had the greatest influence on the number of shops considered during spatial search in terms of the sizes of consumers'' evoked sets. Also, the study revealed a complex interaction between perceptions of risk and time pressure that influenced the extent of spatial search. The analysis serves to suggest that there is some influence of personality-related variables on microspatial search behavior. This view runs counter to results at the macrospatial scale.

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