“Man, I shop like a woman!” The effects of gender and emotions on consumer shopping behaviour outcomes

Purpose – Research suggests that women demonstrate higher levels of shopping satisfaction, recommendation, return intentions, and hedonic shopping than men. However, is it possible to reduce the effects of gender on shopping behaviour? The purpose of this paper is to explore how the interaction between gender and emotions affects consumers’ shopping behaviour outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Two studies show the effects of gender and emotions on shopping behaviour outcomes. Study 1 is a field experiment that tests the effects of gender and emotions (positive vs neutral) on consumer satisfaction, recommendation, and return intentions. Study 2 is a laboratory experiment that explores the effects of gender and emotions (positive, neutral, and negative) on hedonic shopping. Findings – Results demonstrate that positive (vs neutral) emotions increase shopping behaviour outcomes for men, to reach the same level as for women. The findings also indicate that retail environment perception mediates the effect...