ENVIRONMENTAL DISPOSITIONS: RELATIONSHIPS WITH SHOPPING AND CONSUMPTION BEHAVIORS (PERSONALITY)

Consumer research on the personality--behavior relationship has generally focused on the intrapsychic and interpersonal domains of personality, overlooking a third domain, environmental dispositions, which complement the other personality traits. This study focuses on those dimensions of environmental dispositions which are likely to relate to three classes of behavior--(1) customer response to store atmosphere, (2) consumption decisions based on environmental effects and (3) consumer attempts to alter levels of stimulation. Two indices of customer response to store atmosphere were used--reaction to physical elements in stores and aversion to crowding. Ecological consumption, socially conscious consumption and energy conservation, represent the three indices of consumption decisions based on environmental effects. The three indices used to represent altering level of stimulation are risk taking, innovativeness and unplanned behavior. The environmental dispositions of interest in this study are seven of the Environmental Response Inventory (ERI) dispositions - pastoralism, urbanism, Environmental adaptation, stimulus seeking, environmental trust, antiquarianism and need privacy. A lifestyle type instrument was developed to measure behaviors; some items were taken directly or adapted from prior research and others were developed for this study, when a review of the literature failed to produce appropriate items. The seven environmental dispositions were measured using the Environmental Response Inventory. A mail survey of a sample of 585 adults resulted in a 47 percent response rate. Analysis was based on 243 cases with data on all variables. In addition to product-moment correlations, canonical correlation analysis was used to examine the relation between environmental dispostions and behaviors within the three defined classes of behavior. Findings suggest that environmental dispositions may offer a framework for understanding the nature of conceptually related consumer behaviors. Results were most consistent with expectations in the case of consumption decisions based on environmental effects and least consistent with customer responses to store atmosphere. The most complex relations appear to involve attempts to alter levels of stimulation. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of extensions and implications for future research