Abstract
The growth in online shopping is significantly eroding the foot count of shopping malls. The key question is: How can shopping malls retain and improve their foot count in the face of an increasing number of consumers preferring online shopping? Creating shopping mall individuality is one of the differentiation and positioning strategies that could be leveraged by malls to attract and retain shoppers. In spite of its importance, there is a dearth of research on what the term ‘mall individuality’ means. Moreover, little attempt has been made to conceptualise and measure the construct. The aim of the present study was to conceptualise, develop, and validate a scale to measure mall individuality. The study followed a descriptive conclusive research using a multiple cross-sectional design. Study 1 focussed on item generation, content validation, and purification of the scale whereas Study 2 was focussed on confirming the validity of the refined shopping individuality scale using rigorous confirmatory factor analysis techniques, predictive validity testing and validation of the shopping mall individuality scale in a nomological network. The results of the study confirmed an 11-item mall individuality sale that can be modelled as a hierarchical construct with first-order dimensions namely uniqueness, heritage and distinctiveness. The results of the predictive validation of the scale demonstrate the individual dimensions of the mall individuality scale as well as its hierarchical structure exhibited strong relationship with shoppers’ shopping mall emotions, their utilitarian and hedonic values. The nomological validation of the scale also shows that the shopping mall individuality scale had a positive impact on shoppers’ sensory emotions, which in turn predicted shopper’s harmonic and obsessive shopping mall brand passions, and eventually their commitment to shopping malls. Given that research is the foundation of managerial practice, the conceptualization, measurement, and validation of mall individuality provides a solid foundation for managers to invest in this strategy, allowing shopping malls to gain a competitive advantage in the retail industry and distinguish themselves from the competition. The scale developed from the study represents a significant contribution to the literature. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, prior to this present study, there was no existing scale developed to address the concept of shopping mall individuality. Future studies can therefore use the validated shopping mall individuality offered by the present study.