The emotional power of place: The fall and rise of dominance in retail research

Abstract

This paper elucidates the relevance of dominance to consumer behavior and marketing management, particularly, retail marketing. Emotions are central to the actions of consumers and managers alike Bagozzi, R.P., Gopinath, M., Nyer, P.U., 1999. The role of emotion in marketing. Academy of Marketing Science Journal 27(2), 184–206] and therefore they are vital to our understanding of consumers. On the premise that emotions trigger buying responses [e.g., Gardner, M.P., 1985. Mood states and consumer behavior: a critical review. Journal of consumer research 12, 281–300; Hill, R.P., Gardner, M.P., 1987. The buying process: effects of and on consumer mood states. Advances in Consumer Research 14, 408–410], marketers place a great deal of importance on the effects of various stimuli on the behavior of consumers in retail settings. According to the PAD model [Mehrabian, A., Russell, J.A., 1974. An Approach to Environmental Psychology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA], pleasure, arousal and dominance are the three basic emotional dimensions, which summarize the emotion-eliciting qualities of environments and mediate approach–avoidance behavior in them. While the role of pleasure and arousal is well established in the literature, the role of dominance has been downplayed in previous research, particularly in retail settings. A critical review of the literature including findings from recent studies conducted in England and Venezuela show that dominance is as legitimate an environmental descriptor as pleasure and arousal. Consequently, the paper discusses the implications of ignoring this distinct emotion for consumer behavior and marketing management, and especially retail marketing.