Black Friday (BF) is the day after Thanksgiving when U.S. retailers offer “doorbuster” promotions. BF shopping has become a tradition for 48.5% of U.S. shoppers and their families (NRF, 2015). However, BF has a dark side gaining notoriety as shoppers compete for bargains, even at others’ expense. Many incidents of consumer misbehavior (CMB) have been reported: fighting, pepper-spraying, and throwing oneself on desired products to keep other shoppers at bay (Black Friday violence, 2011; Lisa, 2015). BF promotions have expanded outside the U.S. to the U.K.; related CMB (e.g., fighting) was reported in several U.K. locations (“Black Friday,” 2014). Using an online experiment, this study investigated antecedents to CMB from a psychological perspective. Specifically this study examined (1) how positive and negative emotion evoked on BF as a result of varying levels of goal blockage impacts CMB; (2) how personality traits such as self-control and public self-consciousness impact and moderate the relationship between negative emotions evoked on BF and CMB; and (3) how women and men differ in terms of antecedents driving BF CMB and the role personality traits play in impacting CMB. 576 BF shoppers completed the experiment; 411 (M=129, F=282) had shopped in stores on BF were included in analyses. Mean age was 25.8 (SD=8.2) and over half had shopped in stores and online on BF. All scales had adequate reliabilities and EFA confirmed the dimensionality of the original scales. Two emotion factors were named anger and thrill. To assess CMB, shoppers indicated the extent to which they engaged in a series of misbehaviors on BF. A second measure of misbehavior, dysfunctional severity of one’s behavior, evaluated the extent to which one’s own behavior on BF was unacceptable and inappropriate. Multi-group path analysis was used to analyze the data. Results found a significant difference between the sexes (Δdf= 8, Δχ2=32.48, p < .0001), suggesting that women and men do differ in the personality traits impacting CMB. To determine specific paths that differ between the sexes, a series of the χ2 difference tests were performed by imposing equality constraints on each of the path coefficients. The χ2 difference tests showed that women and men significantly differed in four paths; (1) how anger impacted dysfunctional severity (2) how self-control moderated the relationship between anger and CMB, (3) how public self-consciousness moderated the relationship between anger and CMB and (4) how public self-consciousness impacted CMB. For both sexes, both negative emotion such as anger and positive emotion such as thrill led to CMB. Additionally, dysfunctional severity had a positive influence on CMB for both women and men. However different personality traits moderated how anger impacted CMB. For women, public self-consciousness had a direct positive and moderating effect on CMB. When women experienced a mild level of anger, public self-consciousness appears to suppress CMB. However contrary to common beliefs that public self-consciousness may help manage behavior in public, after a certain threshold in terms of the intensity of anger, public self-consciousness had an opposite effect in women. High public women exhibited more CMB than low public women. Public self-consciousness had no direct or moderating effect on men. For men, self-control had a direct, indirect and moderating effect on CMB. In the context of intense anger, men with higher self-control exhibited less CMB than those with low self-control. Self-control also had an indirect effect on CMB by mitigating dysfunctional severity. For women, self-control had no impact on CMB. BF is part of the U.S. Thanksgiving tradition and has been adopted in other countries to kick off the holiday shopping season. Extreme deals (doorbusters) and heightened consumer anticipation as a result of such promotions have led to incidents CMB on BF (Lisa, 2015). With observations of CMB on BF across different countries and extant research findings about the role of emotion on CMB (Bedi & Schat, 2007), this study revealed (1) emotion as a motivator for CMB, (2) that personality traits moderated the impact of emotion on CMB, and (3) differences exist in these relationships between women and men. Both negative (anger) and positive emotion (thrill) led both sexes to misbehave on BF. Whereas most media highlight how angry customers misbehave on BF, positive emotion also contributes to CMB on BF. How personality traits moderated the relationship between anger and CMB significantly differed between the sexes. For women, public self-consciousness mattered, whereas self-control mattered to men in moderating the effect of anger on CMB. The findings of this research shed new light on CMB on BF and also give new insights into the CMB literature. Prior CMB research often assumed that the sexes behave similarly. This research provides empirical evidence that women and men are indeed different in how personality moderates the effect of anger on CMB. Future research is needed to determine the level of anger and public self-consciousness that lead to CMB for women.

Retail therapy occurs when consumers shop to improve negative feelings rather than merely acquire a needed product (Kang & Johnson, 2011). Retailers in all channels enable consumers to have positive emotional responses by providing them with positive experiences. Pine and Gilmore (1999) identified four types of experiences sought by consumers: entertainment, education, escapism, and esthetics (i.e., 4Es). It is not known which, if any, of the 4Es motivate offline and online retail therapy shopping trips. Retail therapy shoppers may seek different benefits in open, online stores (where they have a great deal of freedom) versus closed, brick-and-mortar stores (where they are limited by time and space) (Bhate & Hannam, 2014). When retail therapy shoppers have experiences they desire, they should experience positive emotional reactions (i.e., pleasure, arousal) (Donovan & Rossiter, 1982). Furthermore, consumers who experience positive emotional reactions tend to display impulse buying behavior (Chang, Eckman, & Yan, 2011). Engaging in impulse buying while retail therapy shopping may encourage compulsive buying behavior (Kang & Johnson, 2011), the most severe form of which is shopping addiction (Edwards, 1993). Based on this collection of previous research, the following hypotheses were developed: H1: Among retail therapy shoppers, the amount of a) entertainment b) education, c) escapism, and d) esthetics sought will be significantly different between 1) offline stores and 2) online stores. H2: Retail therapy behavior will be positively related to level of a) pleasure and b) arousal experienced while shopping. H3a: Level of pleasure experienced while shopping will be positively related to impulse buying behavior. H3b. Level of arousal experienced while shopping will be positively related to impulse buying behavior. H4: Among retail therapy shoppers, impulse buying behavior will be positively related to shopping addiction behavior.Method Using Amazon’s MTurk, 409 consumers (62.6% female; 72.0% Caucasian; 36.5% 30-39 years old) were recruited for an online survey. Participants were first asked to indicate if they had experience shopping for clothing to improve their mood. Clothing was selected as the focus of the study because it is a gender-neutral product frequently purchased during retail therapy (Atalay & Meloy, 2011). Only participants who had engaged in retail therapy behavior were asked to complete the rest of the questionnaire. The next five sections of the questionnaire contained multi-item, 7-point, Likert-type scales previously used to assess the variables in the study. Demographic information was also collected. Results To test H1, a series of t-tests was conducted to compare the benefits sought by retail therapy shoppers in open and closed settings. The means for each of the 4 Es were significantly greater for the closed setting of the store than the open setting of the website. Therefore, H1 was supported. Two regression models were created to test H2a and b. The coefficients for retail therapy were positively and significantly related to pleasure (β = .87; t = 35.70; p < 0.000) and arousal (β = .85; t = 32.52; p < 0.00). Thus, H2a and b were both supported. To examine H3a and b, another regression model was created. The coefficients for pleasure (β = .25; t = 4.51; p < 0.00) and arousal (β = .64; t = 11.69; p < 0.00) were positive and significant. Thus, H3a and H3b were both supported. Lastly, to test H4, a final regression model was created. The coefficient for impulse buying behavior (β = .93; t = 51.49; p < 0.00) was positive and significant, supporting H4. Discussion The results of the present study shed light on retail therapy shopping behavior. Consumers do seek the 4Es when therapeutically shopping for clothing, and they seek the 4Es to a greater degree in closed, offline environments. Perhaps the need to delay gratification in offline stores raises expectations of experiences that can be received immediately in online stores. Participants experienced pleasure and arousal when engaging in retail therapy behavior, thereby supporting researchers (Kang & Johnson, 2011) who conceptualized retail therapy behavior as mood-alleviative consumption behavior. The positive emotions experienced while clothing shopping were related to retail therapy shoppers’ impulse buying behavior, which was positively related to shopping addiction. The success experienced by individuals who engage in shopping behavior to improve their mood seems to encourage future shopping trips to enhance positive emotions. Thus, a troubling pattern of overconsumption may develop if retail therapy shoppers do not find additional methods for mood-alleviation.

Our research focused on the development of a conceptual model of the turnover intention of part-time sales associates working in apparel retailing to enhance understanding of the issue and thus, provide information to apparel retailers to curtail the loss of human resources. The model consists of input variables and outcomes. Input variables were personal characteristics, work engagement, and work effort. Outcome variables were job performance, job satisfaction, burnout, and employee turnover. A convenience sample of 294 part-time workers completed an online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses regarding antecedents to turnover intention. This study revealed that self-efficacy and work competencies indirectly influenced intention to turnover because they influenced work engagement, which in turn positively affected work effort. Work effort and work engagement directly influenced job performance, which in turn impacted job satisfaction. The data also indicated a negative relationship between job satisfaction and burnout. Burnout had a direct influence on turnover intention. As a research limitation, our data came from a purposive sample. A random sample of part-time associates is needed to generalize findings. This study provides numerous implications for future research with regard to additional variables impacting work effort, work engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intention.

The explosion of new technologies is transforming the retail industry. In particular, a range of smart technologies (e.g., tablets, smartphones, WiFi, augmented reality, apps, video, virtual catalogs, smart tags) are providing fashion retailers with innovative ways to capitalize on strategic opportunities (Anderson & Exkstein, 2013). Due to the growth of smart in-store technology (SIST) applications in the retailing environment, it is critical for academic researchers to understand consumer responses to these technologies. The technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis et al., 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1992) is one framework for investigating consumer adoption of SIST. However, research has been equivocal concerning the belief-attitude-intention linkage, especially the mediating role of attitude in TAM. As an attempt to address this issue, this study examines how well TAM explains consumer adoption of SIST. Online survey data were collected from three different SIST settings (i.e., Virtual Mirror vs. Socially Interactive Dressing Room vs. RFID Music Tag). A total of 657 individuals completed the questionnaires resulting in a 27.56% response rate. Excluding participants with incomplete data, responses from 625 individuals (203 for Virtual Mirror; 209 for Socially Interactive Dressing Room; 213 for RFID Music Tag) were included for data analysis. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions was used to analyze the data. Our major findings include: (a) perceived ease of use was found to be a suppressor variable and thus dropped from the model; (b) perceived usefulness was significant in Virtual Mirror (β = .33, p < .01), Socially Interactive Dressing Room (β = .26, p < .01) and RFID Music Tag (β = .18, p < .01); (c) perceived enjoyment was found to be the best predictor of adoption intention of: Virtual Mirror (β = .46, p < .001); Socially Interactive Dressing Room (β = .61, p < .001); and RFID Music Tag (β = .67, p < .001); (d) attitude has a small effect above and beyond the effects of perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment; and (e) attitude partially mediated the belief-intention linkage in Virtual Mirror. In Socially Interactive Dressing Room and RFID Music Tag, attitude fully mediated the usefulness-intention linkage while it partially mediated the enjoyment-intention relationship. Our findings have implications for improving consumer adoption of SIST. Our data indicate that, although perceived usefulness is clearly important, perceived enjoyment is even more important and should not be overlooked in SIST execution and management. Our results imply that consumers may be willing to tolerate a SIST that does not do a useful task in order to enjoy the SIST experience itself. This finding also suggests that no amount of usefulness will be able to compensate for a SIST that does not provide enjoyment.