Hedonic motivations in online consumption behaviour

Abstract

The potential of the web and of e-commerce systems to provide hedonic, non-functional value to online consumption experiences is known, as is the importance that consumers give to hedonic benefits. However, in the absence of a thorough approach and complete proposal, the hedonic aspects of online consumption (including its particular facet of shopping) remain only partially investigated. This study aims to analyse and exhaustively delimit the dimensional structure related to the hedonic motivations for online consumption. An in-depth literature review was carried out, permitting the proposal of an aprioristic base structure. Next, qualitative (focus groups and personal interviews) and quantitative methods (survey, exploratory and detailed confirmatory factor analyses) were sequentially applied in order to purify and ultimately validate a full structure (i.e., enduring involvement, visual appeal, sensation seeking, escape, intrinsic enjoyment, hang out, socialise, self-expression and role shopping) and their respective measurement scales. These are original contributions to the extant knowledge relating to web-based consumer behaviour.