THE HIERARCHICAL INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL VALUES ON MALL SHOPPING ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR

The primary objective of this study was to employ a value-attitude-beh avior model in order to investigate the role personal values play in t he patronage of regional shopping malls. A secondary objective was to examine whether one's ethnic group membership and ethnic identificatio n serve as important factors that influence personal values as well as attitudes and patronage behavior in the context of regional shopping malls. The sample of regional mall shoppers consisted of white and His panic consumers residing in ten metropolitan cities of the southwest. Structural equation modeling indicated that both self-actualizing and social affiliation personal values were positively related to a favora ble attitude toward regional shopping malls, and that the social affil iation value played a greater role in influencing attitude than did th e self-actualizing value. Individual attitudes toward shopping malls, in turn, were a direct predictor of mall shopping behavior and mediate d the relationship between personal values and attitudes. The findings indicate that, independent of ethnic group membership, both self-actu alizing and social affiliation values can be used effectively to posit ion regional malls in such a way as to reinforce these views and to pr ovide a strong means for shoppers to satisfy these needs.