Shopping values of Russian consumers: The impact of habituation in a developing economy

In this research, we report upon comparative measures of shopping value in the U.S. and Russian, Given the relatively limited shopping environments pr ovided to Russian consumers, one would anticipate that the measures we exam ine would reflect much higher evaluations for U.S. shoppers. We inject doub t into that expectation through reset? to habituation theory. Habituation t heory, for which a number of articles have appeared in the 1990s reflects t he belief that for emotional and physiological reactions, consumer evaluati ons may be subject to adaptation. Consumers exposed to relatively poor cond itions may nevertheless adapt and show little difference in enjoyment than those who benefit from richer conditions. Consumers, in short, adapt to the ir surroundings and produce measures of evaluation that reflect their inter action with the environment. Our research results find evidence of this ada ptation. Shoppers in Russia report lower ratings in the utility of their sh opping systems, specifically their ability to complete a shopping task. Con trarily, their reports for hedonic values, or the pleasure derived from usi ng their shopping systems, are similar to those in the U.S. We conclude tha t habituation is more likely to meaningingfully affect hedonic values as co mpared to utilitarian. These results also suggest that the evaluation of me asures of pleasure or satisfaction for consumers may need to be scrutinized carefully for evidence of the habituation effect to insure correct interpr etation.