Smart shopper feelings in the case of store brands: the role of human capital as a key antecedent and the implications for store loyalty

Figures & data

Table 1. Respondent characteristics (N = 457).

	Frequency	Percent		Frequency	Percent
Total Annual Household Income			Age group
Under $25,000	54	11.8	18–24	27	5.9
$25,000–$34,999	57	12.5	25–34	109	23.9
$35,000–$49,999	76	16.6	35–44	70	15.3
$50,000–$74,999	100	21.9	45–54	89	19.5
$75,000–$100,000	66	14.4	55–64	107	23.4
Over $100,000	81	17.7	65 or older	55	12.0
No Answer	23	5.0	Total	457	100.0
Total	457	100.0
Employment Status			Gender
Employed outside of home	321	70.2	Male	121	26.5
Do not work outside of home	115	25.2	Female	336	73.5
No Answer	21	4.6	Total	100.0	100.0
Total	457	100.0

Table 2. Construct items, standardised factor loadings, critical ratios, cronbach’s alpha (α) and composite reliability (cr).

Store Brand Smart Shopper Feelings (α = .781), (cr = .775); adapted from Burton et al. (1998)
Buying store brands makes me feel prudent	.715^a
Buying store brands make me feel economical	.854 (14.54)^b***
Buying store brands makes me feel smart	.613 (11.74)***
Store Brand Proneness Competing Stores (α = .783), (cr = .775); adapted from Ailawadi, Neslin, and Gedenk (2001)
My shopping cart rarely contains store brands when I’m shopping somewhere other than my regular store	.688^a
I rarely buy store brands in supermarkets other than my regular supermarket	.770 (12.70)***
I don’t look for store brands in supermarkets other than my supermarket	.735 (12.50)***
Food Related Information Capital (FRIC) (α = .84), (cr = .843); new items
The quality of store brands is as good as national brands	.837^a
Store brands taste just as good as manufacturer brands	.846 (20.79)***
Store brand products are of an equal nutritional value compared to national brands	.779 (18.72)***
In general, store brands are of a similar quality in most of the stores I visit	.545 (11.73)***
Food Related Knowledge Capital (FRKC) (α = .758), (cr = .751); new items
For me, it’s easy to understand the product information on grocery packaging	.717^a
If I want to, I can readily understand the information on the label	.832 (11.81)***
I find it difficult to understand the information on grocery packaging (R) (deleted due to poor fit)
Opportunity Cost of Time Engaged in On-Pack Information Search (α = .862), (cr = .856); adapted from Collins et al. (2014)
The time it takes checking product information on-packaging is not worth it	.778^a
Examining labels on the packaging takes too much time	.865 (19.11)***
Looking at the product information on grocery packaging takes too much time	.800 (17.75)***
On-pack Information Search (α = .846), (cr = .839); adapted from Scholderer et al. (2004)
I’ll check what’s in a grocery product before I buy it	.782^a
I compare product information on labels to help decide which product to buy	.855 (18.40)***
I compare product information on-packaging to select the best products	.752 (16.41)***
Household Financial Pressure (α = .914), (cr = .910); (Urbany, Dickson, and Kalapurakal 1996)
Money is tight so I have to reduce my bills	.924^a
My household budget is usually tight	.864 (26.15)***
Household finances are such that I am trying to save on my bills	.845 (25.15)***
In-store Price Comparisons (α = .812), (cr = .807); (Putrevu and Ratchford 1997)
I compare prices on the shelf before deciding which product to buy	.727^a
Before buying a product, I usually check its price	.763 (14.99)***
I compare prices between brands	.797 (15.55)***
Shoppers’ Value Consciousness (α = .833), (cr = .825); (Collins et al. 2014)
I’d prefer better prices rather than quality	.756^a
I’d sacrifice some quality for lower prices	.811 (15.59)***
I’ll give up quality if the price is right	.778 (15.28)***
Deal Proneness (α = .853), (cr = .848); (Putrevu and Ratchford 1997)
I shop around to pick up the best deals	.89^a
I shop in a number of food retailers for their deals	.732 (16.95)***
I’ll visit a few supermarkets for the best deals	.791 (18.45)***

All items were measured on a five-point Likert scale, anchored at 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree.

α = Cronbach’s Alpha, cr = Composite Reliability; ^aCritical value not estimated as loading set to 1; ^bCritical Ratios in Parentheses; ***significant at the .001 level.

Measurement model fit indices: χ2 = 647.08; df = 359; p = .000; GFI = .914; AGFI = .889; CFI = .960; TLI = .951; RMSEA = .042; SRMR= .040.

Table 3. Average variance extracted (diagonal), correlations (lower), and R² (upper).

	Construct
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	Household Financial Pressure	0.77	0.06	0.10	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.10	0.02	0.05	0.07
2	Food Related Information Capital (FRIC)	0.25	0.58	0.24	0.09	0.05	0.01	0.10	0.12	0.01	0.45
3	In-store Price Comparison (ISPC)	0.31	0.49	0.58	0.29	0.31	0.20	0.04	0.20	0.26	0.20
4	Food Related Knowledge Capital (FRKC)	0.04	0.30	0.54	0.60	0.24	0.29	0.01	0.04	0.01	0.05
5	On-pack Information Search (OPIS)	0.06	0.22	0.56	0.49	0.64	0.44	0.01	0.03	0.10	0.08
6	Opportunity Cost of Time Engaged in On-pack Information Search (OPCT)	0.16	−0.10	−0.45	−0.54	−0.66	0.67	0.05	0.09	0.02	0.00
7	Shoppers’ Value Consciousness (SVC)	0.31	0.31	0.20	−0.09	−0.10	0.23	0.61	0.02	0.05	0.18
8	Store Brand Proneness Competing Stores (SBCS)	−0.15	−0.35	−0.45	−0.19	−0.17	0.30	−0.14	0.54	0.11	0.07
9	Deal Proneness	0.22	0.11	0.51	0.08	0.31	−0.13	0.23	−0.33	0.65	0.05
10	Store Brand Smart Shopper Feelings (SBSSF)	0.26	0.67	0.45	0.22	0.28	−0.05	0.43	−0.27	0.23	0.54

Figure 1. Model 1.

Table 4. Results.

	Path Overall Sign	Standardised Coefficient (P value)
H1	FRKC → (-) OPCT → (-) OPIS (+)	.533 (p = .001)	Supported
H2	FRIC → (-) OPIS (-)	.037 (p = .470)	Unsupported
H3	FRIC → (+) SBSSF (+)	.530 (p = .001)	Supported
H4*	FRKC → (-) OPCT → (-) OPIS → (+) SBSSF (+)	.082 (p = .010)	Supported
H5	ISPC → (+) SBSSF (+)	.050 (p = .622)	Unsupported
H6	SVC → (+) SBSSF (+)	.264 (p = .001)	Supported
H7**	SBSSF → (-) SBCS (+)	−.328 (p = .001)	Supported
H8**	FRKC → (-) OPCT → (-) OPIS → (+)SBSSF → (-) SBCS (+)	−.022 (p = .013)	Supported
H9**	FRIC → (+) SBSSF → (-) SBCS (+)	−.177 (p = .001)	Supported

FRKC, Food-Related Knowledge Capital; OPCT, Opportunity Cost of Time Engaged in On-Pack Information Search; OPIS, On-Pack information search; FRIC, Food-Related Information Capital; SBSSF, Store Brand Smart Shopper Feelings; SBCS, Store Brand Purchases in Competing Stores; ISPC, In Store Price Comparisons; SVC, Shopper Value Consciousness.

*The hypothesised signs at each stage of a path are provided. The final sign (bolded) shows the total path as specified in the hypothesis. **Also note that SBCS was scored in the negative.

Figure 2. Model 2.

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