Effects of background music on consumer behaviour: behavioural account of the consumer setting

Abstract

Consumer atmospherics is a research area that investigates the effects of specific environment characteristics on consumer behaviour. The behavioural perspective model was proposed as a behavioural account of consumer settings. The purpose of this research was to present a method for investigating an atmospheric variable in a consumer setting. The quality of background music of a mall was manipulated, observing its effects on consumer behaviour in two stores. Results showed that in the higher quality condition, there was an increase in cash flow and in verbal reports of pleasure and a decrease in conversion rates. The interpretation of these results as a motivational operation is proposed. The results point to further investigation of scenario features related to reinforcement contingencies and their effects on consumer behaviour.

Keywords:

• atmospherics
• behavioural perspective model
• background music
• consumer behaviour analysis

Notes

A kind of country music originally from Brazil.

The relationship between motivational operations and consumer behaviour is not new and has been detailed in Fagerstrøm, Foxall, and Arntzen (2010).