Initial and Ongoing Mystery Shopper Motivations: An Empirical Investigation By Experience Level and an Application of the Theory of Motivational Crowding

Abstract

Mystery shopping has become an accepted method of performance measurement in many industries. This study contributes to the mystery shopping research stream by empirically testing the initial and ongoing motivations of mystery shoppers. Simultaneously, the study also examines whether the theory of motivational crowding is applicable to the mystery shopping industry. Motivations, analyzed with a mixed between–within split plot analysis of variance mostly affirmed the psychoeconomic theory of motivation crowding in the mystery shopping industry. Practical implications of the results indicate a need for optimization of compensation in mystery shopping and a need to analyze mystery shoppers based on experience level to further insure validity of mystery shopping reports.

Keywords:

• Motivational crowding theory
• mystery shopping
• crowding-in
• crowding-out
• motivations
• service encounter evaluation