See-Through Analysis of Consumers’ Latent Buying Motives

Reflective analysis of a consumer’s shopping cart can be an enigmatic intention. Not only the ability to pay but a willingness to buy were influenced by many antecedents, such as quality concerns, value for money, perceived enjoyment, self-gratification, role-shopping, and social conformity, varying in different contexts, though these motives were analyzed discretely. Extant literature has rarely tested these multiple buying motives into higher components modeling, leaving an unresolved comprehension gap of unified structural impact. This necessitates an investigation to explore the nuances of such internal psychological constructs, examining their impact on willingness to buy. Using convenience sampling, a Likert-scale questionnaire was distributed for the survey, yielding 428 valid respondents for subsequent data analysis. The disjoint two-stage method was executed for the specification of a reflective-formative structural model using Smart-PLS4. Analytical results have statistically validated the structural model to unveil the at-a-glance relationship of the significant latent variables under investigation. The model fit was parsimoniously robust, and its predictive relevance met the standards. The study contributes to the theoretical expansion in consumer behavior by clearly unveiling the abstract facets of consumer buying motives. This research not only emphasizes but also proves that concurrent buying intentions occur in the mind of consumers, and none can be studied in isolation. This study was focused on Indian retail consumers but may yield dissimilar inferences in other retail contexts. Findings recommend a pragmatic orientation for retail managers to empathize with and balance consumer buying needs, i.e., fulfilling value-based needs, catering to self-gratification driven motives, and recognizing socially inclined causes of shopping, whenever they footfall.