Exploring How Consumers’ Social Anxiety Shapes Consumption

Abstract

Consumer behaviors in consumption of retail industry are strongly affected by psychological and emotional factors, with social anxiety playing a crucial role in consumers’ shopping experiences. In this paper, we aim to find the impact of social anxiety on consumer decision-making, especially under the certain context of retail stores. The researcher conducts in-depth interviews to understand how individuals with high anxiety tendencies experience shopping through a qualitative approach. The research examines external factors such as store atmospheres, internal factors such as emotional triggers, and interactional mechanisms in shaping consumers’ shopping behaviors when they encounter social anxiety in the retail stores. By researching its impact on consumption motivations, this study endeavors to shed light on the multifaceted shopping motivations among the consumers encountered in navigating the shopping experience. This finding analysis delves into emotional aspects and social aspects to unravel the intricate interplay between social anxiety and motivations of shopping, which makes contributions to consumer behavior theories and provides meaningful perspectives for marketers to create more inclusive retail environments and shopping experiences for consumers. Grounded in theoretical frameworks such as Shopping Motivation Theory, Compensatory Consumption Theory, and Consumer Culture Theory, this research underscores the imperative of a detailed comprehension of motivation for shopping when consumers feel social anxiety. This understanding is crucial in mitigating the potential negative emotional change while harnessing the benefits of shopping decisions. Eventually, this study makes a contribution to the topic about social anxiety influences the motivation of shopping in the retail stores. This research focuses on offering more specific perspectives about social anxiety that affects shopping motivations to improve the shopping environment for consumers and providing spectacular insights for the marketers, researchers, educators.