CHAPTER 1 - University of Exeter

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Chapter 1 - Introduction
enjoy shopping more than men. Campbell (1997) has also shown that men and
women have distinctly different ideas about what the purpose of shopping seems to
be. Men tend to think of it as a work type activity, while women think of shopping as
something to be done and enjoyed. Furthermore, Lunt and Livingstone (1992) have
also found that shopping still seems to be a gendered activity at least in the western
world. At the same time however, several researchers have argued that men are
becoming more interested and involved in shopping behaviours (Bakewell &
Mitchell, 2001; Otnes & McGrath). This thesis aims to find out if there are
differences between men and women with regards to shopping behaviours and if
there are difference what these might be.
As mentioned above this thesis focuses on shopping as a recreational activity
and therefore it asks several questions. The main question, which drives this thesis is
whether shopping still is a gendered activity in the 21 st century, and if so why and in
what ways.
In addition, supplementary questions will drive the investigations for each
empirical chapter presented in this thesis. As mentioned above, the evidence about
gendered shopping is still mainly contradictory. Consumer research conducted in the
80s and 90s seems to suggest that women are the predominant shoppers, while
consumer research conducted from 2000 onwards seems to suggest that men as well
as women are active participants in consumer culture. To understand this more
clearly Chapter 3 asks: Do men and women experience shopping differently or the
same? Andto see if there are situations where men, as well as women, enjoy
shopping more than in general Chapter 4 looks at the contextual factors and asks if
product involvement can have an impact on shopping enjoyment for men and
women. The introduction and discussion of the background literature (especially the