Gender Differences in the Effects of a Product's Utilities and Identity Consumption on Purchase Intentions

This study will examine similarities and differences among men and women in forming purchase intentions. Theoretically, when exploring purchase intentions, identity consumption is an important determinant in purchase formation on its own, but the mechanism of how it interacts with other purchasing variables is still unclear. In the purchasing context, men are described as more instrumental than women, and women are described as more focused on the shopping experience. Hence, in addition to the main effect of acquisition and transaction utilities, the combination of high levels of identity consumption and a high degree of transaction utility should contribute to explaining purchase intentions among women only. In contrast, the combination of high levels of identity consumption and a high degree of acquisition utility should contribute to explaining purchase intentions among men only. The results show significant independent effects of both acquisition and transaction utilities in forming purchase intentions for both men and women. Interactive effects between utility and identity consumption indicate significance for transaction utility and identity consumption for women, and significance for acquisition utility and identity consumption for men. Implications of the findings for the general theory of consumer behavior as well as managerial insights are also discussed.