Retail mix and retail image amongst women: the mediating role of employee attitude

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.

Table 1. Reliability and convergent validity.

Construct	Codes	Mean	S.D	Loading	Bootstrap t-values	α	C.R	AVE
Store Location and Environment	SLE1	3.488	1.248	0.756	27.104	0.873	0.908	0.664
	SLE2	3.739	1.099	0.854	49.165
	SLE 3	3.676	1.046	0.817	36.519
	SLE 4	3.732	1.138	0.835	39.056
	SLE 5	3.871	1.084	0.808	32.858
Stock/Product Quality	SPQ1	3.446	1.002	0.758	20.893	0.802	0.870	0.627
	SPQ2	3.397	0.984	0.797	32.943
	SPQ3	3.561	1.005	0.822	33.250
	SPQ4	3.439	1.039	0.789	29.707
Retail Pricing	RP1	3.244	1.069	0.807	32.944	0.717	0.841	0.638
	RP2	3.317	1.113	0.846	43.500
	RP3	3.254	1.025	0.739	18.170
Employee Attitude	EA1	3.432	1.132	0.761	26.331	0.833	0.882	0.601
	EA2	3.328	1.070	0.807	31.332
	EA3	3.453	1.079	0.829	41.400
	EA4	3.523	1.074	0.752	21.083
	EA5	3.484	1.077	0.721	19.686
Retail Brand Image	RBI1	3.446	0.970	0.831	31.328	0.805	0.885	0.719
	RBI2	3.429	1.045	0.897	62.519
	RBI3	3.488	1.093	0.815	27.891

Note: All bootstrap t-values are significant at a 0.01 level of significance.

SLE = store location and environment; SPQ = stock/product quality; RP = retail pricing; EA = employee attitude; RBI = retail brand image.

Table 2. Discriminant validity (square root of AVEs in bold-diagonal).

Construct	Fornell-Larcker Criterion					Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT)
	1	2	3	4	5	1	2	3	4	5
1. Retail Store Location and Environment	0.815
2. Retail Stock/Product Quality	0.591	0.792				0.706
3. Retail Pricing	0.464	0.544	0.799			0.574	0.698
4. Employee attitude	0.647	0.562	0.554	0.775		0.754	0.679	0.709
5. Retail Brand Image	0.474	0.532	0.362	0.529	0.848	0.562	0.654	0.466	0.642

Table 3. Predictive accuracy (R²), predictive relevance (Q²) and effect sizes (f²).

Constructs	R^2	Q^2	f^2(Employee attitude)	f^2(Brand Image)
Retail Store Location and Environment	_	_	0.232(Medium)	0.009(None)
Retail Stock/product Quality			0.031(Small)	0.084(Small)
Retail Pricing			0.099(Small)	0.001(None)
Employee Attitude	0.516	0.279		0.067(Small)
Retail Brand Image	0.366	0.238	_	_

Table 4. Structural path results.

Hypothesis	Structural path	Path coefficient	t-value (Bootstrap)	Hypothesis results
H1	Retail Store Location and Environment → Retail Brand Image	0.107	1.415	Not Supported
H2	Retail Stock/product Quality → Retail Brand Image	0.315**	4.000	Supported
H3	Retail Pricing → Retail Brand Image	−0.024	0.322	Not Supported
H4	Employee Attitude → Retail Brand Image	0.296**	3.798	Supported

Note: **t-values are significant at p < 0.01.

Table 5. Mediation of employee attitude on retail brand image.

Exogenous Variables (x)	Path coefficient "a"	Path coefficient "b"	Path coefficient "c"	Indirect effect (a*b)	SD (ai*bi)	T	Mediation Type	Proportion of Mediation
Retail Store Location and Environment	0.425**	0.296**	0.107	0.1258	0.041	3.057	Full	NA
Retail Stock/product Quality	0.165*	0.296**	0.315*	0.0488	0.024	2.033	Partial	0.134
Retail Pricing	0.267**	0.296**	−0.024	0.079	0.026	2.999	Full	NA

Note: **t-values are significant at p < 0.01; *t-value is significant at 0.05.

Table

Scales used		Likert Scale
Constructs	Scales used	Original scales	1	2	3	4	5
Store environment	My retail mall is conveniently located and	My shopping mall is conveniently located	1	2	3	4	5
	The products in the sales store are visible and appealing for purchase	Products in the shop are visible and appealing for purchase	1	2	3	4	5
	It is easy to find products on the shelves because products are well arranged	It is easy to find products on the shelves because products are well arranged	1	2	3	4	5
	My favourite sales store layouts are convenient easy to enhance movement	Shop layouts are convenient easy to enhance movement	1	2	3	4	5
	Lighting in my favourite sales store is adequate to aid product selection	Lighting in the shop is adequate to enhance product selection	1	2	3	4	5
	My favourite sales store’s car park is safe, secured and customer friendly	Car Park is safe, secured and customer friendly	1	2	3	4	5
	Washroom of my favourite sales store is convenient and clean at all times	Washroom of my shop is convenient and clean at all times	1	2	3	4	5
Stock Quality	My favourite sales store always stock quality products	My shop always stock quality products	1	2	3	4	5
	Customer oriented merchandise material promote product selection.	Customer oriented merchandise material promote product selection.	1	2	3	4	5
	Products in the sales store meet the desired quality standards.	Products in the shop meet the desired quality standards.	1	2	3	4	5
	Products in the sales store are of my desired quality.	Products are of my desired quality.	1	2	3	4	5
Price of Product	Products sold in my favourite sales store meets price value	Products sold meets price value	1	2	3	4	5
	There are frequent/special sales promotion to influence purchase	There are frequent/special sales promotion to influence purchase	1	2	3	4	5
	Gift redemption vouchers are common in the sales store	Gift redemption vouchers are common in the shops	1	2	3	4	5
	Products in the sales store are moderately priced	Products are moderately priced	1	2	3	4	5
	The sales store has reasonable return and exchange policy on bad/unsuitable products	The store has reasonable return and exchange policy on bad/unsuitable products	1	2	3	4	5
			1	2	3	4	5
Employee Attitude	Employees of my favourite sales store are friendly possessing the right knowledge products and their location	Employees of my shop are friendly possessing the right knowledge products and their location	1	2	3	4	5
	Employees empathize with clients when necessary.	Employees empathize with clients when necessary.	1	2	3	4	5
	Employees demonstrate high sense credibility during transactions	Employees demonstrate high sense credibility during transactions	1	2	3	4	5
	Employees are willing to speck local language to enhance customer interaction	Employees are willing to speck local language to enhance customer interaction	1	2	3	4	5
	Body languages of employees are warm and welcomed.	Body languages of employees are warm and welcomed.	1	2	3	4	5
	My favourite sales store has taken advantage of social media to promote their business	My shop has taken advantage of social media to promote their business	1	2	3	4	5
Retail brand image	Retail branding creates a good brand image for my sales store	Franchise branding creates positive brand image for my shop	1	2	3	4	5
	Retail brand has made my sales store competitive	Franchise branding has made my shop competitive	1	2	3	4	5
	Retail brand creates positive brand perception	Franchise branding creates positive brand perception	1	2	3	4	5