| Title |
Perceived Complexity in Fashion Retail Stores and Consumer Affective and Behavioral Responses |
| Authors |
김지안(Kim, Jian) ; 이소연(Lee, Soyeon) ; 김시은(Kim, Sieun) |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.14774/JKIID.2026.35.5.097 |
| Keywords |
Retail Store Experience; Perceived Complexity; Consumer Behavior; PAD; Mediating Effect |
| Abstract |
This study examined how perceived complexity in a fashion retail environment relates to consumers’ affective responses, store preference, and purchase intention, with a focus on the indirect roles of pleasure, arousal, and dominance (PAD). Unlike previous studies that compared stimuli with different levels of complexity, all participants viewed the same typical retail environment, thereby holding its physical features constant and allowing individual differences in perceived complexity to be examined. An online survey was administered to 151 adult consumers recruited through Prolific. Participants explored an interactive 360° panoramic virtual store developed using SketchUp and Enscape and then rated perceived complexity, PAD affective responses, store preference, and purchase intention. Parallel multiple mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS Model 4. Perceived complexity was positively associated with all three PAD dimensions, with the strongest association observed for arousal. Significant indirect effects on purchase intention emerged through pleasure, arousal, and dominance, whereas significant indirect effects on store preference emerged only through pleasure and dominance. The direct associations between perceived complexity and either outcome were nonsignificant after the PAD dimensions were included. These findings suggest that perceived complexity is related to consumer responses primarily through differentiated affective pathways. Rather than treating lower complexity as inherently desirable, retail designers should consider how design complexity is experienced in terms of pleasure, arousal, and perceived control in relation to specific consumer responses. |