Understanding Shopping Stress Using Perceived Risk and Cognitive Appraisal Theory: A Synthesis, Elaboration and Application

Abstract

This research synthesizes the literature on cognitive appraisal with the perceived risk literature and suggests that such a synthesis is invaluable not only in increasing our understanding of shopping stress but is an important step in the development of a unified theory of shopping behaviour. It provides directions for future research including placing more emphasis on understanding how the emotions caused by uncertainty affect the shopping experience. It also suggests that the notion of optimal challenge would be useful in understanding how too little and too much uncertainty affects performance.