Diante do crescente potencial de consumo das camadas de baixa renda, esta pesquisa se baseia nas escalas de Babin, Darden e Griffin (1994) e de Machleit, Kellaris e Eroglu (1994) com o objetivo de investigar o comportamento de compra hedônico e utilitário relacionado à percepção de crowding (aglomeração) do consumidor de baixa renda em dois centros de consumo. A partir da pesquisa quantitativa, realizada com 404 consumidores em ambiente real de varejo, os resultados revelaram que os indivÃduos dos dois locais mostraram-se propensos ao comportamento utilitário e demonstraram sentir-se mais incomodados pela aglomeração no centro de consumo com menor infraestrutura. Houve indÃcios de que esse incômodo foi menos intenso em consumidores hedônicos.
Considering the great potential of low-income consumption, this research is based on the scales developed by Babin, Darden and Griffin (1994) and by Machleit, Kellaris and Eroglu (1994), aiming to investigate hedonic and utilitarian consumer behavior and its relation with low-income perception of crowding. A research was performed with 404 consumers in real store environment and the results showed that consumers revealed being prone to utilitarian behavior in both centers. About crowding phenomenon, the consumers felt more uncomfortable by crowding at the commercial center with less infrastructure. There were indices that this discomfort was less intense in hedonic consumers.
