| Abstract [eng] |
Relevance of the topic. According to Statista (Statista, 2020), 37% of households had at least one dog and 32% had at least one cat. In Western Europe, the animal products industry is growing rapidly, in 2020 market value reached 33 billion euros (Euromonitor International, 2021). In modern society, animal becomes not a utilitarian benefit provider, but a valuable member of the family (Boya, Dotson, & Hyatt, 2012). Pet-related consumption has been extensively analyzed in consumer behavioral and psychological sciences. A study by Cheong and Yi (2014) revealed that dog owners buy for their pets as if they buy for themselves. As consumerism grows, the pet becomes a baby substitute who needs to be taken care of and essential products needs to be bought (Vänskä, 2013). Research has also revealed that consumers may be strongly, moderately, or weakly attached to their pets (Boya et al., 2012). Chen et al. (2012) showed that the relationship between consumer and their pet is particularly important in the analysis of pet-related consumption, for which attachment to the pet is greatly important. It has been observed that the relationship between personality traits and pet-related consumption has not yet been extensively studied, but the impact of personality traits on consumption has been analyzed in a variety of contexts, e.g. food consumption (Conner et al., 2017), experiential consumption (Mehmetoglu, 2012). The relationship between personality traits and consumption, as confirmed by research, suggests that personality traits should also affect pet-related consumption. Main results of the project. An empirical study revealed that neuroticism and agreeableness have a positive impact on social value – the stronger neuroticism or agreeableness, the more important social value of pet-related consumption. The results also showed that consumers with stronger consciousness, neuroticism, or openness to experience, give more importance to functional value. It has been observed that consumers who have greater openness to experience or agreeableness, give more importance to epistemic value. However, it was found that extraversion did not significantly relate to epistemic value. The results of the study revealed that consumers who have a higher consciousness, give more importance to economic value. Empirical research has shown that consumers with higher neuroticism, consciousness, or agreeableness are more attached to their pet, yet the consciousness has the strongest effect on pet attachment. The results also showed that openness to experience does not affect attachment to the pet, and extraversion, contrary to expectations, is positively related to attachment to the pet. The results showed that consumers who are more attached to their pets, gives more importance to functional and epistemic values. It was also observed that, contrary to expectations, social value also has a positive effect on pet attachment, while economic value doesn‘t. |
