Why shopping pals make malls different?

• The emotional attachment of shoppers to their mall depends on whom they are shopping with: shopping with friends enhances both shoppers' arousal and apprehension.
• Only arousal mediates the relationship between shopping pal and mall attachment.
• Our findings provide new insight on the psychological processes explaining the relation shoppers develop with their shopping environment.
• We give retail managers guidelines for increasing shoppers' attachment to their malls.

The present study examines the effects of the specific type of ompanion a shopper shops with (i.e., friend versus family member) on the emotional attachment to malls. The study aims to explain this influence through two potential mediators, that is, shopping arousal, and shopping apprehension, the relevance of which has been shown in the extant reviewed psychosocial literature. The emotional attachment of shoppers to their mall depends on whom they are shopping with: shopping with friends affects both shoppers' arousal and apprehension. Only arousal mediates the relationship between shopping pal and mall attachment. Our findings provide new insight on the psychological processes explaining the relation shoppers develop with their shopping environment and give retail managers guidelines for increasing shoppers' attachment to their malls.