The Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Consumers' Hedonic Purchasing Behavior

In recent years, it has been observed that the phenomenon of consumption has rapidly changed not only in the dimension of purchasing goods and services but also in terms of emotional and psychological satisfaction elements. Particularly, hedonic consumption behaviors are related to the level of enjoyment and happiness individuals gain from shopping. Emotional intelligence is the ability of individuals to understand and regulate their own emotional states and to understand the emotions of others. While hedonic purchasing behaviors contain significant information regarding how an individual meets their emotional needs during the shopping process, emotional intelligence is closely related to the individual's ability to manage this process. At this point, emotional intelligence can directly affect whether an individual derives genuine satisfaction from the shopping process or experiences regret. The main objective of this research is to examine how individuals' emotional intelligence guides their hedonic purchasing behaviors. In the study, data obtained from a survey conducted with consumers residing in Mersin province, using the “Emotional Intelligence†developed by Wong & Law (2002) and the “Hedonic Purchase Scale†developed by Babin et al. (1994), were analyzed with Structural Equation. Modeling to reveal the relationship between emotional intelligence and hedonic purchasing behaviors. SEM indicates that Others’ Emotion Appraisal (β=0.370, p=0.007) positively predicts hedonic purchasing behavior, whereas Regulation of Emotion (β=0.176, p=0.148), Self–Emotion Appraisal (β=-0.006, p=0.0959), and Use of Emotion (β=0.037, p=0.751) are non-significant.