창의성은 새롭고 독창적이며 적절하고 유용한 산물을 생산하는 능력으로, 소비영역에서 개인의 창의성은 전형적이지 않은 방법으로 제품을 사용하거나 형태를 바꾸어 사용하는 방식으로 나타날 수 있다. 소비자 자신이 창의적인 방식으로 당면한 소비 문제를 해결할 수 있다는 자신감인 창의적 소비효능감은 소비자의 창의성 발현과 이와 관련된 소비행동에 중요한 역할을 할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 창의적 자극물을 접한 소비자가 기존 용도나 방식과는 다른 창의적인 방법을 통해 문제 해결을 할 수 있을 것이라는 믿음을 가지게 되며 이러한 매개과정을 거쳐 실제 창의적 소비 행동이 증가할 것이라고 예상하였다. 또한 소비자 특성에 따라 창의적 자극물이 창의적 소비효능감에 미치는 영향력이 다를 것이라고 예상하고 개인의 경험 개방성과 지각된 매장 심미성의 조절 역할을 살펴보았다. 20~40대 여성 112명을 대상으로 데이터를 수집하였으며 SPSS 20.0을 사용하여 기술통계, 요인분석, 신뢰도 분석, 붓스트랩 분석을 실시하였다. 붓스트랩 분석 결과, 매장 디스플레이 창의성이 창의적 소비 행동에 직접 미치는 효과는 유의하지 않았으나 매장 디스플레이 창의성이 창의적 소비효능감을 매개로 하여 창의적 소비 행동에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 매장 디스플레이 창의성이 창의적 소비효능감에 미치는 영향을 소비자의 경험 개방성과 지각된 매장 심미성이 조절하는 것으로 나타났다. 매장 디스플레이의 창의성이 높지 않더라도 개인이 새로운 경험을 추구하거나 매장의 심미성을 높게 지각하는 경우, 창의적 소비효능감을 매개로 하여 창의적 소비행동이 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구결과를 통해 소비자의 창의적 소비행동을 이해할 수 있을 뿐만 아니라 기업에서 제공하는 창의적 마케팅 자극물의 효과를 검증함으로써 창의성에 기반을 둔 기업의 마케팅 전략 수립에 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이다.

Consumer creativity in the context of product consumption can offer consumers satisfaction in the process of product consumption experience and help brands induce new product developments and increases in product sales. However, the research on consumer creativity is scarce. The current study aims to explore the effects of creative store display on consumers’ creative consumption behavior. Particularly, we expect that this effect will be mediated by creative consumer efficacy, which refers to the belief that one’s ability to create something new and useful is one of the main motivational drivers of individual creativity. The level of consumers’ acceptance or processing style about the visual stimulus, namely, creative store display, could differ based on personal characteristics. Thus, we explore the moderating effects of personal characteristics, such as openness-to-experience and perceived store aesthetics. To create the environments with creative store display, we manipulate the two levels of creativity in store display. For the condition of a high level of creativity, creative visual structures (e.g., wall design with optical illusions and unique structure) are added to the store. For the condition of a low level of creativity, creative visual structures are removed by keeping the layout and display of products in the store the same. After viewing one of the two types of store image (high vs. low creativity), participants are asked to answer a questionnaire containing a series of questions including creative consumer efficacy, creative consumption behaviors, openness-to-experience, and the perceived store aesthetics. The online survey targets women in their 20s-40s, and the data are collected through online research firms. A total of 112 samples are collected and analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, frequency analysis, and bootstrap analysis through the SPSS 20.0 package. The results of bootstrap analysis show that the direct effect of creative store display on creative consumption behaviors is insignificant. However, the indirect effect, mediated by creative consumer efficacy, is significant, thereby indicating the mediating role of creative consumer efficacy between creative store display and creative consumption behaviors. In addition, the effect of the creativity of store display on creative consumption behaviors is moderated by openness-to-experience and the perceived store aesthetics. To see this moderated mediation effect in detail, we identify the conditional indirect effects, in which condition the mediating effect of creative consumption efficacy is significant (-1SD, mean and +1SD of moderating variables: openness-to-experience, perceived store aesthetics). The result demonstrates that, if people have high levels of openness-to-experience and perceived store aesthetics, the mediating effect of creative consumer efficacy between creative store display and creative consumption behaviors is significant even when store display is not creative. The results of the current study validate that people who have the adequate ability to accept and interpret the creative visual stimuli are likely to have a high level of creative consumer efficacy when they face creative store display. Increased creative consumer efficacy also drives consumers to show creative consumption behaviors. This study focuses on creative consumption behavior as a consequence of consumer creativity. For the future studies, various consequent variables, such as attitudes toward stores, intentions to purchase, and approach behaviors, can be tested to understand the effects of consumer creativity in the context of product consumption. In addition, future studies can broaden the scope of creative stimuli, including other aspects of store environments.