Examining the effect of mall entertainment in predicting consumer behaviour: the parallel mediation of escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction

For years, the share of organised retail sales channelised through shopping malls (Gupta and Ramachandran, 2021). Therefore, the mall industry is broadly regarded as a driving force for contributing to economic growth (Ali et al., 2021). Entertainment elements stand out as significant contributors within this vibrant industry and are widely known as the core attractions in shopping malls (Ibrahim and Wee, 2002). It offers multiple experiential services such as events, cinemas, thematic amusement park, virtual reality zones, customised shows and many more, catering to visitors of all ages (Elmashhara and Soares, 2019). They epitomise hedonic aspects and are acknowledged as subjective moments of pleasure (Hallmann et al., 2021); usually, the mainstream focus is to provide unique and extraordinary experiences to people visiting shopping malls. While placed in shopping malls, it aims at offering a wide range of beneficial effects such as magnifying retail atmospherics and enhancing the mall’s environment (Ibrahim and Wee, 2002; Khare et al., 2020). Moreover, entertainment plays a role in tuning the customers’ mood, as it is primarily aimed at enjoyment (Banik and Gao, 2023). However, concurrent with the increasing number of online shopping platforms (Gupta et al., 2024), consumer preferences have shifted from mall consumption to technology-based online shopping. Hence, many people have started to spend time at home. Some previous studies have also revealed that consumers are not only spending less time in shopping malls on each visit but also visiting less often (Li et al., 2023). In essence, India’s organised retail environment seems to be going through a metamorphosis (Reynolds et al., 2002). This trend is changing consumer preferences and setting up “de-malling” trends which either leads towards the emergence of dead malls or their conversion into open-air shopping areas (Wakefield and Baker, 1998). These drifts highlight the necessity of incorporating luxurious entertainment experiences to gain momentum in shopping malls and revitalise the mall environment, thereby providing mall retailers with insights for developing strategies that encourage repeat visits and persistent customer engagement.

Several previous studies have described entertainment facilities in shopping malls (Ibrahim and Wee, 2002; Elmashhara and Soares, 2020; Baghaee et al., 2021). Furthermore, mall entertainment can be enhanced through making individuals feel the need of experiencing it and how relaxing and pleasurable it is (Rossmann and Ellis, 2012). For instance, it has been proven that placing entertainment according to the suitability of customers creates value for them, which is correlated with visitors’ frequent visit (De Nisco and Rosaria Napolitano, 2006). More importantly, in order to implement effective entertainment elements in shopping malls, mall operators must develop an extensive understanding of customer’s behavioural shift with regards to the emerging shopping platforms and recognise the components which could be strategically changed to stimulate their return to shopping malls. In recent years, a growing interest has been seen in studying some particular entertainment activities despite taking everything as a whole. But this study undertakes the whole approach (elements) of entertainment. This whole approach allows for exploration of the experience that a customer gets from discovering the diverse aspects and dimensions of it. Simultaneously, taking into account multiple dimensions might yield a deep, profound insight into the difficulties of the entertainment experience. The central assumption of this field of research is that in a mall environment, a consumer’s behaviour format is affected by the shopping experience, however, the direct and indirect influences of mall entertainment on consumer behaviour remain unidentified. Specifically, understanding how mall entertainment impacts a customer’s decision to come back to a mall is important for mall operators seeking to retain customers. While immediate enjoyment and pleasure are attained by entertainment facilities, their potential to foster revisit intention warrants closer examination.

Numerous earlier studies have studied mall entertainment closely and examined its impact on driving traffic and sales in shopping malls (Christiansen et al., 1999), increasing footfall (Sit et al., 2008) and enhancing mall experience (Sands et al., 2009). However, these results were mainly focused on shopping malls. Consequently, it is currently not known how mall entertainment activities in shopping malls affects consumer behaviour in relation to visitors’ revisit intentions. This study therefore makes an attempt to address this preceded research gap by measuring the impact of mall entertainment on customer’s intentions to return to shopping malls.

This study is divided into seven parts for the ease of readability. First part consists of introduction. In second part, we have stated theoretical background and hypothesis. Further, our paper explains methods, sample, profile of the respondents and measures in third part, which is followed by data analysis and hypothesis testing in fourth part. We have put down discussion on the results in the fifth part, and implications (theoretical and managerial) are discussed in the sixth part of this paper. Seventh part contemplates upon the limitations and future directions of this research.

Self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci and Ryan, 2000) provides a theoretical foundation for this study, which is based on human motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) that connects personality, motivation and optimal functioning (Deci and Ryan, 2012). It states that human motivation is driven by the need to fulfil basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence. According to Deci and Ryan, autonomy refers to a need for the customer to experience feelings of volition and to be in charge of one’s actions, and it entails having choices and alternatives in determining the activities they would like to engage in with regards to their own desires. Relatedness concerns the need to experience feelings of belongingness, connectedness and to establish an emotional bond with others. Competency is defined as the customer’s need to have power over and control of their environment to feel competent in what they do. In the context of the shopping mall industry, these psychological needs are the interface aspects for understanding elements of consumer behaviour. Earlier, Li et al. (2023) applied this theory in understanding mall attractiveness attributes from shoppers’ perceptive. Additionally, in retail marketing with regard to shoppers, SDT has gained a lot of attention (Gao et al., 2018; White, 2015) while it also claims that people retain intrinsic motivations, e.g. discovering new perspectives, curiosity-based behaviours and seeking out optimal challenges (Gilal et al., 2018). Consequently, SDT is a more relevant approach to seizing distinct, i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic, motives while predicting behaviour. Several studies have suggested, that entertainment in general, can provide choices, challenges and relational elements that are favourable to autonomy, competence and relatedness satisfactions, which can be applied in the context of shopping malls as well.

Thus, founded on the theoretical support from the literature, we propose that entertainment activities promote social connection, group enjoyment that enhances relatedness. Along with that, having diverse and engaging activities allows the visitors to choose their preferred form of entertainment that caters to the need for autonomy. Further, distinct entertainment options such as interactive games and live performances often encourage competence as visitors feel a sense of accomplishment through participation or mastery. The intermediary variable, escapism that involves seeking a detachment from daily routine or stressors, is often driven by intrinsic motivation. As stated by SDT, escapism illustrates a response to unfulfilled psychological needs, where getting involved in entertainment provides a sense of relatedness (connection via immersive experiences), autonomy (freedom from routine) and leisure relaxational satisfaction, which is also aligned with SDT’s view that intrinsically motivated behaviours encourage well-being. It is linked with competence, as visitors might feel as though they have achieved their aim of unwinding through engaging in entertainment and relatedness, as leisure settings primarily promote shared enjoyment with family and friends. Lastly, SDT proposes that the fulfilment of psychological needs makes individuals motivated to repeat the experience. Therefore, through these mechanisms, the aforementioned constructs fulfil psychological needs which are aligned directly with the principles of SDT. Stacking the variables on SDT, we move on to the literature for hypothesis development.

In the retail industry, entertainment has been seen as a successful strategy for running businesses successfully. In the context of shopping malls, entertainment is considered as the source of fulfilling the need for pleasure that customers seek other than shopping (Baker and Haytko, 2000; Elmashhara and Soares, 2019). It has the immense power to engage customers, stimulate their emotional engagement and it is evident that participating in mall entertainment has the competence to create enthusiasm and happiness in customers (Sit et al., 2003; wang et al., 2022). Revisit intention can be understood through a customer’s willingness to come back to a place or, in some cases, to resume a service (Li et al., 2024). Literature also shows that customers’ perception of mall entertainment is somehow directly related to customers’ revisit intention.

Further, Elmashhara and Soares (2019) provided an inventory and typology of recreational facilities in shopping malls and examined the relationship between entertainment types and shopper behaviour through a survey of 484 mall shoppers. Additionally, Luo et al. (2021) explored how entertainment tourism affected tourist’s experience and revisit intention. The findings showed the positive relationship between hedonism and revisit intention. Lee et al. (2020) investigated the different types of experiences (one of them was entertainment) influencing visitors’ satisfaction and their intention to revisit.

Earlier, researchers investigated the relationship between entertainment and revisit intention in different domains and only a few research studies focused on shopping malls lacking the holistic approach of determining entertainment as a unified construct. The anecdotes support that, as the experience of shopping becomes integrated with entertainment, the consumers’ emotional connection with the shopping mall strengthens, which might make consumers stay longer, revisit and spread positive word-of-mouth. Based on the arguments provided in previous studies and support from anecdotes, and given the literature gap, we postulate the following hypothesis:

In retail studies, escapism has been found to be a getaway from the worries and monotonous routine. Based on the past studies, it has been understood that customers place entertainment at a premium and escapism acted as the prime motive for them to get involved in mall entertainment (Kuo et al., 2016).

Prior studies have empirically confirmed that elements of entertainment evoke feelings of pleasure, excitement and temporary psychological escape (Sit et al., 2003; El Hedhli et al., 2013; Terblanche, 2018). Nevertheless, much of this literature regards entertainment as a unidimensional construct, being particular on entertainment types (e.g. events and movies) rather than treating as holistic experiential influence. Moreover, prior research has emphasised behavioural outcomes and emotional responses, i.e. dwell time or spending (Dennis et al., 2010; El-Adly and Eid, 2016) without sufficiently addressing psychological mechanism of escapism – the intrinsic desire of customers to disconnect from reality through recreational activities. Moreover, based on the anecdotal evidence, it can be argued that pleasure stimulated through entertainment can be experienced by consumers which enrich the aspects of escapism (Reinecke et al., 2014).

Since the past studies show ample consumers getting involved in the mall entertainment in the past few years, reflecting its need in their lives due an increase in the emergence of stress leading them to find a source of distraction. As a result, consumers are more likely to be seen getting involved to find an escape.

Therefore, assessing the gap in the relationship between mall entertainment and escapism in the context of shopping malls, we propose to form the link between mall entertainment and escapism. Thus, this study postulates the following hypothesis:

Satisfaction is considered to be an imperative component of the entertainment experience (Zhang et al., 2018; Nguyen Viet et al., 2020). In the context of shopping malls, leisure relaxational satisfaction can be referred to the sense of contentment customers drive from involving in leisure activities. Calvo-Porral and Levy-Mangin (2018) stated that customers visit shopping malls not only to shop but sometimes to also rejuvenate oneself through entertainment. Entertainment at malls provides a certain environment which helps consumers achieve relaxation. For instance, mall entertainment offerings such as live performances, cinemas, virtual reality zones and themed attractions and other entertainment options shape consumer’s leisure satisfaction (Calvo-Porral and Levy-Mangin, 2018).

In the shopping mall industry, Alavi et al. (2016) indicated that consumers appear to involve in entertainment activities leading to an emotional and exciting experience, catering to the growth in customers’ desire for experiences. While, Elmashhara and Soares (2019) found that consumers find relief from daily routines when engaging in entertainment elements as it provides individual opportunities to socialise. Also, evidence show that entertainment participation has been chosen by the consumer every time when it comes to experience relaxation and joyful experiences (Tsai, 2010). However, much of the existing literature treated mall entertainment as the outermost component of mall experience, rather than a prime leisure driver that improves psychological restoration. Therefore, given the literature gap this study addresses the need to conceptualise the entertainment as an experiential mechanism that fulfils customers’ leisure and relaxation needs. Thus, the study proposes to investigate the following hypothesis:

Research suggests that customers tend to revisit a place when its services have an experiential nature (Lee et al., 2017). An advance body of literature states that revisit intention is driven by experiences that correlated significantly with it (Barnes et al., 2016). Given the importance of entertainment experiences at shopping malls, they provide emotional gratification and psychological relief, a sign of escapism and most often visitors associated it with positive feelings (Wulf et al., 2018). Consequently, it encourages repeat consumption indicating a desire to visit again. Indicating repeat intentions, mall management emphasise that consumers have interest in the mall entertainment activities related to the extent of getting engaged in it due to a desire of “getting away” (Hallmann et al., 2021).

Previous research studies have also revealed that customer experiences with escapism lead to revisit intention (Wang et al., 2022). Supported by the prevailing consumer behaviour models: an evaluation usually takes place after consumption, that might lead to behavioural intentions (i.e. revisit intention) and thereafter repetitive consumption (Wang et al., 2022). Indicating that emotional benefits attained from escaping into joyful activities reinforce intentions to visit again, as it is a human tendency to regenerate the same pleasurable experiences.

From the above evidence, it is reasonable to formulate that the following hypothesis:

Several studies have demonstrated the association between satisfaction and revisit intention (Loi et al., 2017; Rasoolimanesh et al., 2020). With regards to the mall industry, while addressing the entertainment elements leisure satisfaction plays a significant role to identify the intentions to revisit the shopping mall. Shopping malls promote leisure through entertainment which provides relaxation, in effect, satisfying the customers can significantly impact consumers’ perception towards visiting the mall again (Wakefield and Baker, 1998; Khare and Rakesh, 2011).

Empirical studies conducted in the past have linked leisure satisfaction with numerous behavioural outcomes such as loyalty, revisit intention and positive word-of-mouth (Prayag and Ryan, 2012; El Hedhli et al., 2013). However, the existing study has investigated the leisure satisfaction in other domains such as tourism and hospitality, underlying a contextual and theoretical gap in comprehending its behavioural implications in the domain of shopping mall environment.

Research suggest that a relaxed and satisfied customer through entertainment experiences fosters positive attitude towards malls (Wakefield and Baker, 1998). Based on the empirical evidence and anecdotal support, this study assesses the gap in the relationship between leisure relaxational satisfaction and revisit intention in shopping mall, we hypothesise the following proposition:

A good escapism and leisure satisfaction increase the chance of positive customer reactions, such as intending to visit again or loyalty (Wang et al., 2022). Behavioural intentions such as desire to stay and revisiting are usually built on the kind of satisfaction customers receive and how therapeutic the overall visit was within the shopping malls. A memorable experience which includes relaxational satisfaction and therapy through escapism helps maintain the positive interactions between mall management and customers, enhancing customers’ future intentions (Wang et al., 2022). Previous researches have acknowledged retail, escapism and leisure satisfaction as crucial intervening elements in few organised retail, tourism and hospitality encounters, where consumption, leisure involvement and consumer experiential value positively impact the behavioural outcomes of the customers (Lee et al., 2017; Irimias et al., 2021; Matte et al., 2024). Given the discussion, we intend to fulfil the consumer’s pleasurable needs through mall entertainment, resulting in therapeutic escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction, which is likely to promote the intention to revisit shopping malls. Additionally, mall entertainment enables a fun and engaging yet pleasurable environment to create an escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction for visitors that elicits the desire in them to visit again.

Thus, we hypothesised the following propositions:

Through different research hypothesis, Figure 1 displays the research model.

The questionnaire consisted of 17 items and for measuring the variables the scale was adopted or adapted wherever possible from existing scales. The scale for revisit intention was adapted from Lee et al. (2020) to suit the context of shopping mall and consisted of five items, with response ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. Moreover, before scale adaptation, these indicators were intensively discussed with the panel of five academic experts specializing in retail management and marketing. The scale for entertainment was adapted from Elmashhara and Soares (2019) and the scale included four items, with response ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. The escapism scale was adapted from Gao et al. (2017) and it consisted four items, with response ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. Four items were captured from Di Bona (2000) were utilised for leisure relaxational satisfaction. Modifications to the scales were imperative given the aim of our study and all the research variables were measured using a five-point Likert scale (“1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree”). The final questionnaire also consists of demographic information about respondents (Table 1).

After the scale adaptation, a pre-test was piloted with 35 respondents, before the final data collection to validate the questionnaire. The values of Cronbach’s alphas in the tested results were above the threshold limit of 0.70 suggested by Hair et al. (2015), indicating good reliability. Few changes were made based on the feedbacks from the respondents that substantially helped in enhancing and modifying the questionnaire.

The population of this study includes visitors who are 18 and above and have visited malls that offer facilities of entertainment. The sample for this research includes individuals who have for once experienced mall entertainment, ensuring if they are familiar with the constructs under consideration. Data were obtained from six major shopping malls of Delhi-NCR, India. As a matter of fact, the major hub of shopping malls is located in the city incorporated with unique and a variety of entertainment in it. Thus, the reason for selecting the city for data collection. Following Tsai (2010), this study employed purposive sampling technique. To have an appropriate representation of the sample, non-probability sampling is inappropriate, however, purposive sampling has allowed us to select participants with prior experience of mall entertainment, enabling us to accomplish objectives and obtain findings (Shih et al., 2024). Data were collected through mall intercept technique to administer the survey questionnaire conducted at each mall at several times and days, employing a cross-sectional approach; visitors were randomly solicited and invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire by approaching in different segments of entertainment. Participants were made sure that their data would not affect the shopping mall’s administration and solely be used for academic purposes. Around 750 visitors were contacted but only 490 completed the questionnaire. Since few questionnaires had missing data, a total of 405 were useable. This sample size satisfies the requisite criteria of 384, as proposed by Krejcie and Morgan (1970). In addition, as suggested by Hair et al. (2019) the general indicator of maintaining at least a 1:5 ratio of case to measurement items, was satisfied by our sample size.

Common method bias (CMB) appears when both the independent variable (IV) and dependent variable (DV) are captured through same response method. It does not reflect a correct relationship in the population as it might lead to spurious relationship among the variables. So, it becomes important to look over for common method bias. Therefore, to find the CMB in a data set, Harman’s single factor test was used. Researchers have proposed, if the first factor in the data set reports for more than 50% of the total variance, this might specify the presence of CMB (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The obtained single factor reported for 23.689% of the variance, below the threshold limit of 50%, indicating non-existence of CMB.

In addition, statistical and procedural remedies were implemented to further minimise the likelihood of bias (Hair et al., 2021). During the design of survey, respondents were given assurance of the anonymity and confidentiality to diminish evaluation apprehension and attention was paid that there were no right and wrong answers, strengthening honest responses. Moreover, measurement items for each construct were assigned in separate sections to minimise ambiguity and inference of causality (Mackenzie and Podsakoff, 2012).

To assess the measurement and structural model and to test the hypothesis via the Smart PLS software, this study used structure equation modelling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS) approach was chosen. A PLS-SEM is a variance based analytical technique used to investigate the relationships between constructs simultaneously (Ali et al., 2018). As a matter of fact, the PLS-SEM approach usually implemented in management research provides a robust way for estimating structural models (Hair et al., 2019). Therefore, two systematic procedures: measurement model and structural model were recommended (Hair et al., 2019) in applying PLS-SEM.

Measurement model was performed by conducting two tests: Convergent validity and discriminant validity. As shown in Table 2 Cronbach’s alpha, Factor Loadings, Composite Reliability (CR) and Average Variance Extracted were used for the four constructs in the study. To examine the internal consistency of the constructs the measure of Cronbach’s alpha was taken. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.892 to 0.939 for all the values and were above the cutoff value of 0.70 for the internal consistency of the constructs (Gefen et al., 2000). Through the measure of CR, construct reliability was evaluated. The CR values ranged from 0.925 to 0.953 for all constructs, excelling the minimum cutoff value of 0.70 (Hair et al., 2015) suggesting its adequate reliability. For the evaluation of convergent validity of the constructs, AVE and the measures of factor loadings were used. The factor loadings of all 17 items ranged from 0.855 to 0.926 and were higher than the threshold value of 0.50 (Kline, 2015). The values of AVE for all constructs ranged from 0.754 to 0.815, thus exceeding the minimum value of 0.50 (Hair et al., 2015). Therefore, the results established acceptable convergent validity of all the constructs.

The Fornell and Larcker (1981) criterion was used to assess the discriminant validity (Henseler et al., 2016). Table 3 depicts the results of Fornell and Larcker’s computation, signifying the square roots of AVE are higher than the correlations estimated between constructs, thus establishing acceptable discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). A new approach to check discriminant validity, heterotrait and monotrait (HTMT) ratio criterion was also applied (Henseler et al., 2015). As shown in Table 3, all values of HTMT were less than the recommended level of 0.85, suggesting acceptable discriminant validity in our study (Hair et al., 2019).

Structural model of this study was assessed using the coefficient of determination (R²), the path coefficients (β), effect size (f²) and Q² model fit criteria. Bootstrapping method was performed with 5,000 subsamples to calculate the significance of path coefficients. Table 4 illustrates the results of the bootstrapping. The results showed that mall entertainment (β = 0.131, p < 0.001) had a positively significant effect on revisit intention, thus H1 was supported. Second, mall entertainment (β = 0.629, p < 0.001) had positively significant effect on escapism. Thus, H2 was supported. Third, the result of H3, i.e. mall entertainment has a significant effect on leisure relaxational satisfaction (β = 0.379, p < 0.001). Thus, H3 was supported. Fourth, the research found that escapism has a positively significant effect on revisit intention (β = 0.153, p < 0.001), the H4 was supported. Fifth, hypothesis (H3), regarding the leisure relaxational satisfaction (β = 0.396, p < 0.001) has a significant effect on revisit intention, accordingly H5 was supported (see Figure 2).

The mediating effect of escapism was checked using the bootstrapping procedure. Sixth, the mediating role of escapism was analysed in the relationship between mall entertainment and revisit intention (H6). The findings supported the partial mediation of escapism (β = 0.096, p < 0.007) and thus, H6 was supported. Seventh, the same process was used to check the mediating effect of leisure relaxational satisfaction in the relationship between mall entertainment and revisit intention (H7). The values (β = 0.150, p < 0.000) supported the partial mediation of leisure relaxational satisfaction, thus H7 was supported. The coefficient of determination (R²) above 26% is considered large, suggesting that “mall entertainment”, “escapism” and “leisure relaxational satisfaction” could jointly explain 31.7% of the variance of “revisit intention”. Furthermore, “mall entertainment” could only explain 39.5 of “escapism” variance and 14.4 of “leisure relaxational satisfaction” variance. Therefore, the R² for escapism was large.

To determine the predictive relevance of the research model, Q-square was used. It is a measure of predictive ability of a PLS regression model and in PLS predict, a cross-validated measure of goodness of fit of PLS model (Sarstedt et al., 2019). Q² value ranges from negativity infinity to 1. A Q² value of 1 suggests a perfect prediction and a negative Q² value suggests that the model executes worse than random (Hair et al., 2019). The calculated Q² values of escapism (Q² = 0.392), leisure relaxational satisfaction (Q² = 0.139) and revisit intention (Q² = 0.131), were greater than zero, demonstrating predictive relevance for latent variable in structural model.

F-Square is used to check the effect size. A statistical measure is usually used to calculate the immensity of the effect of an IV on a dependent variable DV in the analysis of regression. F-square values of 0.02, 0.15 and 0.35 are regarded small, medium and large sizes of effect, respectively (Sarstedt et al., 2019). The findings showed that the effect size of mall entertainment on revisit intention (f² = 0.015) was small, whereas the effect size of mall entertainment on escapism (f² = 0.654) was large and on leisure relaxational satisfaction (f² = 0.168) it was medium. Next, the effect size of escapism (f² = 0.019) was small on revisit intention, while the effect size of leisure relaxational satisfaction (f² = 179) was large on revisit intention. According to Hair et al. (2019) and Cohen (1988), the variations in these sizes are expected as predictors vary in their psychological salience and conceptual proximity to the dependent variables. Thus, the varying f² magnitudes indicate the differing explanatory power of all the predictors, comply with the theoretical explanations that mall entertainment driven escapism exerts stronger effects than leisure relaxational satisfaction and revisit intention. Similarly, leisure relaxational satisfaction driven consumer behaviour outcomes (revisit intention) exert stronger effects but escapism driven revisit intention exerts weaker effects.

To address multicollinearity, the variance inflation factor (VIF) was used. VIF values less than the threshold limit of 3 indicates nil and minute multicollinearity (Hair et al., 2019). However, VIF values were found less than 5 for all the constructs. Hence, it was concluded that multicollinearity is not a concern in the data.

The current study examined the relationship between mall entertainment and revisit intention by using SDT (Deci and Ryan, 2000, 2012) and further investigated the underlying mechanism of the relationship by using a parallel model analysis.

The result of our study validated the first hypothesis (H1) that mall entertainment has a significant influence on revisit intention, implying that consumers who engage in and experience mall entertainment are more likely to show the intention of visiting shopping malls for their entertainment. The result is consistent with previous findings of Ouyang et al. (2024) and Ye and Huang (2024) undertaken across varied domains. In addition, the findings also align with the hedonic consumption theory (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982) which argues that consumer behaviour navigates by the pursuit of fun, pleasure and sensory enjoyment.

The result of the second hypothesis (H2) determines the significant and positive influence of mall entertainment on escapism. The results comply with the findings of previous studies Wulf et al. (2022) and Xu et al. (2024), that consumers tend to feel a sense of distraction and find themselves out from their daily stress while experiencing entertainment and feel therapeutic after engaging in leisure activities. Moreover, findings comply with the hedonic consumption theory (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982), emphasizing that consumption is not only utilitarian but is steered by sensory and emotional gratification. The entertainment experiences stimulate fantasy, emotional arousal and allow customers to experience psychological detachment from their monotonous daily routines.

In line with the findings of previous studies (Heo et al., 2011) our study provides empirical evidence for the third hypothesis (H3) that mall entertainment has significant influence on leisure relaxational satisfaction. More importantly, participation in entertainment activities plays an important role in fostering leisure satisfaction that can be relaxing and previous research supports the idea that entertaining activities are an important aspect of people’s daily lives and leisure satisfaction is known to be the by-product of entertainment that comes by default. The results can be aligned with the principles of experiential marketing (Schmitt, 1999), which focuses on customers’ holistic experience. The findings indicate that mall entertainment experiences function as a strategic experiential touchpoint, generating emotional comfort and perceived well-being.

Further, the fourth hypothesis (H4) states that escapism has a significant influence on revisit intention – a finding supported by prior studies (Wang et al., 2022; Dini et al., 2024) across various domains. Further, the finding also confirms occurrences that visitors who had overall therapeutic experience through escapism are more likely to revisit shopping malls. This finding is noteworthy in the context of the shopping mall industry as it shows that escapist experiences are critical for understanding consumer behaviour, specifically revisit intention.

The result of the fifth hypothesis assumed that leisure relaxational satisfaction has a significant influence on revisit intention. The results align with the previous studies (Wu et al., 2018) indicating that when visitors tend to feel satisfaction that is relaxing yet pleasurable, they intend to experience it more often that in turn will drive the customers to visit the shopping mall again.

Lastly, in our sixth (H6) and seventh hypothesis (H7), it is shown how escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction partially mediate the relationship between mall entertainment and revisit intention and were found significant. The findings address a dearth in the literature, validated through the lens of service-dominant logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004a) that envisages value as being co-created through consumer involvement. An interactive platform is provided through entertainment at shopping malls where customers actively engage and drive value-in-use by getting emotional and psychological experiences. Therefore, the observed positive relationships suggest that value co-creation driven by entertainment leads to improved psychological outcomes, i.e. escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction, that translates into revisit intention.

The primary goal of this study was to not just focus on the traditional approaches which focus on the functional or retail aspects of any shopping mall, this study also magnified the understanding of mall entertainment as a multidimensional experience that contributes to behavioural and psychological outcomes. Although, entertainment is recognised in shopping mall literature (Sit et al., 2003) a comprehensive conceptualization of its influence on consumer behaviour across any dimension is lacking. The significance of “Mall entertainment” has been acknowledged in literature over many years (Christiansen et al., 1999; Tsai, 2010). However, we can hardly find any study that provides empirical validation of mall entertainment conceptualization in respect to influencing consumer behaviour. Therefore, this study addresses the gap by logically introducing and measuring effects of mall entertainment on revisit intention of consumers within shopping malls.

Second, this study emphasises the importance of mall entertainment in influencing escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction in the mall industry. The findings contribute to theory by demonstrating that entertainment acts as intrinsic motivation, satisfying consumer’s needs for psychological escape and relaxation.

Third, by demonstrating the role as partial mediators, escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction enhance the theoretical scope in the relationship between mall entertainment and revisit intention. The mediation of escapism enriches the SDT by fulfilling the consumer’s intrinsic psychological need for autonomy and mental detachment through entertainment. The integration of mediation of escapism helps in expanding the knowledge that entertainment not only brings sensory enjoyment but also functions as a motivational and psychological coping tool, reinforcing revisit intention. Similarly, the mediation of leisure relaxational satisfaction theoretically deepens the understanding of how leisure outcomes convert into behavioural loyalty, expanding the SDT’s scope from need satisfaction to emotional well-being in the retail environment.

Fourth, this study identifies the escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction as a strong driver of revisit intention. Furthermore, this study addresses the research gap by developing and empirically testing a conceptual model that focuses on the relationship between mall entertainment and escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction in the context of malls with entertainment in it. The richness of data from considerable shopping malls provides useful insights for future study in the domain of the mall industry.

The study provides several key managerial ramifications for mall managers and operators of shopping malls. The first one focuses on the improvement of mall entertainment as a competitive strategy as mentioned in the literature. Our study validates the positive impact of mall entertainment on revisit intention as a competitive advantage in mall industry. Mall managers and developers can use this relationship strategically by prioritizing and creatively promoting features of entertainment that cater to a broad range of consumer preferences and underscores the importance of developing engaging and high-quality entertainment options. For instance, developing thematic entertainment options such as cultural experience corners and adventure zones that align with the target audience. Further, mall managers should integrate entertainment offers and retail – to shop and play, as one of the promotional activities to give customers reason to return. Hence, mall operators can position themselves as, “we don’t just sell; we offer experience that keeps visitors coming back.”

Secondly, our study demonstrates the positive impact of escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction on revisit intention, with strong implications for owners and managers of malls. This is achievable by creating more opportunities for escapism within shopping malls, by designing more spaces for entertainment, for instance, setting virtual reality lounges, interactive art installations that transport customers into novel and enjoyable settings. Hosting live performances, escape rooms and cultural events give immersive environment for visitors to escape from their daily routines. Therefore, mall operators and managers should prioritise incorporating unique and fun elements of entertainment which can heighten the sense of escapism and increase leisure relaxational satisfaction. Mall managers should therefore create comfortable and calm spaces in shopping malls, such as, designing aesthetically satisfying rest zones with ambient lighting and greenery, as well as offering relaxation lounges with the background music and indoor temperature regulation to support a soothing environment, maintaining that customers expect both relaxation and an escape from daily stress, not just products and services.

Finally, the mediations suggest that mall entertainment is a potent tool for creating escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction, leading to increased intention to revisit. Mall managers can use mall entertainment to enhance escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction to encourage return visits. For example, mall managers should embed extensive opportunities to provide a feeling of escapism and relaxational satisfaction in entertainment options, such as cinemas, they can be built in a dynamic and multipurpose way that a customer can relax by having comfortable seats and food delivered directly to them and therefore the ability to disconnect from distractions. This extent of immersion helps to create an impact on the revisit intention. It can be a powerful tool for mall managers to analyse and understand visitors who might be coming to malls to find a distraction other than indulging themselves in shopping and be able to logically and strategically implement what they are looking for.

Despite contributing to this area of research, this study has limitations that encourage future research. First, the cross-sectional analysis performed may limit the study’s findings. Therefore, to address this limitation, future researchers can go for longitudinal and experimental data collection methods to provide deeper insights. Second, non-probability purposive sampling acts as a limitation in the research; in future, probability sampling techniques such as random or stratified sampling can be employed for accuracy in the selection of respondents, to enhance representativeness and augment the external validity of the findings. Third, this study was held in a single specific geographic area (Delhi-NCR, India) that might restrict the generalizability of findings to other regions or countries with distinct culture or economic contexts. Fourth, the study used the SDT for framing the hypothesised model. In future research, other theories like theory of planned behaviour and hedonic consumption theory can be integrated.

In this study, we examined the mediating roles of escapism and leisure relaxational satisfaction, future studies may examine other mediators such as shopping motivation, social interaction and might also add moderators to expand the scope of understanding. Other outcome variables such as customer loyalty, intention to recommend others could also be incorporated. Future study is also needed to investigate how sustainable entertainment options impact the perception of consumers of mall entertainment.