The phenomenology of perceived value by shopping centers and malls’ browsers

Present study seeks to investigate the perceived value of shopping centers and malls in Iran, as well as its antecedents and consequents. Qualitative research method and hermeneutic phenomenology approach was applied to explore the lived experience of participants from browsing shopping centers and malls. On the whole, 18 men and women, at the age range of 17 to 38 years old, who used to go shopping centers three or four times a month, were selected based on snowball sampling method for further deep interview. Data were analyzed by using coding via Atlasti software. Out of a total of one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight open codes, fourty-nine categories and finally twenty-one themes were extracted. The findings indicate that, the perceived value of shopping center and mall in Iran is made up of 8 values including entertainment value, utilitarian value, social interactions value, epistemic value, escapism value, status value, economic value, and time convenience value. This study using phenomenological approach and has introduced some new categories and themes about perceived value and its antecedents from Iranian customers point of view to shopping centers and malls and hopes for managers, retailers and malls developers by recognizing the perceived value of shopping centers and malls can achieve sustainable competitive advantage.