The Influence of Emotional Response and Aesthetic Perception of Shopping Mall Facade Color on Entry Decisions—Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Region of China

Abstract

Color is one of the essential visual aesthetic design elements for shopping mall building facades, dramatically influencing customers’ aesthetic perceptions, emotions, and behavioral responses. This study explains the relationship between shopping mall facade color and customers’ emotions, aesthetic perceptions, and behavioral responses by applying the S-O-R model. A total of 149 subjects evaluated ten computer-generated shopping malls with different façade colors, and each subject was asked to rate their emotional and aesthetic perceptions and decide whether or not to enter the shopping mall. The results indicate that neutral colors lead to higher pleasure and higher aesthetic perceptions; warm tones and high brightness lead to more positive emotions and aesthetic perceptions; color is positively correlated with aesthetic perceptions; and emotions and aesthetic perceptions positively influence entry decisions, with pleasure being a key predictor of entry decisions. This study elucidates for the first time the process by which shopping mall façade color affects shoppers’ aesthetic perceptions, emotions, and entry decisions; expands the theoretical literature related to environmental psychology; and at the same time, bridges the theoretical gap of shopping mall façade color as a stimulus in the S-O-R model, and provides designers and operators with a strategy for visual attractiveness in the color of the shopping mall’s architectural façade.