Abstract

The aim of the present thesis is to conduct an investigation into which responses of the music consumption experience contribute to the enjoyment of and intention to purchase music by consumers across musical genres, and how these responses may be influenced by consumers' pre-consumption mood. Literature in psychology and music education suggested that there are four general categories of hedonic responses that consumers experience while listening to music and are related to their enjoyment and purchase intentions: sensorial, emotional, imaginal and analytical responses. These responses may contribute differently to the overall enjoyment of music, where their impact on consumers' enjoyment may depend on the musical genre of the stimulus and their pre-consumption mood. Two separate but complementary studies were conducted to investigate consumers' responses to music across musical genres and the effect of their pre-consumption mood on their enjoyment of the listening experience and subsequent behavioral intentions. The results of these studies indicated that consumers' enjoyment of the music consumption experience is related to different responses depending on whether they are in a positive or negative pre-consumption mood and the musical genre heard.