Consumer Behavior on Impulsive Buying free essay sample

With the growth of e-commerce and television shopping channels, consumers have easy access to im-pulse purchasing opportunities, but little is known about this sudden, compelling, hedonically complex purchasing behavior in non-Western cultures. Yet cultural factors moderate many as-pects of consumer’s impulsive buying behavior, including self-identity, normative influences, the suppression of emotion, and the postponement of instant gratification. From a multi-country survey of consumers in Australia, United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, our analyses show that both regional level factors (individualism–collectivism) and individual cul-tural difference factors (independent –interdependent self-concept) systematically influence impulsive purchasing behavior. Impulsive consumer buying behavior is a widely recognized phenomenon in the United States. It accounts for up to 80%of all purchases in certain product categories (Abrahams, 1997; Smith, 1996), and it has been suggested that purchases of new products result more from impulse purchasing than from prior planning (Sfiligoj, 1996). A1997 study found that an es-timated $4. 2 billion annual store volume was generated by impulse sales of items such as candy and magazines (Mogelonsky, 1998). Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping (1999), affirms that many purchases are being made on the premises of stores themselves as cus-tomers give in to their impulses. Furthermore, technologies such as television shopping channels and the Internet expand consumers’ impulse purchasing opportunities, increasing both the accessibility to products and services and the ease with which impulse purchases can be made. Impulsive buying behavior is a sudden, compelling, hedonically complex purchasing behavior in which the rapid-ity of the impulse purchase decision process precludes thoughtful, deliberate consideration of all information and choice alternatives (Bayley Nancorrow, 1998; Rook 1987; Thompson, Locander, Pollio, 1990; Weinberg Gottwald, 1982). This description is largely based on interviews and surveys of Westerners. The growth of e-commerce and the increasing con-sumer- orientation of many societies around the world offer expanding occasions for impulse purchasing, but little is known about impulsive buying behavior in non-Western so-cieties. Most of the research on impulse buying focuses on consumers in the United States. A few studies have looked at consumers in Great Britain (Bayley Nancarrow, 1998; Dittmar, Beattie, Friese, 1995; McConatha, Lightner, Deaner, 1994), and South Africa (Abratt Goodey, 1990) and have found that United States consumers tend to be more impulsive than comparable British and South African sam-ples. However, none of these studies examined explicitly the effect of cultural factors on impulse buying behavior. A recent special issue of the Journal of Consumer Psy-chology dealt with cultural issues demonstrating the growing interest in cultural differences in consumer behavior and highlighted the importance of understanding the cultural con-text of consumer behavior in an increasing globalized mar-ketplace (Maheswaran Shavitt, 2000). We believe that JOURNAL OF CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY, 12(2), 163–176 Copyright  © 2002, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Requests for reprints shoul d be sent to Jacqueline J. Kacen, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1206 S. Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Email: [emailprotected] edu IMPULSE BUYING Impulse buying is defined as â€Å"an unplanned purchase† that ischaracterized by â€Å"(1) relatively rapid decision-making, and (2) a subjective bias in favor of immediate possession† (Rook Gardner, 1993, p. 3; see also Rook, 1987; Rook Hoch, 1985). It is described as more arousing, less deliberate, and more irresistible buying behavior compared to planned pur-chasing behavior. Highly impulsive buyers are likely to be unreflective in their thinking, to be emotionally attracted to the object, and to desire immediate gratification (Hoch Loewenstein, 1991; Thompson et al. , 1990). These consum-ers often pay little attention to potential negative conse-quences that may result from their actions (Hoch Loewenstein, 1991; Rook, 1987; see also O’Guinn Faber,1989). Previous research conducted in the United States and Great Britain (individualist cultures) has shown that many factors influence impulsive buying behavior: the consumer’s mood or emotional state (Donovan, Rossiter, Marcoolyn, Nesdale, 1994; Rook, 1987; Rook Gardner, 1993: Wein-berg Gottwald, 1982), trait buying impulsiveness (Puri, 1996; Rook Fisher, 1995; Weun, Jones, Beatty, 1998), normative evaluation of the appropriateness of engaging in impulse buying (Rook Fisher, 1995), self-identity (Dittmar et al. , 1995), and demographic factors, such as age (e. g. Bellenger, Robertson, Hirschman, 1978; Wood, 1998). Several studies demonstrate the effect of consumers’ moods and affective states on impulsive buying behavior. Rook and Gardner (1993) found that consumers’ positive moods were more conducive to impulsive buying than nega-tive moods, although impulse buying occurred under both types of moods. Beatty and Ferrell (1998) also found that a consumer’s positive mood was associated with the urge to buy impulsively, while the impulse buyers in Weinberg and Gottwald’s (1982) study were more â€Å"emotionalized† than nonbuyers. Donovan et al. 1994) discovered a positive asso-ciation between consumers’ feelings of pleasure in the shopping environment and impulse buying behavior. In each ofthese studies, pleasurable feelings led to increased unplanned spending. Cognitive, clinical, social, developmental, and consumer psychologists have studied the general trait of impulsiveness and impulse control (Eysenck Eysenck, 1978; Eysenck, Pearson, Easting, Allsopp, 1985; Helmers, Young, Pihl, 1995; Hilgard, 1962; Logue Chavarro, 1992; Logue, King,Cavarro, Volpe, 1990; Mischel, 1961; Puri, 1996; Rawlings, Boldero, Wiseman, 1995; Rook Fisher, 1995; Weun et al. 1998). Trait impulsiveness is characterized by unreflective actions (Eysenck et al. , 1985) and is si gnificantly correlated with thrill-seeking (Weun et al. , 1998), and the psychological need to maintain a relatively high level of stim-ulation (Gerbing, Ahadi, Patton, 1987). Rook and Fisher (1995) recently developed a nine-item measure of trait buy-ing impulsiveness that was significantly correlated with im-pulse buying behavior. In addition, they found that consumers’ normative evaluation of the appropriateness of engaging in impulse buying in a particular situation moder-ates an individual’s trait impulsiveness. Specifically, when consumers believe that impulse purchasing is socially accept-able, they act on their impulsive tendencies, but when it is so-cially unacceptable these tendencies may be thwarted. The literature on compulsive shopping (Elliot, 1994), self-gifts (Mick, DeMoss, Faber, 1992), and impulse pur-chases (Dittmar et al. , 1995) highlights the role of perceived social image and the expression of self-identity in the pur-chase decision. Dittmar et al. 1995) hypothesized that im-pulse purchases were more likely to be items that symbolize the preferred or ideal self and as such should be affected by social categories such as gender. They argued that women value their possessions for emotional and relationship-ori-ented reasons, whereas men value their possessions for func-tional and instrumental reasons. The results of the study supported their hypothesis: Men reported more personal (in-dependent) identity reasons for their purchases whereas women reported more social (relation al) identity reasons. An individual’s impulsive behavior tendencies have also been related to demographic characteristics such as a con-sumer’s age. Based on a national sample of adults in the United States, Wood (1998) found an inverse relationship be-tween age and impulse buying overall. However, the relation-ship is non-monotonic — between the ages of 18 and 39 impulse buying increases slightly and thereafter declines. This is consistent with Bellenger et al. (1978) who found that shoppers under 35 were more prone to impulse buying com-pared to those over 35 years old. Research on trait impulsive-ness indicates that younger individuals score higher on measures of impulsivity compared to older people (Eysenck et al. , 1985; Helmers et al. , 1995; Rawlings et al. , 1995) and demonstrate less self-control than adults (Logue Chavarro, 1992). Because impulsiveness is linked to emotional arousal, this finding concerning the relationship between age and im-pulsiveness is consistent with studies of emotions and emo.