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Understanding college students' compulsive buying tendencies across shopping channels: psychological, affective, and social perspectives

Date

2016

Authors

Howard, Cassandra, author
Yan, Ruoh-Nan, advisor
Ogle, Jennifer, committee member
Ustuner, Tuba, committee member

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Abstract

The concept of compulsive buying is a repetitive behavior that affects many people negatively in terms of emotional and financial well being. The purpose of this study was to analyze compulsive buying among college students across multiple shopping channels. This study considered how various psychological, affective, and social consumer characteristics may influence the likelihood to engage in compulsive buying. The specific psychological characteristics that were analyzed in this study were self-perceived attractiveness and self-esteem. In terms of affective states, the general frequencies of negative and positive forms of affect were considered in relation to compulsive buying. And lastly, perceived parental compulsive buying tendencies and normative conformity were the social variables of interest. A further goal was to identify shopping channel usage frequencies and the types of products that are most commonly sought related to compulsive buying. An online survey was available to undergraduate students from a variety of majors. Results showed that each of the variables held a significant relationship with compulsive buying tendencies, with the exception of self-esteem. Specifically, self-perceived attractiveness, negative affect, perceived parental buying tendencies, and normative conformity, were all positively related to compulsive buying. Additionally, positive affect was found to be negatively related to compulsive buying. It was demonstrated that participants with greater compulsive buying tendencies were more likely to utilize the various shopping channels with greater frequencies than participants with lower compulsive buying tendencies. And lastly, a positive relationship was found between compulsive buying and preference to seek hedonic products, while a negative relationship was found between compulsive buying and preference to seek utilitarian products. This research deviates from prior work by simultaneously analyzing variables within the same study that have previously been considered as mutually exclusive concepts. The potential implications of this study are valuable for researchers interested in the field of consumer behavior.

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