TITLE:
The Buying Impulse and Perceptions of the Physical Self
AUTHORS:
Michael Minor, Tofazzal Hossain
KEYWORDS:
Impulsive Buying, Physical Self-Perceptions, Self-Esteem, General Impulsivity
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.7 No.7,
November
22,
2017
ABSTRACT: General trait-based approaches to the study of
impulsive buying fail to explain the
product-specific nature of this behavior and the relevance of specific self-motives in this context. Two related studies were conducted to understand
the role of domain-specific physical self-perceptions on the context dependent
nature of impulsive buying. The first study
showed that physical self-perceptions are better predictors of
context-specific impulsive buying than global self-measures. The second study grouped people with high and low
physical self-esteem (PSE) to understand the role of PSE on
product-specific, impulsive buying tendencies. Results showed that the
impulsive buying tendency of individuals toward different products changes as a function of the relevance of product to
physical self-perceptions. It was also found that perceived importance
in the physical domain (PIP) may be an underlying factor. Overall, current
research suggests impulsive buying is a product-specific behavior such that
physical self-images along with perceived importance attributed to these images
may affect individuals’ impulsive buying tendencies, depending on the
self-related function of products.