The role of self-esteem, negative affect and normative influence in impulse buying

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the roles of self-esteem (SE), negative affect (NA), and consumer susceptibility to normative influence in the enactment of impulse buying behavior. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical model is developed through an extensive review of literature. Survey research is conducted to collect the data from respondents. Structural equation modeling is performed to test the model and the hypotheses. Findings – The outcome of the study reveals that the act of impulsive buying is preceded by buying impulse (BI). BI is positively influenced by consumer susceptibility to normative influence and impulsive buying tendency (IBT). SE influences the generation of BI partially mediated by IBT. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited in its generalizability in terms of its geographic location, culture, and the context of product categories. Practical implications – The findings of the study have practical implications in developing marketing communications, merchandising, and personal selling strategies. Originality/value – In view of the contradictory empirical evidences in extant literature regarding the role NA the present study re-examines whether NA influences impulse buying. The study, conducted in the field setting also ascertains the external validity of the findings not tested in the prior research. Furthermore, in light of psychology literature, the relationship between SE and IBT was hypothesized and empirically established in the present study.

The Relationships Between Instagram Social Media Usage, Hedonic Shopping Motives and Financial Literacy on Impulse Buying

“…The results showed that there is a positive correlation to online impulse buying. Similar results were obtained by previous researchers (Bandyopadhyay, 2016;Mohan, Sivakumaran, & Sharma, 2013;Nayebzadeh & Jalaly, 2014), that impulse buying tendency positively affects impulse buying behavior. Chusniasari & Prijati (2015) found results that hedonic shopping has a significant and positive influence on impulse buying of Pointbreak Tunjungan Plaza Surabaya's customers.…”

A diary study of impulsive buying during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…For instance, based on Indian samples, Mohan et al (2013) found that the relationship between negative affect and impulsive buying is not significant. Both Bandyopadhyay (2016) and Liu et al (2019) confirmed that negative affect can stimulate impulsive buying, while Bellini et al (2017) indicated that negative affect may inhibit impulsive buying. Hence, further examination of this issue is imperative, in view of these contradictory empirical evidences.…”

“…Impulsive buying has been loosely defined in literature as spontaneous, immediate, and unplanned purchase (D'Antoni Jr & Shenson, 1973;Rook & Fisher, 1995;Stern, 1962), often triggered by stimuli (Rook, 1987). Prior research found that impulsive buying is driven by a variety of psychological factors, such as affect, or affective state (Bellini, Cardinali, & Grandi, 2017;Mohan, Sivakumaran, & Sharma, 2013;Verplanken et al, 2005), impulse tendency (Lucas & Koff, 2017;Nagar, 2016), self-esteem (Bandyopadhyay, 2016), self-identity and self-image (Lucas & Koff, 2017), upward social comparison (Liu, He, & Li, 2019), long-term orientation (Aparecida Lehmann, Krug, & Falaster, 2019), and aspects of the big five personality factors (Bratko, Butkovic, & Bosnjak, 2013). By reviewing the extant literature, it can be clearly found that impulsive buying is an emotion-related behavior.…”

Human Crowding or Spatial Crowding? The Impact of Perceived Crowding on In-store Impulse Purchase

“…He posited that exposure to impulse stimuli brings in individuals affective reactions and individuals feel sudden spontaneous urge or impulse to buy something. If the urge is stronger than the willpower of individuals (to restrain buying urge), impulse buying gets exhibited unless thwarted by situational impediments (Dholakia, 2000;Beatty and Ferrell, 1998;Bandyopadhyay, 2016). In the words of Beatty and Ferrell (1998), "felt urge to buy impulsively is a state of desire that is experienced upon encountering an object in the en environment.…”

“…I include urge to buy as the proximal determinant of the act of impulse buying. Impulse buying can't take place without the generation of uncontrollable impulsive urges in response to stimuli (Hoch and Lowenstein, 2011;Beatty and Ferrell, 1998;Mohan et al, 2013;Bandyopadhyay, 2016).…”