Abstract
The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures.
Highlights
Buying impulsiveness is consumers’ tendency to engage repeatedly in spontaneous, ‘‘on-the-spot’’ purchases, without consideration of potential consequences [1]
Buying impulsiveness has been conceptualized as a one-dimensional construct that reflects individual differences in purchasing behavior along a continuum ranging from non-impulsive buyers to highly impulsive buyers [1][2]
We analyzed the nature of the interaction by regressing pupil dilation on the continuous measure of buying impulsiveness in each context
Summary
Buying impulsiveness is consumers’ tendency to engage repeatedly in spontaneous, ‘‘on-the-spot’’ purchases, without consideration of potential consequences [1]. Buying impulsiveness has been conceptualized as a one-dimensional construct that reflects individual differences in purchasing behavior along a continuum ranging from non-impulsive buyers to highly impulsive buyers [1][2]. Typical characteristics of impulsive buyers are that they neglect the consequences of their purchasing behavior, and might experience emotional conflicts [3]. Research on impulsive buying commonly uses questionnaires or self-ratings. It often neglects consumers’ physiological reactions, though these reactions might represent an important link between individual traits and behavior [4]. The physiological reaction we suggest to be crucial in impulsive buying is arousal
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