Individual differences in impulse buying tendency: Feeling and no thinking

A 20-item scale to measure general impulse buying tendency was developed an d validated in two studies. The scale includes cognitive aspects (e.g. lack of planning and deliberation) and affective aspects (e.g. feelings of plea sure, excitement, compulsion, lack of control, regret). The scale correlate d significantly, with reported purchase frequencies of typical impulse prod ucts and number of recent impulse purchases. Impulse buying tendency was fo und to be related to personality-based individual difference measures, incl uding the Big Five. Cognitive and affective facets of impulse buying tenden cy were both related to extraversion. The cognitive facet was inversely rel ated to conscientiousness; personal need for structure, and need to evaluat e. The affective facet was related to lack of autonomy and action orientati on. The results suggested that impulse buying tendency has a strong basis i n personality. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.