Conceptual framework
Variables | Expected Relationships | Direction | Representative Studies |
---|---|---|---|
Trait-Related Determinants | |||
Sensation-seeking | Individuals with higher desire to seek novel experiences (e.g., sensation seeking, variety seeking, novelty-seeking) are more likely to engage in impulse buying. | + | |
Impulse buying tendency | Traits that reflect urges to act spontaneously, such as impulsivity, have a significant positive effect on impulse buying. | + | |
Self-identity | Self-identity and its deficits positively influence impulse buying behavior. | + | Dittmar and Bond (2010) |
Motives | |||
Hedonic motives | Hedonic motives have positive effects on consumer impulse buying behavior. | + | |
Utilitarian motives | Utilitarian needs significantly influence impulse buying behavior. | ± | Park et al. (2012); |
Norms | Normative evaluations influence consumer impulse buying behavior. | ± | |
Resources | |||
Psychic | Consumers with greater psychic resources towards a product category are more likely to engage in impulse buying. | + | |
Time/Money | The availability of time and money influence consumer impulse buying behavior. | + | |
Age | Age negatively influences impulse buying behavior. | – | |
Gender | Women are more likely to engage in impulse buying behavior than men. | + | Coley and Burgess (2003) |
Marketing | |||
Marketing stimuli | Marketing stimuli such as discount price, promotion, store ambience, and merchandise have positive effects on impulse buying behavior. | + | |
Mediators | |||
Self-control | Self-control mediates the effects of (a) traits, (b) resources, and (c) marketing stimuli on impulse buying behavior. Self-control influences consumers’ shopping emotions. | ± | |
Positive moods | Positive moods mediate the effects of (a) traits, (b) resources, and (c) marketing stimuli on impulse buying behavior. | ± | |
Negative moods | Negative moods mediate the effect of (a) traits, (b) resources, and (c) marketing stimuli on impulse buying behavior. | ± |
Determinants of impulse buying
Mediators of impulse buying
Contextual moderators
Method moderators
Method
Data collection and coding
Determinant | Description | Aliases | Representative Studies | Example Operationalization |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sensation-seeking | A person’s disposition to seek novel experiences and sensations regardless of the risks involved (Zuckerman 1994). | sensation-seeking trait, variety seeking | ||
Impulse buying tendency | An enduring disposition to act impulsively in a given context (Rook and Fisher 1995). | impulse buying tendency, impulsiveness, impulsivity | Buying impulsiveness uses a 5-point scale containing 9 items (e.g., “I often buy things spontaneously”); Rook and Fisher (1995). | |
Self-identity | The subjective concept (or representation) that a person holds of her- or himself (Vignoles et al. 2006). | self-concept, self-discrepancies (r), identity deficits (r) | Identity deficit was measured with a participant-generated self-discrepancy index on a 5-point, 5-item scale (e.g., “I am ..., but I would like to be ...”; “I worry about this so much that it is ruining my life”); Dittmar and Bond (2010) . | |
Hedonic motives | Affective gratification derived from the sensory attribution of a product or service (Hirschman and Holbrook 1982). | adventure shopping, experience shopping, gratification shopping | Experience-based shopping motives, measured on 7-point, 4-item scale (e.g., “I look around at items on the Internet just for fun.”); Park et al. (2012). | |
Utilitarian motives | An inner drive toward direct economic/functional/practical benefits and values (Foxall 2007). | value seeking, price consciousness | Utilitarian motives, measured on a 7-point, 5-item scale (e.g., “I browse the shopping websites to gather information about products.”); Park et al. (2012). | |
Norms | Informal guideline about what is considered normal social behavior in a particular social unit (Rook and Fisher 1995). | normative beliefs, conformity, isolation, peer influence | Normative beliefs were measured with 10 bipolar adjective pairs (e.g., good-bad, rational-crazy, wasteful-productive) for impulse buying scenarios; Rook and Fisher (1995). | |
Psychic resources | Degree of thoughts and energy devoted to a purchase process (e.g., Andrews et al. 1990). | product involvement, social involvement, fashion involvement, need for touch | Involvement used an inventory of 10 semantic differential items about a product (“Important–Unimportant,” “Matters to me–doesn’t matter”); Jones et al. (2003). | |
Time/Money | Role of resources, such as time and money availability (e.g., Wood 1998). | time availability, time pressure, money availability, financial well-being, time pressure | Lin and Chen (2013) | Time pressure was measured on a 5-point, 3-item scale (e.g. “I feel pressured to complete my shopping quickly”); Lin and Chen (2013). |
Age | Age of the consumer | – | Zhang et al. (2010) | Self-reported age; Zhang et al. (2010). |
Gender | Gender of the consumer | – | Self-reported gender; Zhang et al. (2010). | |
Marketing stimuli – Communication | Degree of persuasion offered by marketing communication mix (Abratt and Goodey 1990) | advertising, direct sales, sales person, pop-up ads; salesperson; in store promotional display | The effect of POP ads was measured on a 7-point scale with 5 bipolar evaluation items (e.g., “Please describe your impression of the in-store POP posters based on your shopping experience today”); Zhou and Wong (2004). | |
Marketing stimuli – Price | Price and price promotion organized by firms to trigger impulse buying (Grewal and Marmorstein, 1994) | lower prices and discounts; sales promotion; price/quality ratio | Lower prices and discounts used 7-point, 3-item scales (e.g., “Discounted prices are very cheap in the shopping website”); Park et al. (2012). | |
Marketing stimuli – Store ambience | Visual and sensory stimuli in online and offline stores, as perceived by consumers (Sharma and Stafford 2000) | layout and display, sensory attributes, visual appeal; | Store layout was measured on a 7-point, 9-item scale referring to light, music, and layout (e.g., “The store has attractive displays”); Mohan et al. (2013). | |
Marketing stimuli – Merchandise | Product variety and attributes offered to the consumer (Park et al. 2012) | variety of selection; attractiveness; new products; retail offers | Product availability was measured on a 7-point, 3-item scale (e.g., “There are a sufficient variety of products available for me in online group shopping websites.”); Liu et al. (2013). | |
Self-control | Ability to control urges, conform to norms and change behavior (Baumeister 2002). | self-monitoring, self-regulatory resources, lack of self-control | Self-monitoring was measured on a 7-point, 5-item scale (e.g., “I have found that I can adjust my behavior to meet the requirements of any situations I find myself in”); Sharma et al. (2014). | |
Positive moods states | Intense positive feelings directed at someone or something (Fishbach and Labroo 2007). | happiness, excitement, pride, pleasure, arousal, joy, glee | Positive moods states, measured on a 6-point, 6-item scale (e.g., stimulating, exciting, inspiring enthusiasm); Weinberg and Gottwald (1982). | |
Negative moods states | Intense negative feelings directed at someone or something (Fishbach and Labroo 2007). | sadness, depression, anger, irritation; anxiousness, boredom, hurt | Negative moods states, measured on a 7-point, 3-item scale (e.g., “I felt lethargic while shopping today”); Mohan et al. (2013). | |
Impulse buying | Spontaneous purchases made without planning and/or reflecting on consequences (Rook and Fisher 1995) | self-reported frequency of impulse buying; observed impulse buying behavior | Impulse buying behavior used two items: “total number of items bought on impulse” and the “proportion of items bought on impulse”; Mohan et al. (2013). |
Integration of effect sizes
Results
Descriptive statistics
Determinants of Impulse Buying | Number of Raw Effects | Total N | Min. zr | Max. zr | Sample-Weighted Reliability Adjusted r | −95% CI | +95% CI | R2 | BESD Based lift | Q-Statistic for Homogeneity Test | p | File-Drawer N |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traits | ||||||||||||
Sensation-seeking | 10 | 2,290 | .03 | .63 | .23* | .12 | .33 | 5.2% | 59.7% | 57 | .00 | 323 |
Impulse buying tendency | 51 | 14,095 | −.46 | 1.29 | .36* | .26 | .45 | 12.8% | 112.5% | 2,172 | .00 | 24,743 |
Self-identity | 12 | 1,656 | −.33 | .52 | .10† | −.03 | .23 | 1.1% | 22.2% | 82 | .00 | – |
Motives | ||||||||||||
Hedonic motives | 24 | 6,979 | −.37 | 1.00 | .34* | .23 | .45 | 11.7% | 103% | 602 | .00 | 7,340 |
Utilitarian motives | 10 | 2,599 | −.11 | 1.10 | .36* | .06 | .60 | 12.9% | 112.5% | 479 | .00 | 731 |
Norm | 28 | 5,953 | −.95 | 1.05 | .27* | .14 | .38 | 7.1% | 74% | 707 | .00 | 4,506 |
Resources | ||||||||||||
Psychic resources | 24 | 5,647 | −.27 | .69 | .18* | .08 | .27 | 3.3% | 43.9% | 328 | .00 | 1,292 |
Time/Money | 21 | 5,718 | .00 | 1.83 | .28* | .08 | .45 | 7.7% | 77.8% | 1,195 | .00 | 2,185 |
Age | 11 | 3,153 | −.44 | .19 | −.05 | −.19 | .09 | .2% | 10.6% | 154 | .00 | – |
Gender (1 = female) | 15 | 3,687 | −.10 | .42 | .09* | .00 | .18 | .9% | 19.8% | 114 | .00 | 142 |
Marketing | ||||||||||||
Marketing stimuli a | 50 | 13,910 | −.19 | .97 | .27* | .21 | .32 | 7.1% | 74% | 646 | .00 | 13,952 |
Communication | 18 | 6,423 | −.03 | .97 | .33* | .22 | .44 | 11.0% | 98.5% | 403 | .00 | 3,302 |
Price stimuli | 13 | 2,730 | −.50 | 1.26 | .27* | .07 | .44 | 7.2% | 74% | 386 | .00 | 1,259 |
Store ambience | 42 | 10,013 | −.05 | .97 | .23* | .17 | .28 | 5.2% | 59.7% | 405 | .00 | 6,806 |
Merchandise | 11 | 2,687 | −.29 | .73 | .17* | .05 | .28 | 2.8% | 41% | 77 | .00 | 251 |
Mediators | ||||||||||||
Self-control | 20 | 3,330 | −.83 | .55 | −.12† | −.28 | .04 | 1.5% | 27.3% | 448 | .00 | – |
Positive moods states | 30 | 7,144 | .00 | 1.13 | .30* | .21 | .38 | 8.8% | 85.7% | 426 | .00 | 4,173 |
Negative moods states | 15 | 4,657 | −.29 | .46 | .09* | .00 | .19 | .9% | 19.8% | 124 | .00 | 149 |
Determinant | Number of Raw Effects | Total N | Min. zr | Max. zr | Sample-Weighted Reliability Adjusted r | −95% CI | +95% CI | R2 | BESD | Q-Statistic for Homogeneity Test | p | File-Drawer N |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DV: Self-control (SC) | ||||||||||||
Impulse buying tendency ➔ SC | 21 | 11,110 | −1.19 | .56 | −.12† | −.29 | .05 | 1.5% | 27.3% | 1,567 | .00 | – |
Hedonic motives ➔ SC | 7 | 1,820 | −.18 | .89 | .16† | −.02 | .33 | 2.6% | 38.1% | 85 | .00 | – |
Utilitarian motives ➔ SC | 3 | 899 | .00 | .52 | .25† | −.13 | .56 | 6.0% | 66.7% | 12 | .00 | – |
Norm ➔ SC | 3 | 601 | −.78 | −.02 | −.32† | −.63 | .09 | 10.1% | 94.1% | 53 | .00 | – |
Psychic resources ➔ SC | 2 | 538 | .01 | .34 | .18 | −.14 | .47 | 3.2% | 43.9% | 12 | .00 | – |
Time/Money ➔ SC | 2 | 2,047 | .04 | .08 | .06* | .02 | .10 | .3% | 12.8% | 1 | .37 | 3 |
Age ➔ SC | 3 | 2,142 | .00 | .33 | .24* | .13 | .34 | 5.7% | 63.2% | 10 | .01 | 124 |
Gender (1 = female) ➔ SC | 2 | 1,196 | −.05 | .00 | −.05† | −.10 | .01 | .2% | 10.5% | 0 | .64 | – |
All marketing stimuli ➔ SC | 4 | 317 | .27 | .68 | .39* | .21 | .55 | 15.6% | 127.9% | 8 | .05 | 52 |
Communication ➔ SC | 1 | 167 | .29 | .29 | .28* | .14 | .41 | 7.8% | 77.8% | – | – | 4 |
Price stimuli ➔ SC | 1 | 90 | .27 | .27 | .26* | .06 | .44 | 6.8% | 70.3% | – | – | 1 |
Merchandise ➔ SC | 2 | 60 | .68 | .68 | .59* | .40 | .73 | 34.8% | 287.8% | 0 | 1.00 | 13 |
DV: Positive moods states (PM) | ||||||||||||
General traits ➔ PM | 2 | 570 | .47 | 1.05 | .64* | .19 | .87 | 40.5% | 355.6% | 28 | .00 | 112 |
Impulse buying tendency ➔ PM | 25 | 7,826 | −.40 | .79 | .26* | .17 | .35 | 6.8% | 70.3% | 501 | .00 | 4,681 |
Self-identity ➔ PM | 2 | 570 | −.01 | .03 | .00 | −.08 | .08 | .0% | 0 | .71 | – | |
Hedonic motives ➔ PM | 8 | 1,979 | .25 | 1.07 | .57* | .40 | .70 | 32.2% | 265.1% | 132 | .00 | 1,034 |
Utilitarian motives ➔ PM | 4 | 899 | .25 | .62 | .30* | .20 | .38 | 8.8% | 85.7% | 4 | .21 | 88 |
Norm ➔ PM | 5 | 1,036 | .05 | .73 | .27* | .04 | .47 | 7.2% | 74% | 53 | .00 | 84 |
Psychic resources ➔ PM | 7 | 1,684 | .04 | .65 | .18* | .08 | .27 | 3.1% | 43.9% | 21 | .00 | 94 |
Time/Money ➔ PM | 2 | 730 | .10 | .12 | .12* | .05 | .19 | 1.4% | 27.3% | 0 | .85 | 4 |
Gender (1 = female) ➔ PM | 1 | 842 | .00 | .00 | .00 | −.07 | .07 | .0% | – | – | – | |
Marketing stimuli ➔ PM | 12 | 3,289 | .01 | .69 | .40* | .27 | .50 | 15.6% | 133.3% | 152 | .00 | 1,731 |
Communication ➔ PM | 4 | 1,383 | .09 | .66 | .29* | .04 | .51 | 8.6% | 81.7% | 57 | .00 | 161 |
Price stimuli ➔ PM | 1 | 401 | .60 | .60 | .54* | .47 | .61 | 29.2% | 234.8% | – | – | 43 |
Store ambience ➔ PM | 11 | 3,229 | .01 | .69 | .38* | .25 | .49 | 14.3% | 122.6% | 190 | .00 | 1,751 |
Merchandise ➔ PM | 5 | 1,205 | .15 | .62 | .34* | .21 | .46 | 11.8% | 103% | 17 | .00 | 188 |
Self-control ➔ PM | 5 | 1,705 | −.06 | .85 | .37* | .09 | .59 | 13.5% | 117.5% | 108 | .00 | 459 |
DV: Negative moods states (NM) | ||||||||||||
Impulse buying tendency ➔ NM | 15 | 5,633 | −.04 | .78 | .21* | .09 | .33 | 4.5% | 53.2% | 320 | .00 | 1,704 |
Hedonic motives ➔ NM | 4 | 1,367 | −.73 | .07 | −.19† | −.40 | .03 | 3.7% | 46.9% | 32 | .00 | – |
Utilitarian motives ➔ NM | 3 | 647 | −.39 | −.15 | −.18* | −.26 | −.09 | 3.2% | 43.9% | 2 | .35 | 14 |
Norm ➔ NM | 3 | 419 | −.37 | .68 | .17 | −.50 | .71 | 2.8% | 41% | 99 | .00 | – |
Psychic resources ➔ NM | 2 | 582 | −1.38 | .01 | −.59 | −.97 | .59 | 34.7% | 287.8% | 88 | .00 | – |
Gender (1 = female) ➔ NM | 1 | 842 | .01 | .01 | .01 | −.06 | .08 | .0% | 2% | – | – | – |
Marketing stimuli ➔ NM | 6 | 1,529 | −.63 | .81 | −.06 | −.37 | .26 | .4% | 12.8% | 152 | .00 | – |
Communication ➔ NM | 3 | 937 | −.20 | .81 | .18 | −.49 | .71 | 3.2% | 43.9% | 139 | .00 | – |
Store ambience ➔ NM | 4 | 1,302 | −.51 | .07 | −.13† | −.27 | .01 | 1.8% | 29.9% | 26 | .00 | – |
Merchandise ➔ NM | 3 | 592 | −.63 | .10 | −.27 | −.67 | .26 | 7.0% | 74% | 24 | .00 | – |
Self-control ➔ NM | 7 | 1,917 | −.74 | .02 | −.29* | −.50 | −.05 | 8.5% | 81.7% | 156 | .00 | 166 |
Positive moods states ➔ NM | 11 | 4,251 | −.71 | .21 | −.23* | −.37 | −.08 | 5.3% | 59.7% | 227 | .00 | 420 |
Evaluation of structural equation model
Construct | Impulse Buying Tendency | Hedonic Motives | Utilitarian Motives | Norm | Marketing Stimuli | Self-Control | Positive Mood States | Negative Moods States | Impulse Buying |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Impulse buying tendency | [.88] | 31 | 12 | 26 | 34 | 21 | 25 | 15 | 51 |
2. Hedonic motives | .36 | [.89] | 9 | 6 | 14 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 24 |
3. Utilitarian motives | .16 | .42 | [.94] | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
4. Norm | .33 | .39 | .55 | [.87] | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 28 |
5. Marketing stimuli | .29 | .33 | .38 | .21 | [.91] | 4 | 12 | 6 | 50 |
6. Self-control | −.12 | .16 | .25 | −.32 | .39 | [.91] | 5 | 7 | 20 |
7. Positive moods states | .26 | .57 | .30 | .27 | .40 | .37 | [.91] | 11 | 30 |
8. Negative moods states | .21 | −.19 | −.18 | .17 | −.06 | −.29 | −.23 | [.90] | 15 |
9. Impulse buying | .36 | .34 | .36 | .27 | .27 | −.12 | .30 | .09 | [.94] |
Determinants of Impulse Buying | Direct | Indirect | Total | Indirect/Total (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Positive moods states | .33 | – | .33 | – |
Negative moods states | .19 | – | .19 | – |
Self-control | −.53 | .13 | −.40 | 20% |
Impulse buying tendency | .14 | .12 | .26 | 46% |
Hedonic motives | .11 | .01a | .13 | 8% |
Utilitarian motives | .54 | −.28 | .25 | 34% |
Norm | −.44 | .42 | -.02a | 49% |
Marketing stimuli | .17 | −.11 | .06 | 39% |
Average | 33% |
Moderator analysis results
Determinants of Impulse Buying | Product- Identity Relation | Price Level | Advertising Intensity | Distribution Intensity | Year | Controls | R2 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rook (non-Rook) | Student (non-student) | ||||||||
k | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | ||
Traits | |||||||||
Sensation-seeking a | 10 | .18 | −.63* | −.22 | .35 | .11 | .40† | −.82* | 65% |
Impulse buying tendency | 48 | .09 | −.45* | .11 | −.19 | .35* | −.09 | −.21† | 38% |
Self-identity | 12 | −.50* | −.35 | −.39 | .04 | −.56* | ̶ | ̶ | 47% |
Motives | |||||||||
Hedonic motives | 24 | .19 | −.43* | .31 | −.16 | .17 | −.03 | .24 | 34% |
Utilitarian motives | 10 | .34 | −.81* | .38 | −.88* | .61* | ̶ | −.53 | 69% |
Norm | 28 | −.52* | .07 | −.33† | .16 | −.12 | .37 | −.04 | 45% |
Resources | |||||||||
Psychic resources | 24 | −.14 | −.87* | −.38* | −.36* | .11 | −.29* | −.23* | 68% |
Time/Money | 21 | −.17 | −.16 | .38 | −.02 | .38 | −.17 | .16 | 23% |
Age a | 11 | −.51 | .20 | .43 | .43 | −.40 | .13 | .32 | 18% |
Gender (1 = female) | 15 | −.29 | .28 | .31 | −.46 | .06 | .34† | .55* | 42% |
Marketing | |||||||||
Marketing stimuli | 50 | .01 | −.03 | −.16 | −.07 | .18 | −.08 | −.11 | 6% |
Communication | 18 | .96* | .17 | −.16 | .77* | .32† | −.35† | .00 | 46% |
Price stimuli | 13 | .41 | −.27 | −.66 | .65 | .51 | −.11 | −.49* | 44% |
Store ambience | 42 | −.13 | −.04 | −.36* | −.09 | .09 | .06 | −.13 | 19% |
Merchandise | 11 | −.25 | −.26 | .49* | −.94* | −.07 | −.41 | ̶ | 44% |
Mediators | |||||||||
Self-control | 20 | .11 | −.41* | −.30 | −.14 | .28 | −.34 | −.17 | 33% |
Positive moods states | 28 | −.15 | −.87* | .08 | −.29 | .64* | .85* | −.26 | 36% |
Negative moods states a | 13 | .61* | .06 | .20* | −.30* | −.11 | .71* | −.40* | 86% |
Implications and directions for further research
Managerial implications
Issues | Implications |
---|---|
Marketing Stimuli | • Retailers need to devise new, unique marketing stimuli to convey the value of their offers and encourage impulse buying. • Communication and price stimuli are more effective than store ambience and merchandise, so managers should invest more in price promotion and advertising campaigns. |
Traits, Motives and Resources | • Identification of the impulse buying–prone customers is possible, and appropriate promotional offers could be devised to attract them. • Likelihood of impulse buying is shaped by traits such as impulsivity and other factors internal to consumers, not as much by readily observable characteristics such as age and gender. Therefore, primary research is required to identify impulse buying customers. • Motivational factors are much more important than controllable marketing stimuli, and therefore, stores and offers need to be designed to match shopper motives. • Consumer resources such as time and money affect impulse buying, so encouraging impulse buying may require reducing the impacts of resource constraints. |
Mechanisms | • Self-control mechanisms can curb impulse buying. Public policy makers need to understand the types of marketing messages and labels that can be designed to curb unhealthy impulse buying. • Norms affect impulse buying, so managers can focus communication strategies on social norms to reassure customers of impulse purchases. • Positive emotions increase impulse buying, so attractive store environments and merchandise cues are important to stimulate impulse buying. • Negative emotions also affect impulse buying; impulse buying that does not stretch consumer resources could be promoted to lift consumer moods. |
Context | • The impacts of consumer traits, motives, and resources are moderated by industry characteristics; managers should understand how their industry context would affect consumer impulse buying. • When product–identity relationships are strong, a greater focus should be on communications, among the various marketing stimuli. Prompts for impulse buying are less effective in industries with higher price levels. • The determinants of impulse buying such as impulse buying tendency and self-identity gain and lose relevance over time, so managers should revisit their assumptions and strategies periodically. |
Directions for research
Issues | Research Directions |
---|---|
Main Effects | • It would be beneficial to explicitly test and quantify the magnitude of the effects of specific marketing stimuli factors. For example, store effects are driven by a host of store elements, such as display, lighting, and music. |
• Effects of different marketing stimuli should be tested not only against one another but also assessed for uniqueness within the industry. Different stimuli appear online (e.g., social media) versus offline (e.g., retail store). | |
• The meta-analysis indicates a rather weak effect of self-identity. Scholars should assess different identity scales and examine different types of consumer identities. | |
• Positive moods are more influential than negative moods. Future studies could explore if negative moods might be stronger than positive moods in some cases, such as when trait variables exert direct effects on moods but also have moderating effects. | |
• We could not differentiate types of norms, but certain social groups such as family and friends could be more influential than others. Furthermore, some social groups (e.g., friends) might encourage impulse buying, while others discourage it (e.g., family). | |
• We assessed time and money constraints in aggregate but lacked data to assess differential effects of time and money. Research on the “time versus money effect” could explain differences between time and money constraints, as well as when time dominates money effects and vice versa. | |
• We examine the impacts of various factors on impulse buying; further meta-studies could examining its consequences (e.g., cognitive dissonance, regret). | |
Interactive Effects | • The meta-analysis demonstrates the importance of the main effects of the various factors. It would be helpful to gain more insights on the interactive effects of traits, motives, resources, and marketing stimuli. |
Mechanisms | • The mediating role of other mechanisms, such as greater in-store attention and sensory mechanisms (e.g., greater visual and tactile responses), on the effects of the selected independent variables on impulse buying needs to be explored. |
Contextual Cues | • Other contextual cues, such as type of trip, stage (beginning vs. end), and the decision stage (search vs. purchase), all need to be tested. • The role of private versus public consumption could be an important moderator. • Other demographic variables (e.g., education, household size, number of children) warrant additional research, because they could drive the magnitude of impulse buying. |
• Most current studies do not consider whether shoppers are alone or accompanied by somebody. Further research could explore this individual shopping context to determine the effects on impulse buying. | |
Type of Methodology | • A majority of studies use surveys and examine correlational data. The effects of various marketing stimuli factors, motives, and resources on impulse buying could be explored using experimental designs, to support causal inferences. • Research needs to explore effects using longitudinal, as opposed to cross-sectional, data. The use of panel data sets might provide enhanced insights. • Eye-tracking could be used to understand impulse buying and obtain greater insights into the role of marketing stimuli, attention, and impulse buying. Do marketing stimuli result in greater impulse buying due to greater or lesser attention devoted to the stimuli (e.g., less attention to price, labels)? • Qualitative research could shed light on why some of our findings conflict with theoretical predictions. |