Adolescents’ impulse buying: Susceptibility to interpersonal influence and fear of negative evaluation
Main Article Content
We examined the effects of susceptibility to interpersonal influence and fear of negative evaluation on adolescents’ impulse buying tendency. A survey of 453 adolescents was carried out and we found the greater the susceptibility to interpersonal influence, the greater the tendency to buy on impulse. Likewise, the greater the fear of negative evaluation, the greater the impulse buying tendency.
Scholars focused on the significance of impulse buying during the 1990s. Beatty and Ferrell (1998) defined impulse buying as a sudden and unplanned purchase on a planned shopping expedition. Rook and Gardner (1993) similarly described impulse buying as “an unplanned purchase that is characterized by relatively rapid decision making, and a subjective bias toward immediate possession”. Unlike planned buying behavior, impulse buying behavior is unintended and irresistible (Rook & Fisher, 1995). During the 1990s in the United States, impulse buying accounted for up to 80% of all purchases in certain product categories (Abrahams, 1997), indicating that impulse buying has generated a huge sales volume. Additionally, the growth of e-commerce and an increase of consumer-orientation societies around the world offer more opportunities for impulse buying.
Although extensive data on impulse buying have been collected over the last decade, the focus of much of the research has been on the individual. For instance, Lin and Lin (2005) examined the relationship between personal characteristics and impulse buying tendencies. Lin and Chuang (2005) investigated the effects of individual differences on adolescents’ impulse buying behavior. In an earlier study, Bearden, Netemeyer, and Teel (1989) found that the influence of others is a primary determinant of an individual’s behavior. Further, individuals’ susceptibility to interpersonal influence (McGuire, 1968) and also fear of negative evaluation (La Greca & Lopez, 1998) are two other likely primary antecedents that affect an individual’s behavior.
Scholars have defined individuals’ susceptibility to interpersonal influence as “the need to identify with, or enhance one’s image in the opinion of, significant others through the acquisition and use of products and brands, and the willingness to conform to the expectations of others regarding purchase decisions” (Bearden et al., 1989, p. 473). Individuals may use others’ buying behavior as a justification for their own, and thus feel newly uninhibited about buying (Luo, 2005). Researchers have revealed that when teenagers shopped with friends, they tended to spend more (Mangleburg, Doney, & Bristol, 2004). Furthermore, shopping with friends may help ensure that adolescents make purchase decisions perceived by their peers as being “appropriate”, for example, purchase of a smart phone. Peer groups may reward an appropriate purchase decision with enhanced standing in the group (Mangleburg et al., 2004). In addition, Luo (2005) suggested that shopping with others influences impulse purchasing. Consequently, individuals’ susceptibility to interpersonal influence is considered to be an antecedent that impacts adolescents’ impulse buying tendencies.
La Greca and Lopez (1998) depicted fear of negative evaluation as fears, concerns, or worries regarding negative evaluations from peers (p. 86). Fear of negative evaluation is a central feature of social anxiety, especially among adolescents (Chansky & Kendall, 1997). Teachman and Allen (2007) highlighted the importance and clear relevance of peer relationships during adolescence. Socially anxious adolescents may doubt that their friend truly likes them (Chansky & Kendall, 1997). Moschis and Moore (1979) found that adolescents will take peers’ opinions into account when making consumption decisions. Kocovski and Endler (2000) noted that if an individual’s behavior was not acceptable, then a change would occur to make her/his behavior closer to a reference value.
Because there is still a dearth of research on group-level determinants of adolescents’ impulse buying tendencies (Luo, 2005) and because further research is warranted due to their increasing buying power, we proposed and tested the following hypotheses:
H1: The greater adolescents’ susceptibility to interpersonal influence, the greater will be the impulse buying tendency that adolescents manifest.
H2: The greater adolescents’ fear of negative evaluation, the greater will be the impulse buying tendency that adolescents manifest.
Method
Sample
Using a convenience sampling method, 453 (230 boys, 223 girls) Taiwanese adolescents, aged between 13 and 17 years, were selected to participate in the current study. All of them were high school students.
Data Collection
The survey used in the current study contained two items to assess participants’ demographic characteristics, nine items to measure the degree of impulse buying tendency based on the work of Rook and Fisher (1995), 12 items to measure the degree of susceptibility to interpersonal influence based on the work of Bearden et al. (1989), and eight items to measure the degree of social anxiety based on the work of La Greca and Lopez (1998). All items except those in the first section were measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from .81 to .90, indicating that there was a satisfactory level of reliability. Finally, a median split was used to divide the sample of students into high or low susceptibility to interpersonal influence and high or low fear of negative evaluation (Luo, 2005). We performed t tests to ensure the high-low grouping was effective for susceptibility to interpersonal influence (t = 24.244, p < .05) and fear of negative evaluation (t = 25.536, p < .05).
RESULTS
Impulse Buying Tendency
Items associated with impulse buying tendency are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for Impulsive Buying Tendency
Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence
Items regarding susceptibility to interpersonal influence are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence
Fear of Negative Evaluation
Items concerning fear of negative evaluation are listed in Table 3.
Table 3. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for Social Anxiety
Associations among Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence, Fear of Negative Evaluation, and Impulse Buying Tendency
Two-way factorial analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed to test the hypotheses (see Table 4). A significant effect of susceptibility to interpersonal influence on adolescents’ impulse buying tendencies was revealed (F = 12.106, p < .05). That is, individuals with high susceptibility to interpersonal influence were significantly more likely to buy impulsively (M = 2.601, SD = .364) than were those with low susceptibility to interpersonal influence (M = 2.407, SD = .344). Moreover, our results revealed a significant effect of fear of negative evaluation on adolescents’ tendency to buy impulsively (F = 13.293, p < .05). Individuals with an intense fear of negative evaluation were significantly more likely to buy impulsively (M = 2.605, SD = .370) than were those with little fear of negative evaluation (M = 2.402, SD = .337). Thus, both Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported.
Table 4. Results of ANOVA
Note: * p < .05.
Discussion
The results of our investigation indicate a significant effect of susceptibility to interpersonal influence on adolescents’ impulse buying tendencies; that is to say, adolescents who were more susceptible to interpersonal influence manifested greater impulsive buying tendencies. This finding is consistent with the findings gained by Luo (2005).
The results also show a significant effect of fear of negative evaluation on adolescents’ impulse buying tendencies. This finding is similar to those gained by Chansky and Kendall (1997). They demonstrated that in order to avoid negative evaluation from peers, socially anxious adolescents would exhibit greater impulse buying tendencies.
Adolescents’ impulse buying behavior is important because, increasingly, marketing activities are aimed at this age group. Additionally, shopping has been identified by researchers (Lin & Chuang, 2005) as a daily routine for adolescents and adolescents like to shop with peers. The findings we gained in the present study show the effects of susceptibility to interpersonal influence and fear of negative evaluation on adolescents’ impulse buying tendencies. Accordingly, teachers and parents should be cognizant of this in order to help them spend their money wisely (Lin & Chuang, 2005).
References
Abrahams, B. (1997). It’s all in the mind. Marketing, 27, 31-33.
Bearden, W. O., Netemeyer, R. G., & Teel, J. E. (1989). Measurement of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Journal of Consumer Research, 15, 473-481. http://doi.org/bzj46n
Beatty, S. E., & Ferrell, M. E. (1998). Impulse buying: Modeling its precursors. Journal of Retailing, 74, 169-191. http://doi.org/b5c
Chansky, T. E., & Kendall, P. C. (1997). Social expectancies and self-perceptions in anxiety disordered children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 347-364. http://doi.org/b5d
Kocovski, N. L., & Endler, N. S. (2000). Social anxiety, self-regulation, and fear of negative evaluation. European Journal of Personality, 14, 347-358. http://doi.org/b5f
La Greca, A. M., & Lopez, N. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 83-94. http://doi.org/b5g
Lin, C.-H., & Chuang, S.-C. (2005). The effect of individual differences on adolescents’ impulsive buying behavior. Adolescence, 40, 551-558.
Lin, C.-H., & Lin, H.-M. (2005). An exploration of Taiwanese adolescents’ impulsive buying tendency. Adolescence, 40, 215-223.
Luo, X. (2005). How does shopping with others influence impulsive purchasing? Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15, 288-294. http://doi.org/b5h
McGuire, W. J. (1968). Personality and susceptibility to social influence. In E. F. Borgatta & W. W. Lambert (Eds.), Handbook of personality theory and research (pp. 1130-1187). Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
Mangleburg, T. F., Doney, P. M., & Bristol, T. (2004). Shopping with friends and teens’ susceptibility to peer influence. Journal of Retailing, 80, 101-116. http://doi.org/b5j
Moschis, G. P., & Moore, R. L. (1979). Decision making among the young: A socialization perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 6, 101-112.
Rook, D. W., & Fisher, R. J. (1995). Normative influences on impulsive buying behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 22, 305-313. http://doi.org/b4tmfh
Rook, D. W., & Gardner, M. P. (1993). In the mood: Impulse buying’s affective antecedents. In R. W. Belk (Ed.), Research in consumer behavior (Vol. 6, pp. 1-28). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
Teachman, B. A., & Allen, J. P. (2007). Development of social anxiety: Social interaction predictors of implicit and explicit fear of negative evaluation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 63-78. http://doi.org/b5k
Abrahams, B. (1997). It’s all in the mind. Marketing, 27, 31-33.
Bearden, W. O., Netemeyer, R. G., & Teel, J. E. (1989). Measurement of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Journal of Consumer Research, 15, 473-481. http://doi.org/bzj46n
Beatty, S. E., & Ferrell, M. E. (1998). Impulse buying: Modeling its precursors. Journal of Retailing, 74, 169-191. http://doi.org/b5c
Chansky, T. E., & Kendall, P. C. (1997). Social expectancies and self-perceptions in anxiety disordered children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 347-364. http://doi.org/b5d
Kocovski, N. L., & Endler, N. S. (2000). Social anxiety, self-regulation, and fear of negative evaluation. European Journal of Personality, 14, 347-358. http://doi.org/b5f
La Greca, A. M., & Lopez, N. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 83-94. http://doi.org/b5g
Lin, C.-H., & Chuang, S.-C. (2005). The effect of individual differences on adolescents’ impulsive buying behavior. Adolescence, 40, 551-558.
Lin, C.-H., & Lin, H.-M. (2005). An exploration of Taiwanese adolescents’ impulsive buying tendency. Adolescence, 40, 215-223.
Luo, X. (2005). How does shopping with others influence impulsive purchasing? Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15, 288-294. http://doi.org/b5h
McGuire, W. J. (1968). Personality and susceptibility to social influence. In E. F. Borgatta & W. W. Lambert (Eds.), Handbook of personality theory and research (pp. 1130-1187). Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
Mangleburg, T. F., Doney, P. M., & Bristol, T. (2004). Shopping with friends and teens’ susceptibility to peer influence. Journal of Retailing, 80, 101-116. http://doi.org/b5j
Moschis, G. P., & Moore, R. L. (1979). Decision making among the young: A socialization perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 6, 101-112.
Rook, D. W., & Fisher, R. J. (1995). Normative influences on impulsive buying behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 22, 305-313. http://doi.org/b4tmfh
Rook, D. W., & Gardner, M. P. (1993). In the mood: Impulse buying’s affective antecedents. In R. W. Belk (Ed.), Research in consumer behavior (Vol. 6, pp. 1-28). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
Teachman, B. A., & Allen, J. P. (2007). Development of social anxiety: Social interaction predictors of implicit and explicit fear of negative evaluation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 63-78. http://doi.org/b5k
Table 1. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for Impulsive Buying Tendency
Table 2. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence
Table 3. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for Social Anxiety
Table 4. Results of ANOVA
Note: * p < .05.
The authors thank Vanessa Mousavizadeh for carrying out initial proofreading of this article.
Chen-Yueh Chen, National Chung Cheng University 168, University Road, Min-Hsiung, Chia-Yi County 621, Taiwan, ROC. Email: [email protected]