Compulsive vs. Non-Compulsive Buyers’ Behavior Research Paper

Introduction

There is no doubt that over time the issue of compulsive buying has attracted the attention of public policy advocates and academicians interested in studying consumer behaviours (Kuzma & Black, 2006). Scholars have established a number of characteristics that are eminent in compulsive buyers and they include: majority are females, documentation of the concepts is recent despite the fact that it might have occurred back in 1900s, the present increase of compulsive buying is partially attributed to increased emphasis on and availability of materials possession in consumer culture, people use product to enhance their identity, hence, increased addiction of buying certain products (Wesson, 1991).

Since buying of goods and services is linked to various factors, this paper tries to examine the relationship between pricing and compulsive buying. The research was carried out and co-authored by Kukar-Kinney, Monika, Ridgway, Nancy and Monroe Kent. It was published in 2011 in New York by Elsevier Inc. It is worth noting that these researchers have published several work in the field of consumer behaviour. This, thus, provides a clear background about their credibility in carrying out this research. Their assumptions and generalization can be relied upon.

Over the years, it has been shown that compulsive buying behaviour has been increasing not only in the United States of America but also in the entire world (Vyse, 2008). Previous scholars have linked the concept of compulsive buying with a number of factors such as low self-esteem, materialism, loneliness, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors among others. This study analyzes the association between the tendency of consumers to engage in compulsive buying and their response to changes in the process. The study is based on a survey of consumers of internet clothing retailer.

The group intends to critically analyze this paper in totality providing all the processes from the development of hypothesis on the basis of existing literature, the methodology used, results and discussion. With this, it will be possible to suggest any improvement, if indeed, they will be for future studies in the same file. It is worth mentioning that to accomplish this, the following will be thoroughly scrutinized, problem statement and purpose, review of the literature and theoretical framework, hypotheses, sample, research design, instruments, data analysis and conclusion, implications and recommendations.

Problem statement and purpose of the study

It is worth noting that the authors applied a lot of effort in ensuring that it is possible for readers to fully understand the context behind their study. By approaching the study from a wider perspective, the authors have prepared the readers in understanding what their work entails. In the introduction section, they have defined compulsive buying. They went further in briefly defining the major characteristics associated with compulsive buying (Vyse, 2008).

The authors have dug various literature and have found out that the issue of pricing and compulsive buying has not been adequately addressed. The way compulsive buyers respond to changes in prices is very important since this group of customers is more often than not vulnerable to shopping triggers and fully depends on their buying activities. This kind of behavior can make them experience undesirable financial problems such as too much credit, bankruptcy, serious family arguments among others (Inman, McAlister & Hoyer, 1990).

From the problem identified, the study thus sought to establish how compulsive buyers recognize and respond to prices and price promotions compared to non-compulsive buyers. Similarly, the purpose of the study expresses a relationship between two variables dependent and independent variable, compulsive buying and changes in prices as well as price information (Francis, 2004).

The authors postulate that compulsive buyers are prone to sale and are sensitive to price changes. There is also no doubt that the population of the study is those individuals who exhibit compulsive buying behavior. Lastly, although the authors did not directly mention the significance of the study, it is apparent that the findings will help in shading more light on how compulsive buyers respond to prices; this will later help them make right decisions and avoid finding themselves in financial difficulties, heated family arguments and bankruptcy (Kukar-Kinney, Ridgway & Monroe, 2012).

Hypothesis formulation and literature review

The main assumption of the research is compulsive buying behavior is sensitive to changes in prices and price information. Additionally, compulsive buyers have a wide knowledge of store prices; they are conscious of the brand, sensitive to prestige, sale prone, more price-conscious and derive greater transaction value from price promotions compared to no compulsive buyers.

For this study, there is a set of 7 hypotheses each testing different attributes with regards to compulsive buying. They are:

1. Compulsive buyers are more likely to be price-conscious than non-compulsive buyers.
2. Compulsive buyers will exhibit a higher level of store price knowledge than no-compulsive buyers.
3. Compulsive buyers are more likely to be sale prone than non-compulsive buyers.
4. Compulsive buyers will perceive the transaction value from a price promotion to be greater in comparison with non-compulsive buyers.
5. Compulsive buyers are less likely to infer quality on the basis of the price than non-compulsive buyers.
6. Compulsive buyers are more likely to be prestige sensitive than non-compulsive buyers.
7. Compulsive buyers are more likely to be brand conscious than non-compulsive buyers.

To arrive at these hypotheses, the authors critically examined previous work related to compulsive buying behavior. Since they found out very little evidence showing any relationship between compulsive buying and changes in prices, the problem was developed. To address the problem fully the seven hypotheses were deemed suitable. For the fists hypothesis, the following authors were used to help the researcher formulate H1; Lichtenstein, Bloch, & Black, 1988; Lichtenstein, Ridgway & Netemeyer, 1993 for a definition of price consciousness.

According to Alford & Biswas, 2002, compulsive buyers are more likely to engage in an increased rate of price comparison. Similarly, according to Jin, Sternquist & Koch, 2003 lower prices seem to help compulsive buyers overcome the feeling of guilt, shame and remorse particularly after buying services or goods. The dependent variable is compulsive buying while the independent variable is price consciousness.

For H2, the definition by Monroe, 2003, Vanhuele & Dreze was adopted. According to Magi & Julander, 2005 and Ofir, 2008, the researchers used their findings where they established that product experience influences customers’ knowledge of products and the more customers are exposed to prices the more their chances of having wider knowledge on store prices. As suggested by Kukar-Kinney, Ridgway & Monroe 2009, consumers who exhibit compulsive buying behaviors have a higher chance of frequently engaging in shopping and spending more time on purchases this gives them the opportunity too understand store prices. The dependent variable is a compulsive buyer and the independent variable is knowledge of store prices.

For H3, previous scholars have shown that reduction in prices helps sellers to tackle the issue of the sacrifice made by buyers when purchasing a product. On that effect, sales signs usually attract the attention of buyers (Inman, McAlister, & Hoyer, 1990 and Lichtenstein, Ridgway, & Netemeyer, 1993). When prices are lowered, consumers may perceive that the may derive high value.

Lower prices also offer compulsive buyers with an opportunity to buy as well as elevate the feeling associated with remorse and guilt when buying products (Faber & O’Guinn, 1992). When products are obtained at a lower price, consumers have the opportunity to enjoy hedonic benefits linked to that product. There is no doubt that a positive experience or feeling when buying is an important process for compulsive buyers, hence hypothesis H3 where the dependent variable is the compulsive buyer and independent variable is sale prone (lower prices).

Existing literature links psychological satisfaction and financial terms related to a deal. According to Aboujaoude, Gamel, and Koran 2003, the process of buying is enjoyed very much by compulsive buyers. One way businesses have mastered this is to engage in sales and promotion where customers are provided with an opportunity for fair deals. There are instances where some compulsive buyers feel high when buying goods and a better financial deal can make them feel even ‘higher’. Financial deals can also give them an excuse to engage in buying which later helps them get satisfaction and avoid feeling guilty about their actions, thus H4.

The dependant variable is compulsive buyer while the independent variable is transaction value For H5, it has been noted that most buyers when they do not have enough time at their disposal to judge the quality of a product usually resort to using the price to make a purchase decision. However, since compulsive buyers have gained knowledge on price stores coupled with the ability to evaluate quality, they will not rely on prices to judge the quality of a product as well as arriving at a decision to buy such a product (Kukar-Kinney, Ridgway & Monroe 2009).

Experts in consumer behavior such as disastrous 1990, Dittmar &Drury 2000, Faber & O’Guinn 1992, and Benson 2000, McElroy, Phillips, & Keck 1994 have established that most compulsive buyers are characterized with low self-esteem. As a result, they will try all it takes to compensate this in whatever manner. One way to do this is by purchasing products such as clothes among others to help them enhance their worth in the eyes of others. For instance, the majority of women due to the feeling of low self-esteem buy clothes and jewelry to boost their esteem as well as reinforce self-image, hence, H6 where the dependant variable is a compulsive buyer and independent variable is prestige sensitiveness.

Lastly, since there has been a relationship between shopping enjoyment and compulsive buying, hedonic benefits and purchasing national brands, compulsive buyers are more likely to engage in buying national brands compared to non-compulsive buyers. Additionally, there is a link between the national brand and self-esteem (Ailawadi, Neslin & Gedenk, 2001). To that, effect compulsive buyers are deemed to be more sensitive to brand compared to non-compulsive buyers. The dependent and independent variables are compulsive buyers and brand conscious.

In addition to the hypotheses developed, there are two research questions that were developed under H3 which revolved around whether compulsive buyers are more or less susceptible than noncompulsive buyers when it comes to sales and bargains and whether compulsive buyers obtain more value from the arising opportunities. Indeed, all the hypotheses are testable and the direction of the relationship is positive (Amaratungo, Baldry, Sarshar &Newton, 2002).

We found out that the researchers went the extra mile in trying to define all the variables used while carrying out a literature review. The theoretical framework was also well constructed. Concerning the credibility and currency of the secondary sources used, the majority of them were published between 1991 and 2001. This means that they heavily relied on materials of the 20^th century. The breakdown of the references used is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Books and Journals used

Methodology

The researcher adopted a positivist approach because they support a quantitative approach that uses scientific techniques to study social realism (Bryman and Bell 2003). Additionally, also the use of practical settings, developing hypotheses and testing them supports our argument to indicate a positivist approach. The major drawback of this approach is its inability to be flexible, on the same note, the processes involved are not easily understood (Amaratungo et al, 2002). However, a positivist philosophy is one of the more accepted approaches to research conducted within fields such as customer behavior (Amaratungo, Baldry, Sarshar &Newton, 2002).

The design adopted includes both inductive and deductive respectively (Saunders, Lewis & Thronhill, 2007). To accomplish the aims of the study, the authors carried a national survey of customers of an internet women’s clothing retailer. In any study, either an inductive or deductive approach can be taken in research; a deductive approach has been taken in this study as its findings are compared with, and used to validate the application of theories and the findings of previous studies conducted by established academics of the same field. Additionally, the deductive approach entails the formulation and testing of hypotheses based on the data collected (Wallace, 2011).

It is also evident that the researchers moved from a qualitative approach from the introduction culminating to a quantitative approach in the methodology section. There are some drawbacks associated with the quantitative data collection approach and one of the criticism does not provide a critical description of the issue at hand (Creswell, 2003).

Concerning the sample, it is evident that the selected sample was chosen based on researchers’ knowledge, they were interested in the behaviors of online shoppers. Although it was not clear what sampling strategy was adopted, we strongly believe that the researchers used random sampling (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2000). After identification of the target population, they randomly sent mails to 1490 customers and based on the bounce-back messages from this an invitation as well as the link to the survey were sent to 1,310 customers. Due to technical issues the number reduced to 1,294 from which only 314 respondents to the survey question.

We strongly believe that the sample selected only represent compulsive buyers who buy through the internet, and it does not, however, represent those who engage in the traditional purchase (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson & Lowe, 2008). Similarly, since it is evident that thousands of Americans have adopted technology when doing business, the respondent’s rate of 314 individuals is nota clear representation. To that effect, a response rate of merely 24.3% in our view does not warrant any generalization of the results to wider population size. The results can only be generalized to a population of compulsive online shoppers (Beiske, 2002).

Desired data were also collected from secondary sources where it supplemented the data obtained through online questionnaires. Additionally, the tool for data collection is indeed similar to all the participants; they were sent a link that contained the same questionnaires. The researchers did not fully address the issue of subject protection. Similarly, they failed to justify why they gave the participants $10 reward or free shipping on their next order of a value up to about $25.0. The authors tried to make readers understand that while sending the mail to inform the customer about the study, only those who responded positively were included in the study. The response they gave ought to have included informed consent (Saunders, Lewis & Thronhill, 2007).

According to Polit & Beck, 2010, the validity of the questionnaire known as a level of which the tool processes and what it is proposed to process. The questionnaire to be used should be effective to find out all points which are proposed in the study. For the study, this was guaranteed by using a compulsive measure that was recently developed by Ridgway, Kukar-Kinney & Monroe in 2008. On the other hand, as suggested by Robson (2007), the reliability of the questionnaire means the ability to have the same results in the same situations, but from different people.

LoBiondo-Wood, G & Haber, J 2010, suggested that for one to do a stability test, it is better to use the test-retest approach on a part of a population. As suggested by Collis & Hussey & 2009, the reliability coefficients rate from 0.00 to 1.00 is desirable. In this research, reliability was analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha, the value stood at 0.84. In our view, the reliability of the instrument was adequate since it ranged between the generally accepted brackets (Kukar-Kinney, Ridgway & Monroe, 2012).

Data analysis

Since data analysis is one of the sensitive sections in any research study, the authors of this article tried their level best in ensuring that the readers understand the levels of measurement used when measuring each and every major variable (Holah, 2011). For instance, there is a section in the questionnaire where they used a Likert scale; this meant that some variables were ordinal. Descriptive statistics in the form of tables and percentages were used (Beiske, 2002).

For instance, the authors let us know that while categorizing respondents as either compulsive or non-compulsive, their percentages were 16.0% and 84.0%. Concerning inferential statistics, the authors carried out MANOVA to test the 7 hypotheses. For instance, when testing H1 it was established that for compulsive buyers M=4.94, F=5.19 (df=255), p=0.02 meaning that the hypothesis was supported. Through the knowledge gained in the class, we agreed that the inferential statistics were used appropriately to the content of the hypotheses. We were of the view that the method used to test the hypotheses was appropriate since MANOVA is the only method of statistical analysis that successfully compares between groups (Burns & Grove, 2011).

Since data analysis entails setting a level of significance, the researchers set the level of significance at 0.1 or 90% confidence level. Lastly, concerning the use of tables and figures, the researcher managed to use only tables in reporting their findings. Indeed, the tables are well labeled and referred to inside the text. Similarly, they are clean and less crowded hence it is easy for one to read. The two tables are Table1, Construct inter-correlations and reliabilities Table 2 Results of hypotheses test all on page 67. More importantly, the tables do not repeat the text. It is our view that the researcher could have used figures such as graphs and pie charts to represent the results concerning compulsive and non-compulsive buyers.

Results and discussion

From the analysis and the discussion of the results, it is evident that the researchers maintained a higher level of consistency. They did not at any time contradict their findings (Robson, 2007). For instance, where the p-value was less than 0.1, the hypotheses were supported. Additionally, the authors did not just report their findings but tried to link the same with existing literature (Jones, M & Rattray, 2010). This is indeed consistent with what they did when developing the 7 hypotheses. There is no doubt that, indeed, all the 7 hypotheses were fully tested.

Conclusion, implications, and recommendations

From data analysis and discussion, the postulated relationships between compulsive buying and the price response constructs were all supported. However, price-quality inferences were not supported. Based on these results, the interpretations offered by the researchers are in the context of the research problem and purpose. As mentioned earlier, the findings were linked with the findings in the existing literature. For every finding, the researcher gave a thorough explanation. The generalization made from the study is that compulsive buyers are more likely to respond to prices whether the same have a positive or negative role. Additionally, compulsive buyers are vulnerable to buying highly-priced and prestigious product compared to their non-compulsive counterparts (Burns & Grove, 2011).

The research clearly shows that the findings will indeed help retailers particularly those who sell products online. Since consumers need to be frequently reminded of new products, changes in prices among others, when online retailers engage in frequently reminding their customers of prices, new products, and promotions, will help them increase sales since it might trigger compulsive buying (Jones & Rattray, 2010). The researchers were indeed careful to only generalize their findings to online customers and particularly women; this was within the scope of the findings considering the sample used. The researchers make a number of recommendations;

1. Future studies need to use samples from customers who buy from brick and mortar stores
2. There is a need to have a more heterogeneous sample
3. There is a need to examine the relationship between compulsive buyers and price inferences using compulsive buyers who are narrowly defined, psychiatrically identified.
4. Future studies should examine a small number of compulsive buyer with more emphasis on the shopping experience, best deals as well as motivations
5. Similarly, another research should be carried out to examine in depth the link between knowledge on prices and compulsive buying since the present study only obtained only a subjective estimate of price knowledge

Since this study is one of its kinds, there are no previous studies that exhibit similar findings.

Summary

From the critical analysis of the article, it is evident that the researchers were consistent from the beginning. There is a logical flow of ideas starting from the introduction, development of the research problem, justification, hypotheses development, review of literature, methodology through data analysis to a conclusion. Generally the work can be easily understood and interpreted by even those who do not have a background in statistics since the numbers have been put in words. We have no doubt that the work will form a strong foundation for further studies.

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