Self-image - is it in the bag? A qualitative comparison between "ordinary" and "excessive" consumers

By H. Dittmar, J. Drury. 2000

410 citations recorded by the source corpus.

An in-depth thematic analysis is presented of 32 interviews, which examined commonsense definitions of impulsive and planned buying, characteristics of typical impulse buy episodes, motivations for impulsive buying, issues of self-image and self-presentation, and regret. Ten interviews each were conducted with “ordinary” men and women consumers, and a further 10 with women classified as “excessive shoppers” (more commonly referred to as “compulsive buyers”). Two male excessive consumers were also interviewed. Distinctive patterns emerged for each different shopper group. Findings show that impulse buying, regret and other concepts have complex meanings beyond those that can be measured easily in survey research, and that the level of sophistication and reflexivity about one’s shopping behaviour is far greater in excessive shoppers. On the basis of the gender differences found, it is proposed that self and shopping are more closely linked for women than for men.

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/93538ae0061d24772638753d02cd6238c9853c15

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

Citations in the corpus

Emotions as a mechanism for boundedly rational agents : the fast and frugal way (2005, background): “Impulse buying can be explained, accordingly, by consumers’ desires to regulate emotions (Elliott, 1994), express a sense of uniqueness and self-identity (Dittmar, 1992), and increase ones self-image rather than by price or usefulness (Dittmar & Drury, 2000).”
Impulse buying: the role of affect, social influence, and subjective wellbeing (2008, background): “Although impulse buying is most often measured in the context of a shopping environment (Rook and Gardner, 1993), there is also strong evidence for chronic individual differences in consumers’ propensity to buy on impulse (Dittmar and Drury, 2000; Hausman, 2000; Verplanken and Herabadi, 2001).”
A structural model of fashion‐oriented impulse buying behavior (2006, background): “Dramatic increases in personal disposable incomes and credit availability have made impulse buying in retail environments a prevalent consumer behavior ( Dittmar and Drury, 2000”
Reflective Model of Brand Awareness on Repurchase Intention and Customer Satisfaction (2020, background): “Social factors such as small groups of consumers, families, group references, roles, and social status can influence consumer responses and influence (Dittmar & Drury, 2000).”
An exploration of consumer resistance to innovation and its antecedents (2009, methodology): “This follows the qualitative document analysis approach of Altheide (1996), as well as in part the approaches taken to interview analysis in previous economic psychology research (e.g., Dittmar & Drury, 2000; Luomala & Laaksonen, 1999).”
Impulsive buying tendency: Measuring important relationships with a new perspective and an indigenous scale (2016, background): “Thus, rationale based or economic cost–beneﬁt oriented models were not found to ﬁt impulse-buying behaviour, and hence, the psychological perspective was given due consideration (Dittmar & Drury, 2000).”
External and internal trigger cues of impulse buying online (2009, background): “Consumers might feel regretful emotions or guilt after an impulse purchase, concerning unnecessarily spent money (Dittmar and Drury, 2000).”
What drives impulse buying behaviors in a mobile auction? The perspective of the Stimulus-Organism-Response model (2018, methodology): “Dittmar and Drury (2000) noted that scenario stimuli can be expressed more easily than personal factors, allowing for easier recognition.”
Are There Cognitive Dissonance Segments? (2003, background): “Research in psychology has found that men are more prone to dichotomous thinking and cognitive distortions than women and that they also experience more anger (Willert Jr. 1995; Pinto 2001), although women are more able to elaborate their reasons for dissonance (Dittmar & Drury 2000).”