How individual impulsivenss moderate the relationship between impulse buying and cognitive appraisal.

Abstract

          The previous study of the role of cognitive appraisal in impulse-buying phenomena explains and defines how customers evaluate their impulse-buying decisions. This paper studies individual impulsiveness as influential factors which can help explain cognitive appraisal by customers. Previous research suggested personality trait in term of impulse buying as individual impulsiveness. Cognitive appraisal shares a fundamental concept with personality traits, in terms of individual differences. This study analyzes the impact of individual impulsiveness, which pays an important role in evaluating impulse-buying decisions by customers. Specifically, individual impulsiveness moderates the relationship between impulse buying and cognitive appraisal. In other words, they affect how a customer interprets the cause of a purchase, as well as product desirability. For a customer with high impulsiveness, the relationship between impulsive buying and outcome desirability will be stronger than a customer with low impulsiveness. Additionally, this paper extends the study to clarify two well-known impulse-buying indicators—whether a hedonic or utilitarian type of product, and the amount of disposable income, could impact the customer’s evaluation of impulse buying.