Is Dispositional Mindfulness Associated with Impulse Buying - Coursework Example

Running Head: DISPOSITIONAL MINDFULNESS AND IMPULSE BUYING. Is dispositional mindfulness associated with impulse buying? Name: Institute: 01-05-2010. Abstract. Although a lot of research has been done on the relationships between impulse buying and other psychological aspects, little has been done in relation to dispositional mindfulness. In almost all aspects, there seems to be a clear indication that these two variants seem to draw a relationship. In the light of this, dispositional mindfulness has been proved to have a huge impact on consumer tendencies such as impulse buying judging from the correlation and regressions obtained during the study. Introduction. At one time or another every human being has experienced some kind of impulse buying. Impulse buying, according to Rook, 1987, is simply the making of unexpected and unplanned for acquisitions of items through buying. This arises as a result of internal forces and external factors like sentiments of excitement which result from some external stimulus or stimuli. But despite the dimension of impulse buying, the mind and human feelings are involved either directly or indirectly which result to such sudden action. Despite this, many people still remain unaware when they experience these kinds of feelings and most of them think that by making such purchases is the right and the only right thing to do. Although impulse buying is a self indulgent behaviour, it really doesn’t fit into classification of the well known models of behaviour (Verplaken et al, 2005) simply because its rationality in the thought of choice is hard to fit into the frameworks of theories of thought such as the theory of reasoned action. It can be an enjoyable task but when it becomes too much, it turns destructive and thus making it interesting for further investigation. Although it is widely acceptable that impulse buying is considered as a fun activity, psychologically, it is known to assuage unpleasant feeling within an individual and thus triggering diversions in psychological perspectives. There is poor understanding of the psychological perspectives of impulse buying as it relates to the cognitive and other psychological aspects simply because there has been little work that has examined the same and this thus calls for further investigation into this kind of behaviour. Although it highly manifests itself in a given shopping environment, there has been clear evidence that it does not uniformly apply to all individuals. This thus means that it varies according to individual differences. Mindfulness on the other hand is the conscious attention that makes an individual aware of both the internal and external stimuli that accompany individual experiences. Mindfulness thus presents one with a chance of taking precautionary measures given the awareness of the consequences that would accompany a forthcoming experience. Dispositional mindfulness on the other hand simply refers to the state of the mind that allows for unawareness of both external and internal stimuli that would accompany a forthcoming experience. This quality of the mind makes humans to overlook any precautionary measures regarding a forthcoming experience. There have also been other evidences that point towards risk taking behaviour and the outcomes of the risks involved. This thus prepares the mind on the grounds of danger approach. This is because mindfulness is an attentional creation to external stimuli while trying to avert unpleasant outcomes (Christenson & Marcotte, 1995). In this perspective therefore, it becomes clear that mindfulness results in proactive measures unlike lack of it which leads to tendencies like spontaneous activities with regrettable characteristics. Since impulses results from instantaneous feelings, which thus means that with mindfulness there results in proactive strategies; there is likelihood of avoiding such impulsive feelings with mindfulness in place. This simply gives an implication that mindfulness averts impulses when they are well thought out and when this is put in relation to shopping whereby impulses rush while on a shopping spree and, mindfulness can thus help to avert impulsive buying. On the other hand, dispositional mindfulness and impulse ought to have a stringent relationship since there has been a previous mindfulness. It is interesting to learn how dispositional mindfulness can affect impulse buying at some point. According to previous research on the issue of dispositional mindfulness, there seems to be a subconscious part in the dispositional aspect and this might play a part when it comes to decision making whether it comes spontaneously or through some later mindfulness. This therefore sets the pace for the commencement of this investigation in order clearly lay down the premises on the relationships that exist between dispositional mindfulness and impulse buying. A lot of previous research has been focussing on the cognitive, affective and other psychological domains. Methodology. A questionnaire with a 20 item and 15 additional items chosen to be used in the study was administered to two hundred students with a hundred being male and the rest being female at an English speaking university. Their average age of all these respondents were 22.0 and the standard deviation being five. Impulse buying tendencies were measured using the Impulse buying tendency scale with items like “I usually think carefully before I make any purchase” were applied and the results of the questionnaire kept. This twenty item scale consists of the affective sub-domain with items that have a relationship to feelings of excitement, the urge to make a purchase and lack of control, the cognitive scale with items related to feelings of lack of planning and deliberations related to associations to making purchases. All the responses in the study were in relation to the five point Lickert Scale with a coding such that items that indicate strength are those with a high score. Both sub-domains that is the cognitive and the affective showed good internal reliabilities with subscales of values of 0.89 and 0.84 respectively. Affect was measured using the 20-item positive affect and negative affect scale (PANAS) The questionnaire sample was as follows. 1. I usually think carefully before I buy something. 2. I usually only buy things that I intended to buy. 3. If I buy something, I usually do that spontaneously. 4. Most of my purchases are planned in advance. 5. I only buy things that I really need. 6. It is not my style to just buy things. 7. I like to compare different brands before I buy one. 8. Before I buy something I always carefully consider whether I need it. 9. I am used to buying things 'on the spot'. 10. I often buy things without thinking. Under these key terms numerals; Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly and Agree 11. It is a struggle to leave nice things I see in a shop. 12. I sometimes cannot suppress the feeling of wanting to buy something. 13. I sometimes feel guilty after having bought something. 14. I'm not the kind of person who 'falls in love at first sight' with things I see in shops. 15. I can become very excited if I see something I would like to buy. 16. I always see something nice whenever I pass by shops. 17. I find it difficult to pass up a bargain. 18. If I see something new, I want to buy it. 19. I am a bit reckless in buying things. 20. I sometimes buy things because I like buying things, rather than because I need them. Results  Following screening to ensure the assumptions of the analyses were met, correlational analyses were conducted to evaluate the main predictions regarding the relationships between the Mindfulness factors and impulse buying. Means and standard deviations of the variables included in the analyses are detailed in Table 1 below. As can be seen below, participants, on average, were relatively high in extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, and were somewhat lower in neuroticism and openness Correlations .     Impulse buying (cognitive)  Impulse buying (affective)  Mindfulness            0.16             0.33      Significant at p Read More

Since impulses results from instantaneous feelings, which thus means that with mindfulness there results in proactive strategies; there is likelihood of avoiding such impulsive feelings with mindfulness in place. This simply gives an implication that mindfulness averts impulses when they are well thought out and when this is put in relation to shopping whereby impulses rush while on a shopping spree and, mindfulness can thus help to avert impulsive buying. On the other hand, dispositional mindfulness and impulse ought to have a stringent relationship since there has been a previous mindfulness.

It is interesting to learn how dispositional mindfulness can affect impulse buying at some point. According to previous research on the issue of dispositional mindfulness, there seems to be a subconscious part in the dispositional aspect and this might play a part when it comes to decision making whether it comes spontaneously or through some later mindfulness. This therefore sets the pace for the commencement of this investigation in order clearly lay down the premises on the relationships that exist between dispositional mindfulness and impulse buying.

A lot of previous research has been focussing on the cognitive, affective and other psychological domains. Methodology. A questionnaire with a 20 item and 15 additional items chosen to be used in the study was administered to two hundred students with a hundred being male and the rest being female at an English speaking university. Their average age of all these respondents were 22.0 and the standard deviation being five. Impulse buying tendencies were measured using the Impulse buying tendency scale with items like “I usually think carefully before I make any purchase” were applied and the results of the questionnaire kept.

This twenty item scale consists of the affective sub-domain with items that have a relationship to feelings of excitement, the urge to make a purchase and lack of control, the cognitive scale with items related to feelings of lack of planning and deliberations related to associations to making purchases. All the responses in the study were in relation to the five point Lickert Scale with a coding such that items that indicate strength are those with a high score. Both sub-domains that is the cognitive and the affective showed good internal reliabilities with subscales of values of 0.89 and 0.84 respectively.

Affect was measured using the 20-item positive affect and negative affect scale (PANAS) The questionnaire sample was as follows. 1. I usually think carefully before I buy something. 2. I usually only buy things that I intended to buy. 3. If I buy something, I usually do that spontaneously. 4. Most of my purchases are planned in advance. 5. I only buy things that I really need. 6. It is not my style to just buy things. 7. I like to compare different brands before I buy one. 8. Before I buy something I always carefully consider whether I need it. 9. I am used to buying things 'on the spot'. 10. I often buy things without thinking.

Under these key terms numerals; Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly and Agree 11. It is a struggle to leave nice things I see in a shop. 12. I sometimes cannot suppress the feeling of wanting to buy something. 13. I sometimes feel guilty after having bought something. 14. I'm not the kind of person who 'falls in love at first sight' with things I see in shops. 15. I can become very excited if I see something I would like to buy. 16. I always see something nice whenever I pass by shops. 17. I find it difficult to pass up a bargain. 18. If I see something new, I want to buy it. 19. I am a bit reckless in buying things. 20. I sometimes buy things because I like buying things, rather than because I need them.

Results  Following screening to ensure the assumptions of the analyses were met, correlational analyses were conducted to evaluate the main predictions regarding the relationships between the Mindfulness factors and impulse buying.

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