IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i21p11027-d660719.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Exclusion and Impulsive Buying among Chinese College Students: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem and the Moderating Role of Risk Preference

Author

Listed:
  • Haocheng Luo

    (Research Center of Adolescent Psychology and Behavior, Department of Psychology, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Jiarong Chen

    (Research Center of Adolescent Psychology and Behavior, Department of Psychology, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Shengnan Li

    (Research Center of Adolescent Psychology and Behavior, Department of Psychology, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Yangang Nie

    (Research Center of Adolescent Psychology and Behavior, Department of Psychology, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Guodong Wang

    (Research Center of Adolescent Psychology and Behavior, Department of Psychology, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

Abstract

With the development of science and technology, buying has become much easier. At the same time, however, impulsive buying has many negative consequences for college students, such as dissatisfaction and debt; the causes of impulsive buying should, therefore, be explored urgently. There are numerous empirical studies indicating that social exclusion may be a potential factor of impulsive buying, and the underlying mechanisms of this association remain unclear. In this study, we used the Social Exclusion Scale, Self-Esteem Scale, Risk Preference Scale, and Impulsive Buying Scale, as well as a cross-sectional design to investigate the roles of self-esteem and risk preference in the relationship between social exclusion and impulsive buying among 768 college students (387 were female, M age = 20.25 years). The results were as follows: (1) when controlling for gender, age, family monthly income, and monthly living expenses, social exclusion significantly and positively predicted impulsive buying; (2) self-esteem played a mediating role between social exclusion and impulsive buying; (3) risk preference moderated the relationship between the second half of the mediating path and the direct path. These results reveal the mechanism underlying impulsive buying in college students, that is, social exclusion will predict the decrease in college students’ self-esteem, and low self-esteem will further predict college students’ impulsive buying, which is a way for them to gain a sense of self-worth. Relatively low risk preference can well alleviate the negative impact of social exclusion and low self-esteem on impulsive buying. What is more, these results have implications for impulsive buying interventions and preventions. Schools should aim to create a good peer atmosphere by implementing certain rules that help to reduce social exclusion, and parents and education departments should cultivate students’ risk awareness to avoid risk behaviors in college students, such as impulsive buying behavior. This study fills the research gap regarding college students’ impulsive buying and explores its internal psychological mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Haocheng Luo & Jiarong Chen & Shengnan Li & Yangang Nie & Guodong Wang, 2021. "Social Exclusion and Impulsive Buying among Chinese College Students: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem and the Moderating Role of Risk Preference," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11027-:d:660719
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11027/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11027/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicole L. Mead & Roy F. Baumeister & Tyler F. Stillman & Catherine D. Rawn & Kathleen D. Vohs, 2011. "Social Exclusion Causes People to Spend and Consume Strategically in the Service of Affiliation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(5), pages 902-919.
    2. Rook, Dennis W, 1987. "The Buying Impulse," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(2), pages 189-199, September.
    3. Dhandra, Tavleen Kaur, 2020. "Does self-esteem matter? A framework depicting role of self-esteem between dispositional mindfulness and impulsive buying," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shunying Zhao & Qiang Yang & Hohjin Im & Baojuan Ye & Yadi Zeng & Zhinan Chen & Lu Liu & Dawu Huang, 2022. "The impulsive online shopper: effects of COVID-19 burnout, uncertainty, self-control, and online shopping trust," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Zhitan Feng & Abdullah Al Mamun & Mohammad Masukujjaman & Qing Yang, 2023. "Modeling the significance of advertising values on online impulse buying behavior," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chang, Hsin Hsin & Wong, Kit Hong & Shen, Yi An, 2022. "Effects of the consumer socialization process on content sharing on SNSs: Social comparison and anticipated emotions as moderators," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    2. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, 2020. "Pakistan: Withholdingisation of the Economic System—A Source of Revenue, Civil Strife, or Dutch Disease?," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 469-516.
    3. Jinjing Yang & Cong Cao & Chensang Ye & Yangyan Shi, 2022. "Effects of Interface Design and Live Atmosphere on Consumers’ Impulse-Buying Behaviour from the Perspective of Human–Computer Interaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-21, June.
    4. Prerna Nair & Jaya B. Rathor, 2011. "An Empirical Study on the Impulsive Buying Behavior in Women and Factors Affecting Such Behavior," Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, Educational Research Multimedia & Publications,India, vol. 2(6), pages 68-72, September.
    5. Martin Eisend, 2019. "Morality Effects and Consumer Responses to Counterfeit and Pirated Products: A Meta-analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 301-323, January.
    6. Sinha, Piyush Kumar & Mishra, Hari Govind & Kaul, Surabhi & Singh, Sarabjot, 2014. "Buying Impulsive Trait: An effective moderator for shopping emotions and perceived risk," IIMA Working Papers WP2014-03-17, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    7. Ying Wang & Jialing Pan & Yizhi Xu & Jianli Luo & Yongjiao Wu, 2022. "The Determinants of Impulsive Buying Behavior in Electronic Commerce," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, June.
    8. Jibin Antony & Binu Mathew Job & Antony Thomas, 2024. "Direct and Indirect Effects of Self-Esteem on Financial Satisfaction," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 14(5), pages 251-261, September.
    9. Compeau, Larry D. & Monroe, Kent B. & Grewal, Dhruv & Reynolds, Kristy, 2016. "Expressing and defining self and relationships through everyday shopping experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 1035-1042.
    10. Folk, György, 2019. "Weal: the universal core of human well-being," MPRA Paper 97082, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Khalifa, Dina & Shukla, Paurav, 2021. "When luxury brand rejection causes brand dilution," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 110-121.
    12. L. G. Pee, 2016. "Customer co-creation in B2C e-commerce: does it lead to better new products?," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 217-243, June.
    13. Zafar, Abaid Ullah & Shahzad, Mohsin & Ashfaq, Muhammad & Shahzad, Khuram, 2023. "Forecasting impulsive consumers driven by macro-influencers posts: Intervention of followers' flow state and perceived informativeness," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    14. Trinh, Giang & Dawes, John, 2020. "A comparison of brand loyalty between on the go and take-home consumption purchases," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    15. Denis Darpy, 1997. "Une variable médiatrice du report d’achat : la procrastination," Post-Print hal-01518926, HAL.
    16. Aysen Akyuz, 2018. "Determinant Factors Influencing Impulse Buying Behavior of Turkish Customers in Supermarket Setting," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 7(1), pages 01-10, January.
    17. Alfredo De Massis & Josip Kotlar & Pietro Mazzola & Tommaso Minola & Salvatore Sciascia, 2018. "Conflicting Selves: Family Owners' Multiple Goals and Self-Control Agency Problems in Private Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(3), pages 362-389, May.
    18. Massara, Francesco & Liu, Sandra S. & Melara, Robert D., 2010. "Adapting to a retail environment: Modeling consumer-environment interactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 673-681, July.
    19. Shrum, L.J. & Wong, Nancy & Arif, Farrah & Chugani, Sunaina K. & Gunz, Alexander & Lowrey, Tina M. & Nairn, Agnes & Pandelaere, Mario & Ross, Spencer M. & Ruvio, Ayalla & Scott, Kristin & Sundie, Jill, 2013. "Reconceptualizing materialism as identity goal pursuits: Functions, processes, and consequences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1179-1185.
    20. Khan, Hina & Daryanto, Ahmad & Liu, Chihling, 2019. "How anticipated regret influences the effect of economic animosity on consumers’ reactions towards a foreign product," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 405-414.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11027-:d:660719. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.