Influences of Time Perspective on Impulsive Purchase Tendency

Abstract

What make consumers act on impulse? Impulsive buying is a topic of interest not only to academic researchers but also to the people in the industry who can gain from bigger sales volume and to the consumer advocacy groups who regard impulse buying as an undesirable outcome from the excessive consumerism. While there are discrepancies in the definition of concept, generally speaking, impulsive buying is an unplanned and sudden purchase involving some urges, pleasures, and excitements (Rook, 1987). Previous research on this topic investigated consumers’ internal and external factors influencing the cognitive and emotional aspects of impulse buying. One stream of research focused on the cognitive aspects of impulse buying and emphasized the lack of planning and consideration before the purchase. Another aspect of impulse buying is that emotional factors are involved in the process (e.g., Beatty & Ferrell, 1998; Rook, 1987; Rook & Gardner, 1993; Wood, 1998) and it has been claimed that the internal stimuli such as urge, pleasure, and excitement, happening at the time of purchase bring impulse buying. In sum, it seems logical to consider both cognitive and emotional aspects as underlying factors influencing impulse buying tendency, but most research limitedly measured the cognitive aspect of unplanning (Cobb & Hoyer, 1986) or the emotional impulses (Rook, 1987), measured the impulse buying as a whole without distinguishing both (Beatty & Ferrell, 1998), or measured both external and internal aspects mixed together (Yeom & Kim, 2002). Thus, in the current study, cognitive and emotional aspects of the impulse buying are treated separately to determine each factor’s influences, respectively. Another less investigated area in impulse buying literature is the relationship between consumers’ time orientation and their tendency for impulse buying. Time plays a central role in human life and the concept of how people perceive time, time perspective or time orientation, has been thought to be crucial in their cognition, emotion, and behaviors. In particular, Zimbardo and his colleagues (e.g., Keough, Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999; Zimbardo, Keough, & Boyd, 1997) conceptualized time perspective as “the often nonconcious process whereby the continual flows of personal and social experiences are assigned in temporal categories that help to give order, coherence, and meaning to those events” (p. 1271). People use past, present, and future as time frames to form expectations and goals. Thus, time perspective affects a person’s attention, cognition, decision, and behaviors in a subtle, but crucial way (Zimbardo, 1988). Mischel (1974)’s Delay-of-gratification paradigm provides insightful explanations for the relationship between the time perspective and impulsive behaviors. Mischel and his colleagues (1974; 1989) compared the outcomes between affect-based and cognitive-based values in choice situations and found that the affect-based values were discounted much more sharply over time than the cognitive-based values. This finding implies that, for example, to decide whether or not to have a chocolate for dessert, satisfaction from eating a chocolate (emotional value) is usually more important than the possibility of gaining weight (cognitive value) in this decision making. However, if the decision is whether to have it or not one month later, (decision delayed for one month), concerns for possible weight gain count much more importantly than satisfaction. Decision making based on cognition compared to emotion tends to be more myopic and make people focus more on the present than the future. Previous studies support the argument that consumers’ time perspective affects their tendency for impulsive buying and planning and preparation are two crucial factors determining the occurrence of impulse buying. Based on these logics, two hypotheses are proposed. H1: Present time perspective would be positively related with both (a) cognitive and (b) emotional impulse buying tendencies. H2: Future oriented time perspective would be negatively related with cognitive impulse buying tendency. An empirical study was performed to investigate the influences of consumers’ time perspectives on their tendency of engaging in impulsive buying using college students samples in Korea. Ninety four male (45%) and 114 female students (55%) participated in a paper and pencil survey for exchange of class credits. Participants age ranged from 18 to 28 with the average age of 22 years old (SD = 2.2). Participants include 32 freshmen (15%), 65 sophomores (31%), 72 third years (35%) and 37 seniors (18%). To measure the time perspective of research participants, 56-item Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (Zimbardo & Boyd, 2008) was used. The inventory consists of 10- Past negative, 9- Past positive, 15-Present hedonistic, 9-Present fatalistic, and 13-Future orientation items. Since the current study was not interested in the relationship between the past time perspective and the tendency for impulsive buying, items measuring past time perspective were removed from the survey. Thus, total of 37-item questions was translated into Korean and measured on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from very uncharacteristic (1) to very characteristic (7). The original 20-item scale developed by Verplanken and Aarts (1999) was translated into Korean and used to measure the impulsive buying tendency. The scale consists of 10 items designed to measure cognitive tendency for impulsive buying and emotional tendency for impulsive buying, respectively. Participants responded to questions on the 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from very unlikely (1) to very likely (7). The analyses of data showed supported for hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 posited that the present time orientation would be positively related with emotional impulsive tendency. The result supported Hypothesis 1. Present hedonistic time perspective-Emotional impulsive buying tendency path (t=4.649, p<.001), Present fatalistic time perspective-Cognitive impulsive buying tendency path (t=2.144, p<.05), Present fatalistic time perspective-Emotional impulsive buying tendency path (t=2.144, p<.05) were all statistically significant while Present hedonistic time perspective-Cognitive impulsive buying tendency path was marginally significant (t=1.793, p<.1). Hypothesis 2 expected that the future time perspective would be negatively related with cognitive impulsive buying tendency and was also supported. The results showed that the stronger the future time perspective, the consumers are more likely to be impulsive due to the lack of cognitive consideration, but their emotional impulsive buying tendency would not be influenced. The result showed that Future time perspective-Cognitive impulse buying tendency path was statistically significant (t=-5.980, p<.001), but Future time perspective – Emotional impulsive buying tendency path was not (t=-650, ns.). Lastly, theoretical and practical implications for impulse buying discussed based on the results.

什么使消费者有购买沖动 ？沖动购买不仅仅是学者们的研究 课题, 也是行业内从大批量购物中获益的商人的兴趣所在, 同 时消费者群体也将其视为过度消 费的不 良因 素. 虽然在概念上 的定义有所不同, 总体来说, 沖动购买是指帝有渴望、愉悦和 兴备的, 未经计划的沖动购买(Rook, 1987)。

现有文献研究了 影响沖动消 费的知和动机方面的 内部和外 部因素。从冲动购物的认知角度出发的研究强“调购买前缺少计 划和思考, 研究动机方面则强调购买时渴望、愉悦和兴奋的内 在刺激(e.g., Beatty & Ferrell, 1998; Rook, 1987; Rook & Gardner, 1993; Wood, 1998). 总的来说, 貌似从认知和动机方 面研究沖动购买倾向是符合逻辑的, 但多数研究都缺少无计划 性认知方面的研究(Cobb & Hoyer, 1986), 或者感情冲动 (Rook, 1987), 或者对两者兼之的研究缺少区別性研究(Beatty & Ferrell, 1998), 或者将内部和外部因素方面研究混为ᅳ谈 (Yeom & Kim, 2002). 所以, 本研究将沖动购买的知和情感 因素进行区別性研究。

另 外ᅳ个疏于研究的领域是消 费者时间 导向与 消 费者倾 向之 间的关系。时间在人类生治中非常重要的ᅳ个组成部分, 人们 的时间概念，时间认知或者时间导向在他们的认知、感情和行 为中是非常关键的。其中, Zimbardo和他的同事们(e.g., Keough, Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999; Zimbardo, Keough, & Boyd, 1997)把时间认知定义为ᅳ种习惯性的无意识过程, 通 过这种过程来制 定秩序’ ᅳ致性和 意义的个ᄉ和社会经验”(p. 1271)。人们利用过去, 现在和将来设定目杯和期望。时间认知 微妙而关键地影响个人的注意力, 认知, 决定和行为 (Zimbardo, 1988).

Mischel (1974)的延满足范式解释了时间认知与沖动行为之 间的关系. Mischel与他的同事(1974; 1989)在面临选择时对比 了 基于感情的价值现与基于认知的价值观的结果。他们发现对 比基于认知的价值观来说, 基于感情的价值观顿 时 变得不堪ᅳ 击. 比如说, 当 面对是否要购 买巧克力 时, 食用 巧克力的满足 感 (感情价值观) 要比可能使体重增加 (认知价值观) 更加重 要. 但是, 如果傲出决定的时间延长至ᅳ个月, ᄉ们往往会更 加桓心体重会增加的 问题。

与情感倾向相比, 基于认知的决策更为短视, 这样使ᄉ更关 注 眠前而 非长远. 以往研 究 支持 消 费 者的时 间 观念影 响 沖 动 消 费倾向和计划与准备的观点。基于这ᅳ逻辑, 提出假设。假设 1 当前时间观念与沖动消费的认知和动机正相关假设。假设2 未来时间观念与沖动消费的认知和动机负相关。

本研究的实识对象为样国大学生, 旨在研究消 费者的时间认 知对动购买的影响。利用交换学分的方式, 94个男生(45%) 和 114个女生(55%)参与 了该研究。参与者年龄从 18至28岁不 等, 平均年龄在22岁(SD = 2.2)。其中有32位ᅳ年级学生(15 %), 65位二年級学生(31%), 72位三年級学生(35%)和37位四年 级学生(18%). 参与者对于时间认知的研究运用 了 包含56项的 Zimbardo时间认知目 录(Zimbardo & Boyd, 2008)。目 录 包括 了 10项消极过去, 9项叙极过去, 15项乐现现在, 9项悲现现在与 13项未来定向. 由于现在的研究并不重视过去时间认知与沖动 购买倾向的关系, 本研究册除了衡量过去时间认知的数据。这 样, 共有37条问题被翻译成韩语, 并采用7点李克特度量表, 对比条从非常不典型 (1) 到非常典型 (7) ᅳ次排列。由 Verplanken 和 Aarts (1999) 提出的 20 项数据被翻译为韩语运用 于衡量沖动购买倾 向。关于衡量认知倾 向与 感情倾 向的数据中 分別有 10项。同样运用7点李克特度量表, 参与者回答的问题 从非常不相似 (1) 到非常相似 (7) ᅳ次排列.

数据分析结果明 了假设的正确性。假设 1 为 当前时间观念 与冲动消费的认知和动机正相关. 数据结果明了此假设的正 确性。以下任明此假设的数据值比较显著 ： 乐观现在时间认知 度感情冲动购买路径 (t=4.649, p<.001), 悲观现在时间认知度-认知沖动购买路径(t=2.144, p<.05), 悲观现在时间认知度-感情 冲动购买路轻(t=2.144, p<.05), 而乐现现在时间认知度-认知沖 动购 买倾向路轻(t=1.793, p<. 1)则相对微弱.

假设2为 未来时间观念与沖动消 费 的认知和动机负 相 关。此 假设也同样成立。结果显示, 未来时间认知度越强, 忽视认知 思考的消 费者就越容易冲动, 但他们的情感沖动购买倾向并不 会受到影响。结果显示, 未来时间认知度-认知冲动购买倾向路 径的数据值호著(t=−5.980, p<.001), 但是未来时间认知度-感情 冲动购买倾向路往的数据则不然(t=−650, ns.). 最后, 关于沖动 购 买 的理论和实践应用 的建议皆 出 自 此数据结果.