The effect of social norms on impulsive buying
Abstract
This thesis adds to the generic literature on the role of social norms in broad consumer behaviour by focusing on consumers’ impulsiveness, impulsive urge and impulsive buying, and analyses different social norms’ effect on the relationship between impulsiveness and impulsive buying. \nUsing a quantitative approach, three laboratory experiments that employed a shopping scenario with collective normative information test the impact of the collective level of social norms (including prescriptive norms, proscriptive norms, descriptive norms and injunctive norms) on consumers’ impulsive buying. \nPrescriptive norms and proscriptive norms were shown to influence the relationship between impulsiveness and impulsive buying. However, a significant relationship between impulsiveness and impulsive buying only occurred when consumers were exposed to prescriptive norms. The results also indicated social norms’ types had a main effect on impulsive buying and there was an interactive effect between social norms’ types and the way they were delivered, in relation to consumers’ impulsive urge and buying intentions. Additionally, self-construal had a three-way interactive effect on social norms’ types, delivery ways and on impulsive buying. \nOverall, this thesis advances theoretical and empirical knowledge on the effects of social norms at the collective level and self-construal on impulse buying, while also proposing practical implications related to marketing communications and strategies.
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