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Marketers have long recognized the significance of impulse buying, but most studies focus on adult consumers. Idolatry means the extent to which people have and are influenced by idols in their behavior. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between idolatry and impulsive buying tendency in the case of Taiwan's 13 to 20 years old adolescents. We conducted a survey of 337 high school and college students. The research employed the nine-item scale of Rook and Fisher (1995) to measure impulse buying behavior and the self-assessment question "Do you have an idol?" to distinguished idolatrous and nonadolartous. The results indicate that impulsive buying is significantly associated with idolatry. In addition, the factors of economic independence (e.g. pocket money available and part-time job) are also significantly correlated with adolescents' impulsive buying tendency. Marketers should utilize the influences of idols as a strategic attempt to strengthen adolescents' brand image.
Research on impulsive buying has increased during the last decade (Rook & Fisher, 1995; Rook & Gardner, 1993). Marketers have long recognized the significance of impulse buying (Jones et al., 2003). Retailers can increase the number of impulsive purchases through product displays and store and package designs and contemporary marketing innovations (e.g. 24-hour convenience stores, television shopping channels and internet shopping) (Hoyer & Maclnnis, 1997; Jones et al., 2003). However, impulsive buying is also influenced by person-related variables. More specifically, the phenomenon of idolization is especially characteristic of early adolescence (Raviv et al., 1996).
Bellenger, Robertson and Hirschman (1978) reported that 38.7% of department store purchases are bought on impulse. That behavior is accompanied by a powerful urge (Verplanken & Herabadi, 2001) and feelings of pleasure and excitement (Hausman, 2000; Rook. 1987; Rook & Fisher, 1995; Ramanathan & Menon, 2002: site as Peck & Childers, 2006). Impulse buying is a rather loosely defined concept, which covers many forms of non-rational purchase (Verplanken & Herabadi, 2001). Generally, impulse buying behavior identifies a psychologically distinctive type of behavior that differs dramatically from contemplative modes of consumer choice (Rook, 1987). Consistent with research on impulsiveness in the psychology literature, recent studies in marketing assert that the impulsive buying tendency is a distinctive personal trait (Beatty & Ferrell, 1998; Puri, 1996; Rook & Fisher, 1995).
Impulse buying...