Appendix J: Analysis of multiple linear regression (MLR) between materialism, perceived stress and compulsive buying among young adults in Malaysia. Appendix K: Independent sample t-test comparing gender differences in compulsive buying among young adults in Malaysia. However, recent research suggested that compulsive buying (CBB) should be classified as one of the behavioral addictions (Granero et al., 2016).
The aim of the current research study is to examine the role of materialism, perceived stress and gender differences in compulsive buying behavior among young adults in Malaysia.
Research Objectives
Consequently, individuals with compulsive buying behavior will face the inability to afford certain needs and wants due to large debts, which then prompt them to engage in criminal matters such as robbery, fraud, and so on (Maraz et al., 2015). . It is in line with the claims proposed by Gupta (2013), who mentioned that the massive amounts of uncontrollable debts accumulated by forced buyers can cause economic and emotional problems for them and their family members. From this point of view, it can be concluded that compulsive buying behavior will not only bring severe impacts on compulsive buyers, but also on their family members and society.
Research Questions
Hypotheses
H0: There is no significant gender difference in compulsive buying behavior among male and female young adults in Malaysia. H5: Malaysian female young adults are more likely to engage in compulsive buying behavior than Malaysian male young adults.
Problem Statement
Regardless of whether shopping is online or physical, both platforms should be concerned about the problem of compulsive buying. According to a study by Nicoli de Mattos et al. 2016), there is no difference between the compulsive buying behavior of men and women. Meanwhile, another study conducted by Pérez de Albéniz-Garrote et al (2021) found that women between the ages of 14 and 17 were more involved in compulsive buying than men.
A study conducted in the context of Pakistan also found that women are more involved in compulsive buying behavior (Moon & Attiq, 2018).
Significance of Study
But there is a lack of knowledge and local research in investigating compulsive buying behavior among Malaysian young adults. Meanwhile, most of the previous studies discussing compulsive buying behavior had been conducted in a Western context. This caused the results of compulsive buying behavior to remain largely unknown in the local context.
Malaysia, particularly through how materialism, perceived stress and gender differences contribute to the severity of compulsive buying behavior in Malaysia.
Conceptual Definitions
Meanwhile, the findings from this study can contribute to the field of Consumer Psychology in Malaysia to develop ethical and socially responsible marketing strategies. By understanding the psychological perspective of consumer buying behavior and spending patterns, consumer psychologists can tailor marketing strategy along with consideration for certain ethical standards that may attract more buyers. Moreover, it can also call marketers to be more ethical and socially responsible by encouraging customers to avoid overspending resulting from impulse buying (Ong et al., 2021).
Operational Definitions
Literature Review
- Materialism
- Materialism and Compulsive Buying Behavior
- Perceived Stress
- Perceived Stress and Compulsive Buying Behavior
- Gender Differences and Compulsive Buying Behavior
- Theoretical Framework
- Conceptual Framework
The current study therefore aims to investigate the role of perceived stress in compulsive buying behavior among young adults in Malaysia. In short, Social Comparison Theory supported that high materialistic value would lead to compulsive buying behavior (Islam et al., 2018). Meanwhile, Escape Theory supports that perceived stress positively predicts compulsive buying behavior among young adults in Malaysia.
Conceptual framework for examining the role of materialism, perceived stress and gender difference in compulsive buying behavior among young adults in Malaysia.
Methodology
- Sampling Procedures
- Sample Size, Power and Precision
- Data Collection Procedures
- Instruments
A reliability test was carried out for both the pilot and the actual study, to test the reliability of each of the three instruments individually as well as the total reliability of the questionnaire. Before the respondents started answering the survey, there was an informed consent on the first page of the questionnaire. The examples of the questions asked in the success scale are "The things I own say a lot about how well I am doing in life." and "I like to own things that impress people".
Thus, a total score is calculated for each respondent by reverse-scoring the item score and then summing the score for each item.
Results
Assumptions of Multiple Linear Regression (MLR)
This assumption was not violated when tolerance value was higher than .10 and Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) was lower than 10 (Hair et al., 2010). The results showed that both variables scored more than .10 in tolerance and less than 10 in VIF. Based on Field (2009), the assumption was violated when the Durbin-Watson's value was less than 1 or greater than 3.
There was one outlier or influential case, which is the case number of 67 due to it being greater than 0.042 in centered leverage.
Descriptive Statistics
In addition, compulsive buying behavior was the dependent variable in this study, the mean and standard deviation of this variable were 45.05 and 6.350.
Inferential Analysis
This result showed that materialism does have a relationship with compulsive buying behavior, but that the relationship was negative. In this case, where a hypothesis was not fully confirmed, the alternative hypothesis was considered partially accepted (Nelson, 1958). Therefore, it can be concluded that there was a negative and mean relationship between materialism and compulsive buying behavior. H2: Perceived stress is significantly positively associated with compulsive buying among young adults in Malaysia.
According to Table 12, there was no significant positive relationship between perceived stress and compulsive buying behavior, r p > .001. Furthermore, according to Cohen's Rule of Thumb (1988), he showed that perceived stress and compulsive buying behavior had a weak relationship, as its value varied. MLR was used to test whether materialism and perceived stress significantly predicted compulsive buying behavior.
Of the three types of t-tests, an independent sample t-test was chosen in the present study. H5: Malaysian female young adults are more likely to engage in compulsive buying than Malaysian male young adults. An independent t-test was conducted to test the difference in compulsive buying among young adults of males and females in Malaysia.
In conclusion, there are no significant gender differences in compulsive buying behavior among young adult males and females in Malaysia. Independent sample t-test comparing gender differences in compulsive buying behavior among young adults in Malaysia (N = 209).
Discussion
Implication of the Study
This study has introduced a new perspective in which different types of materialists may have different extents of engagement in compulsive buying behavior. Future research can work in this direction to expand the knowledge between materialistic and compulsive type of buying behavior. In addition, it can be seen that young people in Malaysia do not use compulsive shopping behavior as a way to deal with stress, which is inconsistent with past literature from different countries.
This may raise researchers' awareness that there may be other factors that may influence compulsive buying among young adults in Malaysia, such as family problems, personal level of self-control and financial condition. In addition, this study also contributes to the understanding of the relationship between materialism, perceived stress and gender differences with compulsive buying behavior in the Malaysian context, a country enriched with people from different cultures and raised with different materialistic values. This may help researchers from Malaysia to identify factors that influence the compulsive buying behavior of young adults in Malaysia.
Policy makers can use the findings as the guidelines to come up with the financial program that can educate young adults to have better financial management. Meanwhile, financial programs that can encourage or train young adults to maintain the correct attitude of materialism and encourage them to accumulate wealth instead of spending are also crucial to reducing the compulsive buying behavior that occurs among young adults. By doing so, it can increase their awareness of the existence of compulsive buying and influence their attitudes towards materialism.
As we all know, compulsive buying behavior can be categorized as positive from the marketer's point of view, although it is a destructive behavior from the non-marketer's point of view. Marketers should aim to sell products that can attract young people to buy even when they are not in a compulsive buying state.
Limitations of the Study
For example, the questions about "In the last month, how often have you felt that the difficulties piled up so high that you could not. As a result, they may misunderstand the meaning of the words or even the meaning of the particular questions. Therefore the response received may not be reliable and thus affected the accuracy of the results obtained.
Recommendations for Future Research
Analysis of the influence of materialism on impulse buying and compulsive buying with credit card use as a mediating variable. Social comparison, materialism, and compulsive buying based on the stimulus-response model: A comparative study among adolescents and young adults. Depressive symptoms and self-efficacy as mediators between life stress and compulsive buying: A cross-cultural comparison.
Shopping without pain: Compulsive buying and the effects of credit card availability in Europe and the Far East. Measuring compulsive buying behavior: Psychometric validity of three different scales and prevalence in the general population and in shopping malls. Compulsive buying behavior: Course, consequences and prevalence in shopping center consumers of an emerging economy.
Examine limits on the dark side of consumer behavior: the case of materialism and compulsive buying. The effect of personality traits (big-five), materialism and stress on the compulsive buying behavior of Generation Y Malaysia. The effect of personality traits (Big-five), materialism and stress on the compulsive buying behavior of Generation Y Malaysia.
Compulsive buying in Denmark: The first study on Danish consumers' tendency to compulsive buying, Department of Interculture. Compulsive buying in university students: Prevalence and its relationship with materialism, psychological distress symptoms, and subjective well-being. Compulsive buying behavior and its relation to perceived social status related to the purchase, materialism, self-esteem and involvement of clothing products.
Appendix K: Independent sample t-test comparing compulsive shopping behavior by gender among young adults in Malaysia (N = 209).
