Investigation of the relationship between compulsive purchasing behaviour and executive functions, self-esteem and personality

This study aims to examine the relationships between impulse buying tendency and set-shifting, inhibition, selective attention, working memory, impulsivity, personality, and mood. The participants consist of 67 people, including 33 women and 34 men being an average age calculated as 21.61. The following tests were administered respectively: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test to measure participants' set-shifting and problem-solving skills, Stroop Test TBAG Form to measure selective attention, Tower of London Test to measure inhibition and sustained attention, Wechsler Memory Scale Letter-Number Sequencing Subtest III to measure working memory capacity. Besides, the subsequent scales were adopted respectively: Impulse Buying Scale to measure the impulse buying tendency; Positive and Negative Affect Scale to measure the positive and negative mood; Barratt Impulsivity Scale Short Form to measure the impulsivity and Behavioral Inhibition System / Behavioral Activation System Scale to measure personality. The dataset was analyzed through the Pearson correlation coefficient, independent groups t-test, moderator analysis, and structural equation model (SEM). In light of the findings, there is a significant correlation between the Impulse Buying Tendency Scale and the Attention Impulsivity subdimension of the Short Form of Barratt Impulsivity Scale, correction score of the 5th Section of the Stroop Test TBAG Forms with Time Violation, Execution Time, and Total Time scores of LKDX Test. The results of SEM analysis demonstrated that the inhibition-latent variable predicted the impulse buying dependent variable, and the latent variable of impulsivity significantly predicted impulse buying. While latent variables of set-shifting and inhibition predicted with only female participants, Stroop Test TBAG Form 5th Section Correction score predicted only male participants in SEM. There was no meaningful contribution of working memory, personality, and mood as independent variables to impulse buying.