To buy or not to buy?: Self-control and self-regulatory failure in purchase behavior

Research in consumer behavior points to a relationship between self-regulation and buying behavior. This chapter addresses how three types of buying behaviors--self-gifting, impulse buying and compulsive buying--result from self-regulatory efforts or failures. Existing literature on self-gifting suggests that it can serve to reward self-control efforts as well as be an outcome of self-regulatory failure. Impulsive and compulsive buying most often result from failed efforts at self-control. Impulse buying is often the result of a single violation stemming from underregulation caused by resource depletion. Compulsive buying, conversely, is best be described as chronic inability to self-regulate resulting from misregulation due to conflicting goals and ineffective monitoring. Findings regarding compulsive buying closely match expectations derived from escape theory. This chapter suggests that future research on self-regulation and consumption can serve to further our knowledge regarding both disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)