This study examines gender differences in impulse purchases. It finds that: 1) Women are more likely to make impulse purchases of items that express identity or emotion, like clothing and jewelry, while men prefer functional items like electronics and sports gear. 2) When considering impulse purchases, women's thoughts focus more on mood, enjoyment and other people, while men emphasize functionality and personal identity. 3) Both gender and product type influence the factors considered in impulse buying, with identity and emotion playing a bigger role for typical women's impulse items than more utilitarian men's purchases.

1. Gender identity and material symbols: Objects and
decision considerations in impulse purchases
Helga Dittmar , Jane Beattie , Susanne Friese
陈睿 09326036
2012. 03. 30

2. Introduction
• “ Reminder impulse buying"
• E . g . Shopper remembers the need for an
essential item on seeing it in the shop
• “Pure impulse buying"
• E.g. A novelty or escape purchase which breaks
the normal buying pattern.

3. Introduction
Basic House
Equipments~~~
VS
Fashionable
Clothes!!!

4. Explanatory models of impulse buying
• Economic models
• Consumer behaviour
• Psychological approaches
• Our approach

5. Economic models
• A high degree of post-purchase regret (Hoch and
Loewenstein, 1991; Rook, 1987).
• Discounting model (Strotz, 1956).
• -The benefits of the desired object at the point of imminent
purchase outweigh the (future) problem of paying the bill
• Stochastic preference model (Winston,1980`).
• -Myopic set
• -Farsighted set

6. Consumer behaviour
• Goods that are likely to be bought impulsively
(Bellenger et al., 1978).
• Regarding a purchase as impulsive if it was not
on the buyer's original shopping list (Kollat
and Willet, 1969)

7. Psychological approaches
• Cognitive approach
• -certain cognitive tasks
• Clinical approach
• -other types of impulsive, addictive or
obsessive-compulsive disorders

8. Social constructionist theory
• Goods as an expression of self-identity (e.g.,
Dittmar, 1992; Lunt and Livingstone, 1992).
• The role of 'perceived social image benefits'
(Elliott, 1994)
• “Extending the self“ （ Belk ， 1988)
• “Idealized people associated with[the good]..."
(Wright et al., 1992, p. 312)

9. Gender and material possessions
• Women tend to value emotional and symbolic
possessions, while men favour functional and
leisure items (Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-
Halton,1981)
• Women gave more emotional and relationship-
oriented reasons, while men's had a more
functional, instrumental and activity-related
focus (Dittmar, 1989).

10. • Male
• -Self-oriented, activity-centred identity
construction
• Female
• -Other-oriented, relationship-centred identity
construction

11. Meaning dimensions in impulse purchases

12. Experimental hypotheses
• H1: Some products are more likely to be bought
on pure impulse than others. In particular,
identity-relevant products are more likely to be
high impulse items than are purely functional
goods.
• H2 ： Men and women are likely to purchase
different types of object on pure impulse. Men's
impulse purchases may be more oriented
towards leisure, while women's may be more
emotional and other-oriented.

13. Experimental hypotheses
• H3: Different 'types of considerations are
applied to goods often bought on impulse as
compared to goods hardly ever bought on
impulse, with identity-concerns and emotional
aspects important for typical impulse goods.
• H4: Men and women may have different types
of considerations when purchasing an object
on pure impulse, with men's concerns being
mainly instrumental, and women's being
mainly emotional and other-oriented.

14. Phase 3 Pre-determined buying considerations
Phase 2 Spontaneously named buying considerations
Phase 1:Object choice
Participants
and Setting
1 2 3 4

15. Method
• Participants
• Twenty female and 20 male mature students at
the University of Sussex (South England),
• Aged between 25 and 35 years
• Be interviewed individually
• Interviews lasted for about one hour

16. Phase 1(object choices).
•Present 39 cards •Pick 20 cards •Pick 5 cards from
•The name of which they would the previous
20s,which are their
particular good probably buy on
top 5.
•E.g. quality impulse
1 2 3
clothes

17. Phase 1(object choices).

18. Phase 2 (spontaneously named buying considerations).
•Top 5 Talked about the
•Imaging a vivid thoughts and
considerations
situation that would go
through their heads

19. Phase3 (pre-determined buying considerations).
•A set of 18 cards Functionality •Select up to five
•Pre-formulated Object-intrinsic considerations
qualities •Rated all 39
buying Emotion-related
consumer goods
consideration Experiential
aspects of presented earlier on
purchase each of the selected
Social identity dimensions
Personal identity •7 Point Likert Scale

20. Result ： Choice of consumer goods for impulse
purchases
• Support Hypothesis 1
• most likely impulse buys (χ 2 = 149.81, df = 12, p
< 0.0001)
• medium likely impulse buys (χ 2 = 71.98, df = 12,
p < 0.0001)
• least likely impulse buys (χ 2 = 143.92, df= 12, p
< 0.0001).

21. Percentage of top 5
music
clothing
Magazines
Ornaments
Body care
Jewellery
Sports
clothing
Electronic
leisure
Sports

25. Result ： Buying considerations in impulse purchases
• 2(high/low impulse) x 6 (rating dimension) x 2 (gender)
MANOVA
• High impulse ： two top-impulse (music and clothes)
• Low impulse ： two bottom-impulse (furniture and car
equipment)
• Different 'types of considerations are applied to goods
often bought on impulse as compared to goods hardly
ever bought on impulse(F(5,34) = 160.38; p < 0.00001).

27. • Men:
• utility, personal identity
• Women:
• mood and enjoyment
• F(1,38)= 4.85; p <0.05

28. • The pattern of considerations used by women and men
is significantly different (X 2 = 12.27, df = 6, p = 0.05).

29. Discussion
• Compulsive buying
• Marketing
• Self-Identity

30. Thank you