Does urge to buy impulsively differ from impulsive buying behaviour? Assessing the impact of situational factors

The study was undertaken to assess the role of situational variables in impacting impulsive buying behaviour. In all, the impact of nine situational variables-categorised as personal (money availability, economic well being, family influence, time availability, and credit card use), and in-store (sales promotion, store environment, friendly store employees, and store music)-on the constructs 'urge to buy impulsively' and 'impulsive buying behaviour' was studied. For this, data was collected from 508 mall visiting customers and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Importantly, 23 hypotheses were examined and 13 were found to be supported. Results indicated that apart from store music, all the selected situational variables significantly impacted impulsive buying behaviour. With regard to the construct 'urge to buy impulsively, results showed significant positive association with situational variables money availability, friendly store employees and credit card use Also, results indicated that gender clicl not impact impulsive buying behaviour while age was found to have significant negative association with impulsive buying behaviour. In view of the potential bright prospects associated with the growing organised retailing, the study Findings provide useful insights to both the theorist as well as the marketers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.