The influence of public self-consciousness and materialism on young consumers' compulsive buying

Purpose - This study aims to investigate young consumers' compulsive buying tendency from the perspective of psychological motivation. Specifically, this research aims to study the influence of public self-consciousness and materialism on young consumers' compulsive buying. Design/methodology/approach - A self-administered survey was distributed to a class at a Mid-Western university. LISREL 8.7 was employed to assess the validity and reliability of the constructs by using confirmatory factor analyses and to test the hypotheses by using structural equation modeling. Findings - Materialism was found to have a strong, significant and direct influence on young consumers' compulsive buying tendency. Public self-consciousness was strongly related to young consumers' compulsive buying tendency. However the influence of public self-consciousness on compulsive buying tendency was mediated by materialism. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the literature on young consumers' compulsive buying. Not only is the influence of materialism confirmed, but this study also provides an insight into the motivation behind compulsive buying by investigating the relationship between public self-consciousness and compulsive buying.