Materialism and Compulsive Buying: A Moderated Mediation Model of Impulsive Buying and Religiosity

Abstract

In the modern consumer society, compulsive buying as an unrestrained buying behavior has become widespread among university students. Therefore, it is essential to determine the factors that influence the compulsive buying behavior of students. In this vein, this study has two purposes. Firstly, this study aims to examine the mediating role of impulsive buying between materialism and compulsive buying. Secondly, it aims to investigate whether religiosity moderated this mediated relationship. For these purposes, data were obtained from 344 university students by online survey method. The moderated mediation analysis was performed using the PROCESS macro proposed by Hayes (2013). According to the results, it was revealed that materialism had a positive effect on impulsive and compulsive buying. Moreover, it was found that impulsive buying had a mediating role in the relationship between materialism and compulsive buying. However, the mediating role of impulsive buying between the relationship between materialism and compulsive buying was not moderated by religiosity. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by revealing the mechanism between materialism and compulsive buying behavior. In terms of addressing the moderator role of religiosity, it contributes to the endeavors of researchers who seek to investigate the role of religiosity in consumer behavior.