The five factor model of personality as predictor of online shopping: Analyzing data from a large representative sample of Swedish internet users

Figures & data

Table 1. An overview of the FFM factors, the facets of HP5i and the measurement items

FFM factor	HP5i facet	Definition of facet	Survey items
Openness	Alexithymia	Not open to feelings	O1. Don’t analyze my feelings (R) O2. Emotions are exaggerated (R) O3. Don’t understand others’ feelings (R)
Conscientiousness	Impulsivity	Non-planning behavior	C1. Act on the spur of the moment (R) C2. Throw myself too hastily into things(R) C3. Talk before I think (R)
Extraversion	Hedonic capacity	Positive emotions	E1. Often feel exhilarated E2. Enjoy life E3. In good mood when socialize
Agreeableness	Antagonism	Hostility in interpersonal relations	A1. Makes sarcastic commentaries (R) A2. If treated badly, I think one should give back (R) A3. Coming up with piercing and malicious answers (R)
Neuroticism	Negative affectivity	Negative emotions and stress symptoms	N1. Often feel uncomfortable and ill at ease N2. Feel pressure when urged to speed up N3. Muscles so tense that I get tired

Note. A four-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 4 (“strongly agree”) was used for all items. All items marked by (R) were reversed to ensure that all were in the same direction, that is, that high responses on items indicate high values on underlying personality factor.

Table 2. Means, standard deviation, reliability, and correlation coefficients for the study variables

	M	SD	α	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. Openness	3.06	0.58	.66
2. Conscientiousness	2.97	0.61	.74	.18**
3. Extraversion	3.12	0.48	.61	.18**	−.03
4. Agreeableness	2.81	0.64	.64	.32**	.38**	.02
5. Neuroticism	2.19	0.64	.63	−.05**	−.28**	−.26**	−.10**
6. Age	48.00	17.05		−.10**	.14**	−.06**	.14**	−.06
7. Online shopping	2.85	1.28		.10**	−.07**	.09**	−.06**	−.03	−.37**

Note. α = Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the personality factors. Personality factors, HP5i (response scale 1–4). Age (open-ended question, observed range 16–85 years). E-shopping (response scale 1–7). The question for e-shopping was “How many times have you bought products and/or services online during the past 12 months”. Response scale: 1 = never, 2 = once in the last 12 months, 3 = once in the last 6 months, 4 = every month, 5 = every week, 6 = several times a week, 7 = every day. Frequency of online shopping refers to the mean value on the seven-point scale. * p˂.05; ** p < .01. Only internet users were included in the correlation analysis.

Figure 1. Measurement model of the HP5i: results from a confirmatory factor analysis. In this analysis data from all respondents were included, also non-users of the internet. The items are given in Table 1.

Table 3. Hierarchical regression models exploring how personality factors predict online shopping frequency controlling for gender (Step 2) and age (Step 3)

Independent Variables	Step 1: Personality B	Step 2: Personality, Gender B	Step 3: Personality, Gender, Age B
Openness	.122***	.134***	.081***
Conscientiousness	−.070***	−.072***	−.042*
Extraversion	.060***	.064***	.051**
Agreeableness	−.083***	−.072***	−.015
Neuroticism	−.023	−.013	−.026
Gender		.044*	.061***
Age		.	−.355***
AdjR^2	.027***	.028***	.147***

Note. Β = Beta, standardized regression coefficient. * p˂.05; ** p˂.01; ***p˂.001. Only internet users were included.