The Dark Side of Globalization and Consumption: How Similar Are Chinese and German Consumers Toward Their Proneness to Compulsive Buying?

Abstract

One discussed cause for the emergence of conspicuous buying patterns is the spread of materialistic consumer culture. Assumed is the interaction of certain dispositional factors like lack of confidence or emotional deficiencies, with external factors like the predominating consumer culture. This study compares the threshold state China and Germany; both countries are strongly different in their cultural backgrounds. Nonetheless, the authors hypothesized a relatively high level of compulsive buying among consumers as well as a higher percentage of compulsive buyers among women in both countries. Both assumptions were largely confirmed, demonstrating the relevance of compulsive buying as a global problem.

KEYWORDS:

• compulsive buying
• compensatory buying
• impulsive buying
• China
• Germany
• globalization
• consumer culture
• consumer behavior

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank Zehngpeng Tang from the University of Fuzhou, China, for his valuable support for this article.

Notes

1. One additional binary logistical regression exclusively with the percentage of compensatory buyers (without compulsive buyers) revealed in a similar way a significant main effect of gender (b = –1.03, p = .007), and no other significant effects (all p’s > .27).