Compulsive Buying Tendency

What it measures

Eleven items measure a consumer's compulsive and impulsive tendencies to spend and shop, including uncontrollable urges, guilt, concealment of purchases, and shopping as emotional release.

Response format

Response format not stated; Likert-type

Scale items

• When I have money, I cannot help but spend part or all of it.
• I often buy something I see in a store without planning, just because I've got to have it. [item may be truncated]
• Shopping is a way of relaxing and forgetting my problems.
• I sometimes feel that something inside pushes me to go shopping.
• There are times when I have a strong urge to buy (clothing, music, jewelry).
• At times, I have felt somewhat guilty after buying because it seemed unreasonable.
• There are some things I buy that I do not show to anybody because I fear people will think I've wasted money. [item may be truncated]
• I often have a real desire to go shopping and buy something.
• As soon as I enter a shopping center, I wish to go in a store and buy something.
• I have often bought a product that I did not need when I knew I had very little money left. [item may be truncated]
• I like to spend money.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Drawn from d'Astous, Maltais, and Roberge (1990) who built on prior compulsive buying work. Alpha .84 (Roberts et al. 2003). Several items appear truncated in extraction—verify full wording against original article.

Citation

d'Astous, A., Maltais, J., & Roberge, C. (1990). Compulsive buying tendencies of adolescent consumers. Advances in Consumer Research, 17, 306–312.

Keywords