Compulsive Buying: A Theoretical Framework

Abstract

For the nearly 18 million Americans suffering from compulsive buying (Bragg, 2009), the process of shopping and buying has caused their lives to go out of control (Magee, 1994; Black, 2007). In an era of social responsibility (Kerin et al., 2011), marketers should understand the negative outcomes of this disease and ensure that marketing practices are not contributing to this social and economic problem.   A theoretical framework of compulsive buying is presented, incorporating constructs/data themes from previous research in psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and marketing. Personality antecedents and short and long term consequences describe the addictive consumer disease. Marketing implications and future research directions are discussed.