Abstract

Using a large representative sample of the Swedish population, the present study aimed to explore the relationship between the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality and frequency of online shopping. On three different occasions, surveys were sent out to 9,000 Swedish residents using a systematic random sampling procedure. In total, 5,238 individuals responded to the survey which, inter alia, included measures of the FFM of personality (i.e., HP5i, 15 items) and online shopping. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the HP5i. To examine whether and to what extent the FFM predicted self-reported frequency of online shopping, a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted in which gender and age were used as control variables. Our findings indicated that online shopping was positively associated with Openness to experience (i.e., openness to feelings) and Extraversion (i.e., hedonic capacity), and negatively associated with Conscientiousness (i.e., a high degree of impulsiveness). These results suggest that online shoppers are affective, hedonic, and impulsive; that is, characteristics that contrast with the classical view of online shoppers as cognitive, utilitarian, and goal-directed. We argue that these results, alongside the use of a large representative sample and frequency of online purchase, are a needed addition to previous research as previous research studies mainly have focused on the intention or motivation to online shopping using smaller non-representative samples. Implications for online retailers and society as well as directions for future research are discussed.

摘要

本研究使用瑞典人口的大型代表性样本，旨在探索人格五因素模型（FFM）与在线购物频率之间的关系。在三个不同的场合，使用系统的随机抽样程序向 9,000 名瑞典居民发送了调查。总共有 5,238 个人对调查做出了回应，其中包括对 FFM 人格（即 HP5i，15 项）和在线购物的测量。验证性因素分析证实了 HP5i 的结构效度。为了检查 FFM 是否以及在多大程度上预测了网上购物的自我报告频率，进行了分层回归分析，其中性别和年龄被用作控制变量。我们的研究结果表明，网上购物与体验开放性（即情感开放性）和外向性（即享乐能力）呈正相关，与尽责性（即高度冲动）呈负相关。这些结果表明，在线购物者具有情感性、享乐性和冲动性；也就是说，与传统的在线购物者的认知、功利和目标导向的观点形成鲜明对比的特征。我们认为，这些结果，连同使用大量代表性样本和在线购买频率，是对先前研究的必要补充，因为先前的研究主要集中在使用较小的非代表性样本进行在线购物的意图或动机上。