Identifying Compulsive Buyers among Credit Card Users of Karachi, Using the Compulsive Buying Scale

Abstract

Compulsive buying is one of the negative consumer behaviors. It is repetitive, consistent buying that is a behavioral addiction. It is related to poor self-esteem, psychological disorders like depression and OCD, and leads to personal, familial and financial problems. This research aims at identifying people suffering from this disorder to facilitate future research in developing a construct valid for Pakistan, using an internationally validated and globally used test — the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS)—a seven item Likert scale based test developed and validated by Faber and O’Guinn. The research has identified 35 compulsive buyers in a sample of 170 respondents. The research confirms that young people are more prone to be compulsive buyers. Compulsive buying is found to be more common among men as compared to women, probably due to their being primary earners and spenders. Marital status is also linked to compulsive buying as more people, who are single, classify as compulsive buyers.