Compulsive buying from the perspective of social psychology: A scoping review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22235/cp.v19i1.4026Keywords:
compulsive buying, shopping addiction, pathological buying, social psychologyAbstract
The present study aimed to review the literature on compulsive buying (CB) in the field of social psychology (SP), using a scoping review methodology. In total, 3426 articles were identified, of which 24 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The results demonstrated that: (1) the most studied population is young university adults; (2) there is no consensus regarding the gender most likely to buy compulsively; (3) the most used scales to assess CC are the Compulsive Buying Scale and the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale; (4) divergences were identified in the naming of the scales; (5) research to explain CC was divided into constructs from different areas (e.g., money management, influence of advertising, self-esteem, depression, anxiety) and constructs from social psychology; (6) within the SP framework, the most used variable is materialistic values; (7) most research adopted a quantitative and cross-sectional approach. We concluded that the results presented can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of current studies on CB in the field of SP. The findings are expected to assist and encourage the development of new research in the area.
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