@article{986ef58d8ebf48ab898bafd5f3f50eee,
title = "If-then plans help regulate automatic peer influence on impulse buying",
abstract = "Purpose: This study aims to take a dual-process perspective and argues that peer influence on increasing impulse buying may also operate automatically. If-then plans, which can automate action control, may, thus, help regulate peer influence. This research extends existing literature explicating the deliberate influence of social norms. Design/methodology/approach: Study 1 (N = 120) obtained causal evidence that forming an implementation intention (i.e. an if-then plan designed to automate action control) reduces peer impact on impulse buying in a laboratory experiment with young adults (students) selecting food items. Study 2 (N = 686) obtained correlational evidence for the role of norms, automaticity and implementation intentions in impulse buying using a large sample of high-school adolescents working on a vignette about clothes-shopping. Findings: If-then plans reduced impulse purchases in the laboratory (Study 1). Both reported deliberation on peer norms and the reported automaticity of shopping with peers predicted impulse buying but an implementation intention to be thriftily reduced these links (Study 2). Research limitations/implications: This research highlights the role of automatic social processes in problematic consumer behaviour. Promising field studies and neuropsychological experiments are discussed. Practical implications: Young consumers can gain control over automatic peer influence by using if-then plans, thereby reducing impulse buying. Originality/value: This research helps understand new precursors of impulse buying in understudied European samples of young consumers.",
keywords = "Automaticity, Implementation intentions, Impulse buying, Peer influence, Reflective-impulsive model, Young consumers",
author = "Th{\"u}rmer, {J. Lukas} and Maik Bieleke and Frank Wieber and Gollwitzer, {Peter M.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors thank the members of the Social Psychology and Motivation Lab at the University of Konstanz and the members of the Motivation Lab at New York University for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. This paper is partially based on the first author{\textquoteright}s dissertation. Maik Bieleke and Peter M. Gollwitzer gratefully acknowledge financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Research Unit “Psychoeconomics” (for 1882). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. We thank Angela Whale for her help with English language editing. Funding Information: The authors thank the members of the Social Psychology and Motivation Lab at the University of Konstanz and the members of the Motivation Lab at New York University for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. This paper is partially based on the first author?s dissertation. Maik Bieleke and Peter M. Gollwitzer gratefully acknowledge financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Research Unit ?Psychoeconomics? (for 1882). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. We thank Angela Whale for her help with English language editing. This project has received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 703042 and the Young Scholar Fund at the University of Konstanz. Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 703042 and the Young Scholar Fund at the University of Konstanz. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, J. Lukas Th{\"u}rmer, Maik Bieleke, Frank Wieber and Peter M. Gollwitzer.",
year = "2020",
month = aug,
day = "31",
doi = "10.1108/EJM-05-2018-0341",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "54",
pages = "2079--2105",
journal = "European Journal of Marketing",
issn = "0309-0566",
publisher = "Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.",
number = "9",
}