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Rook and Fisher’s Impulsive Buying Scale (1995)

Brief Description:
• Rook & Fisher (1995)
• Measure of impulsive buying based on the belief that “people filter their impulsive buying tendencies through their normative evaluations about acting on impulse in particular situations” (Rook & Fisher, 1995).
• The authors believe that there is relationship between impulsive buying behaviour and the impulsive buying trait. These are moderated by one’s normative evaluations.
• Views impulsive buying as a trait.

Type of Measure:
• Self-completed
• 9 items (originally 35)
• 5-point Likert scale

Target Population:
• Adults and adolescents.
• Used on a sample of 15-19 year-old Taiwanese adolescents (Lin & Lin, 2005).

Scoring:
• 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)
• Minimum score = 9; Maximum score = 45

Psychometrics:
Source Reference: Rook & Fisher (1995): 212 university undergrads in a convenience sample.
• Reliability: Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88.
• Validity: Not reported.

Utility for Prevalence Surveys:
• Fair: untested; Measures impulsive buying tendency (versus compulsive buying).

Research Applicability:
• Used as a descriptive measure in consumer studies.

Copyright, Cost, and Source Issues:
• Public domain (no cost).

• Scale is found in source reference.

Source References:
Rook, D. W., & Fisher, R. J. (1995). Normative influences on impulsive buying behaviour. Journal of Consumer Research, 22,305-313.

Supporting References:
Lin, C. -H., & Lin. H. -M. (2005). An exploration of Taiwanese adolescents’ impulsive buying tendency. Adolescence, 40(157), 215-223.
Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2006). If I touch it I have to have it: Individual and environmental influences on impulse purchasing. Journal of Business Research, 59, 765-769.

Strengths:
• Brief.
• Can be modified for specific consumer products.

Weaknesses:
• Limited psychometric data.
• Used less frequently than other measures.