Marketing & consumer behavior
Impulse buying scale: what it is and how to measure it
- Concept
- Impulse buying
- Field
- Marketing & consumer behavior
- Scales in the library
- 2
- Items
- 20
Impulse buying is buying spontaneously and immediately, driven by emotion toward a product rather than by a plan. Rook and Fisher (1995) measure this concept as a personal tendency: some people buy on impulse more easily than others, whatever they are buying. In Vietnam, the concept appears often in studies on livestream selling, TikTok Shop, e-commerce platforms and Gen Z shopping, usually alongside hedonic shopping value and fear of missing out (FoMO).
Comparing the scales
| Scale | Author (year) | Items | Response format | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buying Impulsiveness (BI) Buying impulsiveness scale | Rook & Fisher (1995) | 9 | Likert 5-point | Choose when measuring impulse buying tendency as a personal trait; 9 items, BI8 reverse-coded, 5-point Likert is the most common form. |
| Hedonic Shopping Value (HSV) Shopping value scale | Babin, Darden & Griffin (1994) | 11 | Likert 5-point | Does not measure impulse buying but the enjoyment of a shopping trip (Babin et al., 1994); often used as a predictor of impulse buying. |
Items of each scale
Original English wording from the published source. Replace placeholders such as [system] or
[brand] with what your study is about, and pilot the questionnaire with 20 to 30 respondents first.
Buying Impulsiveness (BI) · Buying impulsiveness scale
| Code | Item |
|---|---|
| BI1 | I often buy things spontaneously. |
| BI2 | "Just do it" describes the way I buy things. |
| BI3 | I often buy things without thinking. |
| BI4 | "I see it, I buy it" describes me. |
| BI5 | "Buy now, think about it later" describes me. |
| BI6 | Sometimes I feel like buying things on the spur-of-the-moment. |
| BI7 | I buy things according to how I feel at the moment. |
| BI8 (R) | I carefully plan most of my purchases. |
| BI9 | Sometimes I am a bit reckless about what I buy. |
Source: Rook & Fisher (1995). Response scale, licence and APA reference: Buying impulsiveness scale.
Hedonic Shopping Value (HSV) · Shopping value scale
| Code | Item |
|---|---|
| HSV1 | This shopping trip was truly a joy. |
| HSV2 | Compared to other things I could have done, the time spent shopping was truly enjoyable. |
| HSV3 | During the trip, I felt the excitement of the hunt. |
| HSV4 | This shopping trip truly felt like an escape. |
| HSV5 | I enjoyed being immersed in exciting new products. |
| HSV6 | I enjoyed this shopping trip for its own sake, not just for the items I may have purchased. |
| HSV7 | I continued to shop, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. |
| HSV8 | I had a good time because I was able to act on the "spur of the moment." |
| HSV9 | While shopping, I was able to forget my problems. |
| HSV10 | While shopping, I felt a sense of adventure. |
| HSV11 (R) | This shopping trip was not a very nice time out. |
Source: Babin, Darden & Griffin (1994). Response scale, licence and APA reference: Shopping value scale.
(R): reverse-coded item; recode before analysis. Buying impulsiveness scale: 1–5 scale: new score = 1 + 5 − score = 6 − score; 1–7 scale: new score = 1 + 7 − score = 8 − score. Shopping value scale: 1–5 scale: new score = 1 + 5 − score = 6 − score; 1–7 scale: new score = 1 + 7 − score = 8 − score.
Tips
- The BIS measures a tendency, not one specific purchase. If your study asks about impulse buying behavior during a livestream or a campaign, add a separate impulse buying behavior scale and cite its source.
- BI8 ('carefully planned') is reverse-coded; with a 5-point Likert scale, reverse it as 6 minus the score before computing Cronbach's alpha.
- Slogan-like items such as 'Just do it' and 'I see it, I buy it' should be translated by meaning and pilot-tested with a few people before the main survey.
- For long questionnaires, you can use the 5-item version BI1-BI5 that Fenton-O'Creevy and Furnham (2022) shortened from the original scale; state that you used the short form.
Once you have a scale, put the concept in the research model drawer to state your hypotheses, work out the minimum sample size, and after data collection check reliability with the Cronbach's alpha calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How many items does the Rook and Fisher impulse buying scale have?
The original has 9 items, unidimensional, with BI8 reverse-coded. A higher score means a stronger impulse buying tendency.
Should impulse buying be an independent or dependent variable?
In livestream or TikTok Shop studies, impulse buying is usually the dependent variable, driven by marketing stimuli, hedonic shopping value or FoMO. Because the BIS measures a stable tendency, if you use it as a dependent variable you need to argue that the shopping environment makes this tendency show more clearly.
Can the BIS be changed to a 7-point scale?
Yes. Later studies use both 5-point and 7-point Likert. Choose one form, use it consistently in the questionnaire and state it in the methods chapter.