Nancy M. Ridgway

University of Richmond | UR · Department of Marketing

This paper presents the results of a survey of customers of an Internet clothing retailer examining how consumers’ preferences to shop and buy on the Internet rather than at bricks-and-mortar stores differ depending on their compulsive buying tendencies. Using shopping motivations such as seeking product and information variety, the ability to buy...

While consumer search behavior has been studied for many years, its treatment has been limited to purchase contexts. This article defines ongoing search as search occurring outside of the purchase process, and places it within an overall framework for consumer search. In addition, it presents results of an exploratory study of ongoing search indica...

Drawing on the theoretical foundation of obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder, this article develops an expanded conceptualization and new measure of consumers' proclivity to buy compulsively. Compulsive buying is defined as a consumer's tendency to be preoccupied with buying that is revealed through repetitive buying and a lack of impulse contro...

This research establishes the validity and reliability of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale in the Chinese consumer market. Using two different Chinese samples, the scale is able to identify compulsive buyers in China. The prevalence of compulsive buyers in China is found to be 10.4% in a student sample and 29.1% in a general population. In addi...

Women, as a market, are larger than both India and China combined, and yet many companies are not adequately understanding women (Silverstein & Sayre, 2009). This is especially true for working women. Approximately 57% of American women worked outside of the home in 2015; 24 million were mothers to at least one child under the age of 18 (U.S. Burea...

Collecting is a widespread consumer behavior, as an estimated third of all adults collects something. According to Belk, collecting is “the process of actively, selectively, and passionately acquiring and possessing things removed from ordinary use and perceived as part of a set of non-identical objects or experiences” (1995, p. 67). It is an inten...

To present the process of transcultural adaptation of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale to Brazilian Portuguese. For the semantic adaptation step, the scale was translated to Portuguese and then back-translated to English by two professional translators and one psychologist, without any communication between them. The scale was then applied to 2...

The Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale is translated and tested in Brazil with very similar results to the original English version.

The present research examines the relationship between consumers' tendencies to buy compulsively and their response to price based on a survey of customers of an Internet clothing retailer. The research findings suggest that compulsive buyers possess greater knowledge of store prices and are more brand conscious and prestige sensitive in comparison...

Using two studies, this article explores how a tendency to buy excessively for self relates to spending on one's pet. Existing research on excessive buying reports that these buyers spend money primarily on themselves. Excessive buying is the tendency to be preoccupied with buying and, consequently, to buy relatively more and more often than others...

This research was conducted to assess how guilt appeals operate in soliciting charitable donations. It was hypothesized that a sense of responsibility would enhance the effectiveness of charitable guilt appeals, thus leading to larger charitable donations. It was also hypothesized that the presence of others would make salient a prosocial norm, thu...

This research was conducted to assess how guilt appeals operate in soliciting charitable donations. It was hypothesized that a sense of responsibility would enhance the effectiveness of charitable guilt appeals, thus leading to larger charitable donations. It was also hypothesized that the presence of others would make salient a prosocial norm, thu...

Past consumer socialization research suggests that differences in the consumption patterns of children from dissimilar socioeconomic backgrounds can be attributed to differences in their consumer skills. We suggest, however that children’s consumer environments rather than deficiencies in skills may be able to better explain differences in children...

Elderly consumers are often without adequate social support. Shopping habits may have significant implications for these consumers' mental and physical welfare. When shopping is seen, at least partly, as a social activity, consumer-market interactions become a widely available substitute for true or traditional social support. By introducing the ce...

Although large enclosed shopping malls represent significant institutions in modem Western culture, consumers' activities within malls have been surprisingly underresearched. In the present study, consumers' interrelationships with malls as consumption sites are explored using the concept of a habitat drawn from the ecological sciences. An empirica...

In this article a conceptual model of use innovativeness is proposed. Use innovativeness is positioned within the broader innate innovativeness construct. Use innovativeness is conceptualized as a consumer's receptivity/attraction to and creativity with using products in new ways. Thus, use innovativeness focuses on the origination and production o...

Used 7 price-related constructs, 5 consistent with a perception of price in its "negative role" and 2 consistent with a perception of price in its "positive role," as independent variables to predict marketplace responses/behaviors in 5 domains: price search, generic product purchases, price recall, sale responsiveness, and coupon redemption. The p...

Seven price-related constructs—five consistent with a perception of price in its “negative role” and two consistent with a perception of price in its “positive role”— are used as independent variables to predict marketplace responses/behaviors in five domains: price search, generic product purchases, price recall, sale responsiveness, and coupon re...

A theory of individual response to environments is discussed. This theory is extended to apply to consumer responses in the marketplace. An empirical study that tests this theory is described. This study examines individual differences in patronage behaviors and attitudes based on emotional responses to an outdoor retail market. In this study, it w...

This study examines how two psychological shopping motives (product related and hedonic or experiential) affect pleasure and arousal in the marketplace. We are particularly interested in consumers who visit a marketplace for the mere pleasure of looking around and enjoying the environment.

In many previous studies of consumer behavior, shopping has been equated with buying. This research examines the concept of browsing—the examination of a retailer’s merchandise without a current intent to buy. Results indicate that for the product classes of clothing and personal computers, browsing is related to perceptions of relevant dimensions...

A nationwide survey revealed that 57 percent of the respondents had purchased a product or service from a direct sales company in the year preceding the survey. Purchasers tended to be younger, more educated and more affluent than non-purchasers. Convenience was perceived to be the major advantage of buying from a direct sales company; the major di...

A nationwide survey of approximately 1,000 small business owners and managers was conducted to investigate the perceived causes of small business failure. In addition, survey participants were asked for suggestions for reducing the number of small business failures. The major cause of small business failures—according to the individuals surveyed—is...