71 Chapter 4 (Brown & Ryan, 2003). People seek consistency (Robins & John, 1997; Paulhus & Vazire, 2007), meaning that when the ideal self is a mindful self, people will try to portray themselves as such as much as possible (Higgins, 1987; Bharti, Suneja, & Bharti, 2022). Thus, considering possible self-presentation bias, it is important not to limit the measurement of impulse buying to impulse buying trait, which contains items such as ‘I often buy things without thinking’ and herewith appeal to someone’s self-insight. Instead, it may be wise to include measurements less sensitive to self-presentation bias, such as the measurement of product-specific impulse buying tendencies or, rather, impulse buying urges, in which respondents are directly asked if they want to buy various specific items. Moreover, the best way to measure the effect of mindfulness on impulse buying behavior is to 1) manipulate mindfulness levels (state mindfulness) and 2) include a measurement of actual behavior. In short, although we expect -based on previous studies- a negative relationship between trait mindfulness and impulse buying trait (H1), we also acknowledge the studies that found a positive effect of (dimensions of) mindfulness on various types of impulsiveness (Szasz, Szentagotai, & Hofmann, 2012; Alberts, Thewissen, & Middelweerd, 2013; Friese & Hoffman, 2016). We argue that a possible explanation for these conflicting findings is the occurrence of self-presentation bias in the studies on trait mindfulness and impulse buying trait. Therefore, we argue that the relationship between mindfulness and impulse buying urges or behavior -which are both less sensitive to self-presentation bias- can be positive. Considering the possibility of self-presentation bias and the studies that indicate a positive effect of mindfulness on impulsiveness (Szasz, Szentagotai, & Hofmann, 2012; Alberts, Thewissen, & Middelweerd, 2013; Friese & Hoffman, 2016), we propose that mindfulness and impulse buying urge or behavior are positively related. Therefore, we formulated the following hypotheses: H2: Trait mindfulness and impulse buying urge are positively related. H3: State mindfulness has a positive effect on impulse buying urge. H4: State mindfulness has a positive effect on impulse buying behavior. Additionally, this study will exploratively examine the role of the different dimensions of mindfulness in the relationship between mindfulness and impulse buying. Mindfulness is often operationalized as the sum of attention, awareness, present focus, and acceptance (Dhandra, 2020); however, few studies have been conducted on the role that each dimension plays in the potential relationship between mindfulness and impulse buying. Exploratively studying the role of each dimension could help obtaining more profound insights into the underlying mechanisms driving this potential relationship. Using both survey and experimental studies, we examine the role of (each dimension of) mindfulness in impulse buying urges and behavior. Thereby, this study contributes to the literature on consumer behavior, mindfulness, and impulse buying. 8We also, exploratively, measured other variables -outside the scope of this article-, such as shopping behavior during Covid-19 restrictions and frugality in Study 1, and purchase regret and purchase happiness in Study 2 and Study 3. We will not further discuss these measurements and results. Please reach out to the author for more information.
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