92 The Urge to Splurge Self-justification Self-justification was studied as a mediator in the effect of advertising frames (CSR advertising cues) on impulse buying urges and behavior. This dissertation built upon the limited but essential body of research on justification-based mechanisms underlying consumer behavior (Taylor, Webb, & Sheeran, 2014) by differentiating between two types of self-justifications: deservingness and moral justification (Chapter 3). To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to incorporate the concept of moral justification into the marketing and consumer psychology literature, potentially enriching the scientific understanding of advertising framing. We argued and showed that altruistic reasons (other-benefit frames) can stimulate consumers to buy self-indulgent products on impulse and that moral justification explains this effect. Self-presentation bias Self-presentation bias was approached as a possible distorting process in research on mindfulness and impulse buying. This research sparks the debate on whether the promising idea that mindfulness reduces impulse buying might rely too heavily on self-report and correlational studies, arguably leading to self-presentation bias and misleading results (Chapter 4). We argue that it should be taken into account that mindfulness does not necessarily lead to fewer impulse purchases, and that the found negative relationship between trait mindfulness and impulse buying trait may be biased. We hereby add to the literature on mindfulness and impulse buying by critically discussing how self-presentation bias may explain why only a correlation (no effect) between trait mindfulness and impulse buying trait (not urges and behavior) is found. Methodological choices Furthermore, the present dissertation also adds to the body of knowledge on impulse buying by applying a mixture of surveys, vignette-based experiments, and field experiments. The surveys provided valuable insights into variables that relate to impulse buying traits and urges; the vignette-based experiments enhanced the internal validity of causal relationships; and the field experiments boosted external validity, since they occurred in real shopping environments. Furthermore, this study does not limit itself by measuring only impulse buying urges and traits. It aims to add value to the literature on impulse buying by also measuring actual behavior in two out of three empirical chapters. Previous research on impulse buying often measures this variable only as a trait or as an urge (e.g., Atulkar and Kesari, 2018; Muruganantham & Bhaket, 2013). The number of research that measures impulse buying behavior is relatively low. Impulse buying traits and urges may be important predictors of impulse buying behavior (e.g., Beatty & Ferrel, 1998); however, as the results of Chapters 3 and 4 demonstrate, finding a relationship between traits or the effect of a stimulus on impulse buying urges does not necessarily mean that there is also an effect of a trait or stimulus on impulse buying behavior (and vice versa). Therefore, measuring actual behavior adds value to the existing body of knowledge on impulse buying. In addition to bringing theoretical and methodological implications, this dissertation also offers practical implications, which are discussed in the next paragraph.
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