RRL – Causes or reasons why people online shop (loneliness, materialism, etc)

Compulsivity
Compulsivity is the tendency to continuously engage in activities or actions in an excessive
manner despite knowing the harmful consequences of doing so. Compulsive buying is
characterized by frequent buying or impulses to buy that has adverse consequences. It seems to
share some features that are typical in addictive disorders, such as gambling and binge-eating.
However, compulsive buying is not classified as an addiction in the DSM-5 (Black, 2012).
Black DW, Shaw M, McCormick B, Bayless JD, Allen J. (2012) Neuropsychological
performance, impulsivity, ADHD symptoms, and novelty seeking in compulsive buying
disorder. Psychiatry Res. 200(2):581–587.
Depression
In 2017, Bani-Rshaid and Alghraibeh conducted a study about the relationship between
compulsive buying and depressive symptoms. The results showed significant correlations
between the two variables. Compulsive buyers appear to have trouble in socializing, have low
self-esteem, poor emotional regulation skills and haunted by feelings of loneliness and
frustration. Hence, compulsive buying might be a way to recover from these problems. By
purchasing, compulsive buyers hope to change their negative feelings for the better, which also
leads to feelings of ease and excitement during the actual purchase for a brief period of time.

Bani-Rshaid, A. M., & Alghraibeh, A. M. (2017). Relationship between compulsive buying and
depressive symptoms among males and females. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and
Related Disorders, 14, 47-50. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.05.004

Life stressors
Singh and Nayak (2015) revealed that adolescents increasingly turn to compulsive buying to
cope with heightened levels of stress due to familial and non-familial factors. Adolescents have
been shown to respond to higher levels of stress with higher incidences of compulsive behavior.
Their findings indicate that compulsive buying behavior is a common coping mechanism for
adolescents when experiencing different life stressors. It distracts them and helps them avoid
their problems even for a while.
Singh, R. and Nayak, J.K. (2015), "Life stressors and compulsive buying behaviour among
adolescents in India: Moderating effect of gender ", South Asian Journal of Global Business
Research, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 251-274. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAJGBR-08-2014-0054
Materialism
In different research studies, materialistic values have continuously been linked with compulsive
buying. Most of these studies suggest that compulsive buyers have high materialistic tendencies
than non-compulsive buyers. Materialistic values have three sides, which are buying material
possessions as a sign of success, making material objects in the center of life and believing that
buying material things is a key to life satisfaction. From this point of view, compulsive buyers
buy material things because they believe material possessions implies happiness, success and life
satisfaction (Selim Said Eren et al., 2012).
Eren, S. S., Eroğlu, F., & Hacioglu, G. (2012). Compulsive Buying Tendencies through
Materialistic and Hedonic Values among College Students in Turkey. Procedia - Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 58, 1370-1377. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.1121

Research Objectives –
 Relationship between loneliness and compulsivity in online shopping
Research Objectives

This is similar to the statement of the problem and hypothesis of the manuscript format. You can

discuss the framework here as well (see sample below).

The main objective of the present study is to explore the relationship present among

Facebook addiction, social connectedness, and psychological well-being. Specifically, the

following questions will be investigated:

1. Are Facebook addiction, social connectedness, and psychological well-being related to

one another?

2. Can perceived social connectedness predict the emergence of Facebook addiction among

Filipinos?

3. Can the level of psychological well-being predict the emergence of Facebook addiction

among Filipinos?

4. Can perceived social connectedness and level of psychological well-being together

predict greater emergence of Facebook addiction among Filipinos?

The main objective of the study is to determine the relationship between social loneliness and
degree of compulsivity in online shopping. Specifically, the following questions will be
explored:
1. Is there a significant positive relationship between social loneliness and compulsivity in
online shopping?
2. Are there significant sex differences in social loneliness and compulsivity in online
shopping?