Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075

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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

I, me, and my everything: Self conceptual traits and compulsive

buying behavior
Moin Ahmad Moon *, Shakeeb Faheem, Amna Farooq
Air University School of Management, Air University Multan Campus, Pakistan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Compulsive buying behavior is detrimental to the well-being of the consumers, brands, and the economy.
Compulsive buying behavior Therefore, the current study aims to understand how the self-conceptual traits and values underline the corridors
Physical vanity to the compulsive buying behavior of fashion apparel products. We collected self-administered data from sys­
Achievement vanity
tematically selected 744 young shopping mall consumers and employed structural equation modeling (SEM) via
Fashion apparel products
S–O-R model
maximum likelihood method for analysis. Self-conceptual traits (physical and achievement vanity), materialism,
Brand consciousness and brand consciousness play a pivotal role in the development of compulsive buying behavior in young con­
Materialism sumers of Pakistan. Furthermore, the presence of materialistic attitude and brand consciousness in consumers
Emerging economy firmly explains vanity-driven consumer’s excessive, chronic, and unneeded purchasing of fashion appeal prod­
Pakistan ucts. Policymakers and fashion apparel marketers should limit the excessive use of self-oriented and self-defining
appeals in their marketing campaigns and focus on strategies that build consumer relationships with brands
based on mutual benefits and welfare.

1. Introduction
In modern consumer societies, shopping for branded fashion apparel
is an essential part of our daily life and economy and is a form of
entertainment and rewarding behavior. Branded fashion apparel shop­
ping has become a habit, which, when abused, results in a severe psy­
chiatric problem called compulsive buying behavior (Black et al., 2012;
Müller et al., 2015). Compulsive buying is a consumer’s loss of impulse
control over preoccupation with thoughts and feelings about shopping
(Ridgway et al., 2008). Compulsive buying behavior has catastrophic
individual, social, behavioral, financial, and economic consequences for
an individual and society as a whole.
Conventionally, compulsive buying is associated with developed
western countries as approximately 2–16.4% of the population of
economically developed countries is classified as compulsive (Faber and
O’guinn, 1992; Maccarrone-Eaglen and Schofield, 2017). More specif­
ically, 2–8% US representative sample, 6–13% adult sample, 33%
Parisian women, 49% fitness club clients, 2–6.4% Hungarian consumers,
and 11% of German and Brazilians were classified as compulsive buyers
in western countries (Maraz et al., 2016; Faber and O’guinn, 1992;
Müller et al., 2015; Achtziger et al., 2015). Compulsive buyers usually
purchase products during their compulsive episodes, include pieces of
artwork (4%), purses, knick-knacks and collectibles (8% each), furniture
(10%), books (12%), greeting cards (13%), consumer electronics (15%),
car accessories (17%), CDs (22%), books (23%), antiques (25%), cos­
metics (35%), jewelry (42%), gifts (52%) and cloths (94%) (Harnish
et al., 2019; Müller et al., 2015; Weinstein et al., 2016; Black et al.,
2012). Fashion apparel products are majorly bought products amongst
other compulsively purchased products since the fashion apparel prod­
ucts carry symbolic meanings that aid compulsive buyers to gain status
by expressing themselves.
Most of the knowledge and coping strategies for compulsive buying
behavior stem from the western developed countries (He et al., 2018;
Müller et al., 2015). In non-western countries, though compulsive
buying behavior is nascent, the reported prevalence rates (6–26.1%) are
even higher than those in western countries (Moon and Attiq, 2018;
Horváth and Van Birgelen, 2015). With the diffusion of consumer cul­
ture, the introduction of shopping malls, and the advent of branded
fashion products, emerging economies witnessed a swift change in
fashion consumption patterns (Achtziger et al., 2015). Even though
emerging economies comprise almost 80% of the world’s consumers, the
knowledge about the phenomenon of compulsive buying behavior in
modern emerging economies is scant.
A recent survey concluded that 52% of consumers in emerging

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: moin@aumc.edu.pk (M.A. Moon), shakeebfaheem@gmail.com (S. Faheem), amnaa.farooqq@gmail.com (A. Farooq).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103075
Received 18 April 2022; Received in revised form 30 June 2022; Accepted 6 July 2022
Available online 19 July 2022
0969-6989/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M.A. Moon et al.
economies such as Pakistan reported problems with their excessive
purchasing of fashion apparel products (Hassan, 2018). Pakistan is a
young country with almost 63% (67 million) of the adult population
between the age brackets of 18–33 years (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics,
2018), who are fashion savvy, status-conscious, materialistic, and have
low levels of psychological well-being and have higher compulsive
buying tendencies compared with any other age group (Weinstein et al.,
2016; Moon and Attiq, 2018). Furthermore, Japutra et al. (2022) show
that younger consumers are more vulnerable to compulsive buying than
senior consumers. For a country with such a large proportion of young
adults, compulsive buying is an imminent danger. Therefore, it is
imperative for consumer, psychological, and policy researchers to devise
effective coping strategies by identifying and addressing the underlying
mechanisms fostering compulsive buying.
Previous research has made substantial efforts to unfold the under­
lying mechanism of compulsive buying behavior. For instance, studies
have extensively explained the personal, contextual, social, and psy­
chological motives for developing compulsive buying tendencies (Kap­
ferer, 2016; Weinstein et al., 2016; Black et al., 2012). Literature
suggests that the current understanding of the phenomenon is limited in
the sense that the manifestation of the compulsive buying behavior may
be a result of reciprocity between social, contextual, and psychological
motives (Mrad and Cui, 2020; Zerach, 2016; Le, 2021; Harnish et al.,
2019). As such, socio-psychological motives have surfaced as unfor­
midable reciprocated decision-making drivers of excessive, conspicuous,
and symbolic consumption (Lilje and Mosler, 2017). However, these
motives are primarily studied in ethical and ecological research (Moon
et al., 2021). Since they rally the excessive, conspicuous, and symbolic
consumption, socio-psychological factors may foster more significant
insights into unethical and malicious consumer behaviors such as
compulsive buying (Moon et al., 2018).
Amongst various socio-psychological motives, self-concept has a
vital role in shaping consumer behavior, and the fraternity of re­
searchers suggesting the inclusion of self-concept to improve perdition
of behavior is increasing (Moon et al., 2021; Japutra et al., 2019; Lim
et al., 2020). Interestingly, the comprehensive review of literature on
self-concept reveals that past studies mainly focused on examining the
role of self-concept in the development of positive consumer behaviors
such as consumer loyalty, satisfaction, attitude, intentions, word of
mouth, brand love, green behavior, and ethical consumption (Hosany
and Martin, 2012; Wallace et al., 2017; Moon et al., 2021). The empir­
ical investigations into the query as to how self-concept construes
negative or pathological consumer behaviors are limited. Although the
evidence suggests that compulsive buying is a response behavior to the
failure of self-regulation (Sharif and Yeoh, 2018), research on the role of
self-concept in the manifestation of compulsive buying behavior is
relatively scarce (Japutra et al., 2018; Harnish et al., 2019). Specifically
speaking of emerging countries such as Pakistan, with a high concen­
tration of potential compulsive population, high adaptability, and
diffusion of fashion apparel products, we could not find any study
explaining the self-conceptual pathways to compulsive buying. There­
fore, the current research attempts to understand how the
self-conceptual traits and values underline the corridors to compulsive
buying behavior. The study, consequently, aims to 1) empirically
operationalize, test, and segregate the effects of consumer
self-conceptual traits in the development of compulsive buying
behavior, 2) classify the effects that consumers’ viewpoint about their
materialistic value orientation and brand consciousness has on the
compulsive buying behavior and 3) examine the mediating effects of
materialism and brand consciousness between the relationship of
self-conceptual traits and compulsive buying behavior.
This study advances our understanding of the young adult pop­
ulation’s compulsive buying behavior of fashion apparel products in
emerging economies like Pakistan on several fronts. First, this study is
transformative consumer research because compulsive buying behavior
is detrimental to the well-being of the consumer, brand, and economy.
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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075
The findings guide managers and policymakers as to what robust stra­
tegies are required to curb this maladaptive behavior by distinguishing
the ingredients to support, encourage and publicize the consumption
practices that align with the well-being of the consumers. Furthermore,
the current study differs from the extant research investigating the
relationship between self-conceptual traits and positive consumer be­
haviors. This study examines the influence of self-conceptual traits in
conjunction with compulsive buying, a negative consumer behavior.
Moreover, this study unearths the mechanistic roadmaps of as to how
self-conceptual traits turn into compulsive buying behavior.
2. Theoretical background
The stimulus organism response (S–O-R) model (Mehrabian and
Russell, 1974) underlays the theoretical foundation of this study. The
S–O-R model encompasses three components: stimuli, organism, and
response. Stimuli’ are usually external or environmentally induced
triggers; the organism is unique conscious and/or unconscious internal
evaluations of different stimuli, and response is the behavioral outcome
in the shape of approach or avoidance. Generally, the S–O-R models
assume that stimuli generate a response depending on the unique in­
ternal evaluations of the organism. Therefore, this study operationalized
the S–O-R model by considering consumer vanity as the stimulus, brand
consciousness and materialism as organism, and compulsive buying
behavior as the response.
Originally proposed as an environmental framework, the S–O-R
model (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974) underwent severe criticism for its
narrow (only environment-focused) scope (Moon et al., 2017, 2018;
Jacoby, 2002; Fiore and Kim, 2007). For instance, stimuli in the original
S–O-R model stemmed only from the surrounding environment. How­
ever, researchers theoretically and experimentally have shown that this
conceptualization often fails to explain several complex consumer
decision-making styles and situations (Jacoby, 2002; Fiore and Kim,
2007). In line with the ongoing criticism of the initial S–O-R model,
Jacoby (2002) revisited the original model. He emphasized the inclusion
of automatic processing, consciousness, and non-trace stimulus-res­
ponse events along with encountered environment into the stimuli to
explain unaddressed consumer behavior domains. This conceptualiza­
tion of stimuli allows consumer researchers to include economic con­
ditions, marketing mix factors, cultural influences, social factors, and
psychological influences on consumer behavior in the model (Moon
et al., 2017, 2018). The inclusion of diverse elements into the S–O-R
model enables researchers to comprehend consumer information pro­
cessing mechanisms and understand how they make complex decisions
in dynamic situations.
The literature discusses two broad categories of stimuli in general.
First is the object stimuli that relate to decision complexity, time of
consumption, and product attributes. The second is social-psychological
stimuli that stem from economic, social, and surrounding environment-
induced psychological motives (Jacoby, 2002). Since compulsive buying
behavior is less product-specific and more social and psychologically
motived consumer behavior (Maraz et al., 2016), we deemed
socio-psychological stimuli more appropriate than the object stimuli in
this study.
We use self-concept theory (Sirgy, 1982; Stryker and Burke, 2000) to
identify socio-psychological stimuli most relevant to consumers’
compulsive buying behavior. Self-concept theory explains the system­
atically organized totality of attitudes, beliefs, opinions, perceptions,
and preferences towards one’s existence. Self-concept outlines that in­
dividuals make choices according to the perceptions that they form
about themselves. In social psychology and consumer research, con­
sumer vanity is an important conceptualization of self-concept (Jin and
Ryu, 2019; Netemeyer et al., 1995; Sharda and Bhat, 2019). Consumer
vanity suggests that the consumers see and compare themselves with
others in terms of their appearance and achievements and tend to buy
products that complement their self-perceptions (Jin and Ryu, 2019).
M.A. Moon et al.
Therefore, we included consumer vanity as a socio-psychological stim­
ulus to study consumers’ compulsive behavior.
Mehrabian and Russell (1974) represented organism with three
emotional components of pleasure, arousal, and dominance (PAD),
which, however, were criticized for failing to capture the entirety of
emotional reactions (Moon et al., 2018). Consequently, various re­
searchers provided different conceptualizations of the organism. For
instance, Fiore and Kim (2007) operationalize organism with five
representative components: consciousness, value, emotion, affect, and
cognition. Their conceptualization of organisms in the S–O-R model
enables consumer researchers to accommodate various emotional re­
actions in the information processing mechanism. Drawing on the
conceptualization of Moon et al. (2018) and Moon et al. (2017), this
study concentrates on two states of organism: consciousness and value.
Based on the empty self-theory (Cushman, 1990), this study includes
brand consciousness and materialism as the organism to understand
compulsive buying behavior. Empty self-theory suggests that significant
societal changes have dragged individuals into isolation, loss of
communal meanings, poor relationships with others, and value confu­
sion. Individuals use endless acquisition and consumption of
well-known branded products to compensate for a nonspecific chronic
emotional void that results from the changes. Since the literature argues
that compulsive buying is self-rewarding behavior that compensates for
the failure to regulate self-discrepancies (Reeves et al., 2012), we
consider compulsive buying a compensatory response behavior in this
research. Moreover, empty self-theory also extends grounds to examine
the effects of brand consciousness and materialism of compulsive buying
behavior. In line with the preceding conceptual arguments, this research
investigates the influence of consumer vanity (physical and achieve­
ment) on brand consciousness and materialism that, in turn, predict
compulsive buying behaviors of fashion apparel of young adults in
Pakistan.
3. Literature review and hypothesis
3.1. Compulsive buying behavior
Compulsive buying is a consumer’s loss of impulse control over
preoccupation with thoughts and feelings about shopping (Ridgway
et al., 2008). Consumers develop this pathological behavior of repetitive
buying due to psychological problems (Tarka et al., 2022). This
conceptualization of compulsive buying behavior emphasizes the pres­
ence of impulse control disorder (ICD) and obsessive-compulsive dis­
order (OCD) characteristics in compulsive buyers. Impulse buying
disorder is characterized by irresistible urges to buy things repetitively
and is displayed by purchasing unplanned and unneeded products
repetitively, spontaneously, kinetically, unreflectively, and on the spur
of the moment. In contrast, the obsessive-compulsive dimension sig­
nifies the tendency of a consumer to be preoccupied with buying and a
driving force to engage in buying repetitively, which is exhibited by
frequent and larger amounts of shopping and purchasing (Faber and
O’guinn, 1992). Subsequently, in this study, compulsive behavior refers
to the adult young consumer’s needless, uncontrollable, excessive, and
repetitive shopping of branded fashion apparel products.
Compulsive buying of fashion apparel products entails immediate
but temporary positive feelings (pleasure, enjoyment, arousal, crea­
tivity, instant relief from anxiety and depression, feeling of high, good
mood, and self-esteem) for an individual. These feelings are, however,
quickly replaced by remorse, guilt, and severe financial (inability to
meet payments, debts), personal (guilt, stress, lower self-esteem,
depression, anxiety), social (legal problems, criticism, family argu­
ments, shame, criminal problems. hiding behavior) consequences due to
awareness of the inappropriateness of the excessive spending behavior
(Black et al., 2012; Müller et al., 2015; Achtziger et al., 2015). Moreover,
recent prevalence estimates indicate that younger consumers, not only
in developed economies (16.2%) but also in emerging economies (33%),
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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075
are more compulsive than older consumers (Japutra et al., 2022).
Youngsters in contemporary societies are materialistic, status, and
identity seekers and prone to brand consumption, making them
vulnerable to compulsive behavior (Japutra et al., 2022; Lim et al.,
2020). Thus, given its severe consequences, coupled with recent stag­
gering prevalence estimates (26.1% & 33%), it warrants an inquiry into
the manifestation mechanism of compulsive buying behavior of the
young generation in emerging economies like Pakistan (Horváth and
Van Birgelen, 2015; Moon and Attiq, 2019).
3.2. Consumer vanity
Vanity, an individual trait, is the concern, admiration, and pride in
one’s appearance and achievements (Jin and Ryu, 2019). Consumer
vanity is a powerful propensity to be concerned about one’s physical
appearance and personal achievement, guiding an individual’s
decision-making (Netemeyer et al., 1995). Consumer vanity has broad
implications in literature, where consumer vanity thrives as a
socio-psychological motive for consumption (Kapferer, 2016). In line
with the most widely used two-dimensional opalization in the marketing
literature (Shahid and Paul, 2021; Netemeyer et al., 1995), this study
concedes consumer vanity as physical vanity and achievement vanity.
3.2.1. Physical vanity
Physical vanity is “the heightened concern and exceedingly opti­
mistic view of one’s physical appearance.” Higher levels of physical
vanity entail exaggeratedly favorable sentiments about a person’s
physical beauty and attractiveness. Individuals exhibiting higher levels
of physical vanity strongly believe in the deeply rooted stereotype that
what is beautiful is good and are always concerned about their looks and
appearance and view themselves as extremely attractive and appealing
(Shahid and Paul, 2021; Netemeyer et al., 1995). Research shows that
physically attractive people enjoy popularity amongst peers, power,
influence, successful career, married life, and optimism. However, the
pursuit of attractiveness also makes them futile, self-centered, and
egoistic (Sharda and Bhat, 2018). The bombardment of idealized im­
agery through global advertisement of fashion apparel products fuels an
individual’s self-concept discrepancy, leading to obsessions with out­
ward appearance (Netemeyer et al., 1995). Consequently, the consumers
try to alleviate self-discrepancies by consuming fashion apparel products
and services that enhance their physical appearance.
3.2.2. Achievement vanity
Achievement vanity is the heightened concern and exceedingly
optimistic view of one’s achievements (Netemeyer et al., 1995). In­
dividuals scoring high on achievement vanity exhibit great concern and
pride in their success and accomplishments and want others to
acknowledge their achievements in things they do. In doing so, they
resort to excessive, materialistic, and conspicuous consumption. They
place a high value on expensive products, believing they signify prestige,
power, and success (Durvasula et al., 2001; Sharda and Bhat, 2019). The
dependence on expensive products sometimes leads the individuals with
higher levels of achievement vanity to use unethical means to fill the
void in their self-concept.
Vanity as a driver of consumption has existed for long now in con­
sumer research (Netemeyer et al., 1995). In comparison, brand con­
sciousness is a relatively modern consumer decision-making style
attributed to contemporary consumption-oriented economies (Gio­
vannini et al., 2015). Consumer vanity-related views and concerns guide
the consumer brand preferences such that consumers seek
self-expression through the brands that symbolize prestige, status, and
uniqueness (Sharda and Bhat, 2019; Lee and Workman, 2014). More
specifically, consumers with high levels of physical vanity are fashion
brand conscious because of the brand’s aesthetic appeal and attrac­
tiveness. On the other hand, a fashion brand’s prestige, social status, and
success make consumers with high achievement vanity brand conscious
M.A. Moon et al.
(Jin and Ryu, 2019; Correia-Loureiro, Costa, & Panchapakesan, 2017).
Consequently, we believe that young consumers would develop a pref­
erential attitude toward fashion apparel brands to showcase their view
and concern for appearance and achievements.
H1. Physical vanity has a positive influence on brand consciousness.
H3. Achievement vanity has a positive influence on brand
consciousness.
Consumer vanity increases the passion for fashion apparel posses­
sions as apparel products enable consumers to impress others by
expressing themselves in terms of their fashionable looks and displaying
apparel possessions as a status symbol of success (Jin and Ryu, 2019;
Correia-Loureiro, Costa, & Panchapakesan, 2017). Excessive concern
about one’s appearance and achievements may result in negative be­
haviors such as showing off and materialism (Jin and Ryu, 2019).
Additionally, research shows that consumer vanity strongly relates to
materialism (Correia-Loureiro, Costa, & Panchapakesan, 2017). Con­
sumers conscious of their appearance and achievements use possessions
as symbols of success and uniqueness. Therefore, we argue that young
adult consumers with inflated views and heightened concern for their
appearance and achievements are likely to exhibit materialistic char­
acteristics. Hence, we deem it appropriate to assume that.
H2. Physical vanity has a positive influence on materialism.
H4. Achievement vanity has a positive influence on materialism.
3.3. Brand consciousness
Brand consciousness is the psychological proclivity to a highly
advertised brand, well-known and famous (Zhang and Kim, 2013). We
operationalize brand consciousness as the preference for highly publi­
cized, prominent, and renowned fashion apparel brands.
Brand-conscious consumers identify and share an emotional bond with
the brand that enhances their social visibility by linking them to their
desired group and helping form and express their self-concept (Khalil
et al., 2020; Veloutsou, 2015). Famous brands are usually expensive,
and brand-conscious consumers see famous and expensive brands as
means to prestige, status, self-identity, and signal of quality (Giovannini
et al., 2015).
Compulsive buyers often struggle with anxiety and depression due to
low self-esteem, creating discrepancies in their self-concept and making
them anxious and materialistic (Fournier and Alvarez, 2013). To over­
come these discrepancies, consumers try to find comfort in buying things
with symbolic value (Japutra et al., 2019). We believe compulsive
buyers resort to famous and expensive brands since prior studies reveal
that compulsive buyers strongly bond with famous apparel brands (He
et al., 2018; Weinstein et al., 2016). Compulsive buyers purchase famous
fashion apparel brands to extract status, prestige, and a sense of self
(Horváth and Van Birgelen, 2015). The research findings also suggest
compulsive buyers possess greater knowledge of store prices and are
more brand conscious and prestige sensitive than non-compulsive
buyers (Mrad and Cui, 2020). Therefore, we assume that young adults
who prefer highly advertised, well-known, and famous apparel brands
may compulsively purchase these brands.
H5. Brand consciousness has a positive influence on compulsive
buying behavior.
3.4. Materialism
Materialism is the importance ascribed to the ownership and
acquisition of material goods in achieving major life goals or desired
states (Richins, 2004). She conceptualizes material values as encom­
passing three domains: the use of possessions to judge the success of
others and oneself, the centrality of possessions in a person’s life, and the
belief that possessions and their acquisition lead to happiness and life
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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075
satisfaction. Materialistic individuals are generally unhappy and un­
satisfied with their lives (del Mar Alonso-Almeida et al., 2020) and suffer
from anxiety, stress, identity crisis, and resort to a specific group of
products to alleviate the discrepancies in their self-concept (Kasser,
2016; Dittmar et al., 2014). Materialistic consumers use possession and
acquisition of products to construct and maintain their ‘self’ (Richins,
2011; Shrum et al., 2013). Consequently, this study considers the
youngsters as materialistic who acquire fashion apparel products to
exhibit their success, happiness, satisfaction with life, and self-identity.
Recent studies in emerging economies indicate that youngsters are
more likely to develop materialistic attitudes regarding fashion apparel
(Lim et al., 2020). The possession of branded fashion apparel gives the
young materialistic consumers a sense of satisfaction and accomplish­
ment (Dev2018). They purchase excessively to fulfill their life goals of
material possessions and use these excessive and expensive fashion
apparel products to showcase their success, prestige, and social status
(Moon and Attiq, 2018).
Materialism has a naturally aspirated relationship with compulsive
buying behavior based on psychological and social aspects of con­
sumption (Tarka, 2020). Psychologically, compulsive buying is a
compensatory behavior that aims to repair mood, improve self, and
compensate for the lack of success. Materialistic consumers strongly
believe that consumer goods may provide them with these psychological
benefits, inevitably pushing consumers to irresistible and excessive
purchasing of certain products (Kasser, 2016). On the social front,
compulsive buyer aims to improve their own ‘self’ and gain desired
social respect. Materialistic consumers treat all their buying processes as
means for acquiring and possessing excessive consumer products that
have symbolic meanings to express their identity (better self) and
highlight social status (Harnish et al., 2019; Moschis, 2017). This makes
them vulnerable to compulsive buying behavior (Reeves et al., 2012).
Modern consumer-centric societies expose young generations to their
inherent materialistic orientations resulting in a more pronounced
inclination to compulsive buying (Pahlevan Sharif et al., 2021). There­
fore as dipicted in the Fig. 1, we assume that young consumers who
value possession and acquisition of goods are likely to purchase fashion
apparel products excessively and repetitively.
H6. Materialism has a positive influence on compulsive buying
behavior.
4. Methodology
4.1. Sampling procedures
Young urban adult consumer of fashion apparel products in Pakistan
constitutes the population of this study. Young adults are more
compulsive, fashion-savvy, materialistic, and status-conscious (Japutra
et al., 2022; Weinstein et al., 2016; Black et al., 2012). Moreover, almost
63% of the adult urban population of Pakistan is young (between 18 and
33) (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Understanding young con­
sumers’ fashion apparel compulsive tendencies is essential due to their
extended lifetime value and compromised well-being (Japutra et al.,
2022; He et al., 2018). We systematically selected 744 young shopping
mall consumers (every 5th) of fashion apparel products as the sample of
this study. Young compulsive consumers have an extraordinary appetite
for fashion apparel products, and a wide variety of fashion apparel
products in shopping malls make them vulnerable to compulsive buying
behavior (Maraz et al., 2016). Furthermore, compulsive buying is a
frequent disorder in shopping mall visitors, and a rapid increase in the
number of shopping malls has fueled the obsession with fashion apparel
products in emerging economies (Kapferer, 2016; Moon and Attiq,
2018).
We followed the guidelines of various researchers to determine the
appropriate sample size for this study. First, according to the rule of
thumb, 5–10 respondents against each item would yield the minimum
M.A. Moon et al.
Fig. 1. Conceptual model.
number of respondents (Hair et al., 2017). Multiplying the total number
of items (31) with five yielded 155 as this study’s minimum required
sample size. Second, to perform structural equation modeling (SEM), a
minimum of 200 respondents are needed (Kline, 2015). Third, previous
compulsive buying behavior research used sample sizes of around 500
(Lim et al., 2020). Therefore, we consider 744 young shopping mall
consumers of apparel products sufficient for this study.
4.2. Measures
The study adopted well-established instruments from the available
literature. For this, the researchers made sure that 1) the selected scales
conform to the operational definitions of the study variables and 2) they
are already used in studies aimed at understanding the young adult
shopping mall consumer’s compulsive behavior. For this purpose, a few
adaptations were inevitable to ensure the relevance and significance of
scales to compulsive buying and fashion apparel. We used a 21-item,
seven-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree)
to measure physical and achievement vanity (Netemeyer et al., 1995).
The constructs related to self are susceptible to cultural influences.
Therefore, to account for the cultural differences in vanity scale, in line
with (Moon et al., 2021), we conducted an exploratory factor analysis
(EFA) with a separate sample of 150 students (see Moon and Attiq,
2019). The EFA produced a 12 items (Factor Loadings ≥0.4) two factor
(physical vanity = 6 items; α = 0.87, achievement vanity = 6 items; α =
0.72) solution at Eigenvalue >1 with cumulative variance more than
50%. This study used the revised compulsive buying index (Revised-CBI)
(Moon and Attiq, 2018) to measure compulsive buying. Revised-CBI is a
theoretically, methodologically, and culturally validated version of the
compulsive buying index (CBI) (Ridgway et al., 2008) among the young
adult shopping mall consumers of Pakistan. Therefore, the Revised-CBI
version is most suitable for studying the compulsive buying phenome­
non in Pakistan (see Moon and Attiq, 2018). Furthermore, we oper­
ationalize materialism as a value. Therefore, we employed nine items
material value scale (MVS) to measure materialism (Richins, 2004). The
six-item scale measures the brand consciousness of consumers, where
higher scores depict higher levels of brand consciousness (Nelson and
McLeod, 2005). We used a five-point (1 = strongly disagree and 5 =
strongly agree) Likert type level of agreement anchor for these scales.
4.3. Data collection procedure
We used the mall intercept method to collect the self-administered
survey data from young shopping mall consumers of apparel products
from five cities (Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Multan) in
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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075
Pakistan from June 2021 to September 2021. These cities are metro­
politan economic centers with an abundance of shopping malls and
almost 58% of the young urban population of the country (Farooq and
Moon, 2020; Shahbandeh, 2021; Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2018).
We selected the shopping mall considering 1) the presence of interna­
tional and local fashion apparel brands assortment and 2) a healthy
customer flow. We contacted consumers in or around fashion apparel
brand stores in the shopping malls.
We systematically selected every 5th consumer entering a fashion
apparel brand store during the regular operating hours of the shopping
malls. Initially, we contacted 1233 consumers, out of whom we excluded
individuals who 1) did not buy at least one fashion apparel product
during the current trip and 2) were not 18–33 years of age. 977 in­
dividuals who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and consented to partici­
pate in the research were given the survey questionnaire. 178
respondents did not return the questionnaire, and 19 left the survey
without completing it. We further removed 36 questionnaires contain­
ing inappropriate or missing information. Eventually, we obtained 744
(76%) useable responses from the purely voluntary respondents.
4.4. Data analysis procedure
We utilized the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 24 to
enter and prepare data. We used AMOS 24 to perform structural equa­
tion modeling (SEM), testing the confirmatory and structural models.
5. Results and discussion
Before data analysis, during data screening, we treated missing
values (≥10%), aberrant values, univariate (z > ±3), and multivariate
(Mahalanobis d2 at p < 0.05) outliers with the mode substitution method
(Cousineau and Chartier, 2010). Normality was not an issue since
skewness (±1) and kurtosis (±3) values were well within the specified
threshold (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). The variance inflation factor
(VIF <10) and tolerance level (>0.1) values between the independent
constructs confirm no issue of multicollinearity (Hair et al., 2017).
Self-reported measures, specifically for dark consumer behaviors such as
compulsive buying, are vulnerable to common method biasness (CMB).
Therefore, we applied procedural and analytical remedial measures to
diagnose and account for such potential biases and concluded that the
data does not suffer from CMB (see Podsakoff et al., 2012).
5.1. Sample characteristics
Most of the sample were females (56%) with an average age of 23.35.
M.A. Moon et al. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075

Young adults, specifically women, have stronger compulsive tendencies Table 1

than the other population segments and are more interested in fashion Results of confirmatory factor analysis.
apparel products (Weinstein et al., 2016). Most respondents (66%) re­ Codes Items Factor SMC T- Mean SD
ported an average monthly income of less than PKR 35000, and almost Loadings Value
72% testified buying fashion apparel at least once a month. Physical Vanity
PV1 It is important that I 0.61** 0.37 13.09 4.60 1.16
5.2. Structural equation modeling (SEM) always look good.
PV2 People notice how 0.66** 0.43 10.78
attractive I am.
This study adopts Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step proced­ PV3 My looks are very 0.65** 0.42 14.18
ure for structural equation modeling. Initially, we assessed the confir­ appealing to others.
matory factor analysis (CFA for reliability and validity of the constructs) PV4 People are jealous of my 0.56** 0.32 12.25
followed by testing the proposed hypothesis in the structural model. good looks.
PV5 I am a very good-looking 0.60** 0.35 13.08
individual.
5.2.1. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) PV6 I am physically 0.56** 0.31 12.40
We performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with robust attractive.
maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and constrained path parameters Achievement Vanity
AV1 I am a very successful 0.66** 0.43 10.78 4.36 1.21
to “1” (Hair et al., 2017). The results of the CFA produced an excellent fit
person.
for the model (CMIN/DF = 2.89, GFI = 0.95, AGFI = 0.93, CFI = 0.93, AV3 My achievements are 0.60** 0.36 11.62
RMSEA = 0.04, NFI = 0.88, TLI = 0.93, IFI = 0.94, PCLOSE = 0.38). highly regarded by
Accordingly, we adjusted the modification indices (MI > 10) and elim­ others.
inated items with low squared multiple correlation (SMC <0.2), low AV4 I am an accomplished 0.51** 0.26 10.37
person.
standardized factor loading (FL < 0.6) and high standardized residual
AV5 Others wish they were as 0.52** 0.27 10.50
covariance (SRC <2.58) (Kline, 2015). Table 1 details the results of CFA. successful as me.
Additionally, we examined the construct reliability and validity to test Brand Consciousness
the strength of the measures (Fornell and Larcker, 1987). BC1 I pay attention to the 0.51** 0.26 11.07 3.10 0.90
brand names of the
To establish reliability of the constructs, we assessed Cronbach’s
apparel products I buy.
Alpha (α ≥ 0.6), average variance extracted (AVE >0.5) and composite BC2 Brand names tell me 0.62** 0.39 12.76
reliability (CR ≥ 0.6) (Fornell and Larcker, 1987; Nunnally and Bern­ something about the
stein, 1994; Hair et al., 2017). Reliability results provided in Table 2 quality of the apparel
suggest that the constructs are reliable since the values of Cronbach’s product.
BC3 Brand names tell me 0.58** 0.34 12.23
alpha, AVE and CR comfortably exceed the minimum specified limits.
something about how
For construct validity, we measured the convergent and divergent ‘cool’ an apparel product
validity of the scales. Literature suggests various criteria for the assess­ is.
ment of convergent validity. The construct is convergently valid if the BC4 Sometimes I am willing 0.56** 0.31 12.06
values of average variance extracted (AVE) ≥ 0.5, significant factor to pay more money for
an apparel product
loadings (FL) ≥ 0.5 for all observed variables, and if CR ≥ AVE ≥0.5 because of its brand
(Fornell and Larcker, 1987). Based on these criteria, results in Tables 1 name.
and 2 undoubtedly reveal that the constructs are convergently valid BC5 Branded apparel 0.58** 0.34 12.35
(Kline, 2015). products that cost a lot of
money are good quality.
To establish the divergent validity of the constructs, we used multi­
BC6 I pay attention to the 0.63** 0.40 10.78
ple guidelines from the literature. For instance, the first evidence of brand names of most of
discriminant validity is the significantly larger factor loadings (FL ≥ 0.5) the apparel products I
and excellent model fitness during the CFA (Tabachnick and Fidell, buy.
2007). The average variance extracted AVE ≥0.5, the square root values Materialism
M2 The apparel products I 0.51** 0.26 09.92 3.06 0.79
of AVE and Cronbach’s Alpha greater than the inter construct correla­ own say a lot about how
tion further indicate the discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, well I’m doing in life.
1987). Low inter construct correlation coefficient (r ≤ 0.7) and corre­ M3 I like to own apparel 0.51** 0.25 10.78
lation confidence interval values between all constructs without the products that impress
people.
absolute value “1′′ demonstrate the distinctive nature of latent con­
M5 Buying apparel products 0.59** 0.34 10.82
structs, thus confirming the discriminant validity (Hair et al., 2017). gives me a lot of
Tables 1 and 2 represents the discriminant validity of the construct. pleasure.
M6 I like a lot of luxury 0.58** 0.34 10.78
5.2.2. Structural model and hypothesis testing apparels in my life.
M7 My life would be better if 0.57** 0.32 10.61
The full latent structural model specified to test the hypothesized I owned certain apparel
relationships between variables in this study produced an excellent fit to products I don’t have.
the data (CMIN/DF = 2.86, GFI = 0.92, AGFI = 0.91, CFI = 0.88, M8 I’d be happier if I could 0.59** 0.35 10.86
RMSEA = 0.05, NFI = 0.83, TLI = 0.86, IFI = 0.88, PClose = 0.5). The afford to buy more
apparel products.
model explains 26% variance (Model R2 = 0.26, p < 0.01) in compulsive
M9 It sometimes bothers me 0.54** 0.29 10.31
buying indicating the soundness of modified S-0-R model, empty self quite a bit that I can’t
theory, self concept theory and the socio-psychological antecedents of afford to buy all the
compulsive buying behavior. Furthermore, physical and achievement apparel products I’d like.
vanity explained 28% (Model R2 = 0.28, p < 0.01) and 31% (Model R2 Compulsive Buying
CB1 My closet has 0.52** 0.28 09.65 3.70 1.45
= 0.31, p < 0.01) variance in materialism and brand consciousness unopened shopping
respectively. Fig. 2 portray the results of the structural model and bags in it.
hypothesis. (continued on next page)
Results of hypothesis indicate that physical vanity (H1: γ = 0.26, p <

6
M.A. Moon et al. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075

Table 1 (continued )
Codes Items Factor SMC T- Mean SD
Loadings Value
CB2 Others might 0.70** 0.48 10.18
consider me a
‘shopaholic’.
CB3 I often buy things I 0.61** 0.37 10.78
don’t need.
Notes. SMC: Square Multiple Correlations, SD: Standard deviation. **p < 0.001.
0.05) and achievement vanity (H3: γ = 0.21, p < 0.05) significantly
affect materialism. The findings suggest that the consumers with
heightened physical and achievement vanity display materialistic atti­
tudes. Previous researchers (Jin and Ryu, 2019; Correia-Loureiro et al.,
2017) also found that materialistic characteristics significantly increase
when consumers are high on vanity. The findings indicate that young
adult consumers with excessive concern and inflated views about their
physical appearance find happiness and success from acquiring and
possessing fashion apparel products compared to consumers with high
achievement vanity. We may attribute this to the fact that most of the
consumers in this study (and in Pakistan) are young (average age = 23
years), have little control over their emotions (Reeves et al., 2012), and
are at a life stage where they have very few professional or life
achievements. Therefore, they use the possession of fashion apparel
products to enhance their attractiveness and self-image, impress others,
and as a symbol of uniqueness.
Study results also found a significant and positive influence of
physical vanity (H2: γ = 0.21, p < 0.05) and achievement vanity (H4: γ
= 0.29, p < 0.05) on brand consciousness, with achievement vanity
exerting stronger effects. Findings complement the previous research
(Khalil et al., 2020; Veloutsou, 2015; Giovannini et al., 2015; Sharda and
Bhat, 2019; Lee and Workman, 2014) where consumer vanity-related
views and concerns guide the consumer brand preferences to the
brands that provide and enhance consumer’ self-expression. Interest­
ingly, the results also show that young consumers of fashion apparel
products in Pakistan with inflated views and concerns about their
achievements are more inclined to choose the well-known, famous, and
possibly expensive brands than those concerned about their physical
attractiveness. Although consumers share an emotional bond with their
preferred brand, consumers with high achievement vanity cognitively
associate with famous and well-known brands that have the potential to
signal their professional and life achievements to others (Veloutsou,
2015; Khalil et al., 2020). The conspicuous consumption of such fashion
apparel brands satisfies their desire to convey success and accomplish­
ments. Another reason for this may come from social comparison theory,
such that the achievement concerned consumers are likely to compare
their achievements to their peers’ achievements. They stretch to any
unreasonable means to maintain their self and public image intact.
Consequently, as an easier way, they develop stronger brand con­
sciousness towards fashion apparel brands to match and alleviate their
professional and life achievements.
Materialism (H5: γ = 0.27, p < 0.05) and brand consciousness (H6: γ
= 0.25, p < 0.05) significantly and positively predicted compulsive
buying behavior. Findings of the current study revealed that young
consumers who value possession and acquisition of goods purchase
fashion apparel products excessively and repetitively to feel happy and
showcase their success, prestige, and social status. The findings are in
line with previous research where materialistic consumers in emerging
economies tend to develop compulsive tendencies towards fashion
apparel products (Moschis, 2017; Richins, 2011; Lim et al., 2020; Dev
et al., 2018; Reeves et al., 2012; Moon and Attiq, 2018; Harnish et al.,
2019). Furthermore, results also demonstrate that young consumers
who prefer highly advertised, famous and well-known brands repeatedly
purchase excessive volumes of fashion apparel. Prior studies reveal that
compulsive buyers strongly bond with famous apparel brands (He et al.,
2018; Weinstein et al., 2016). Compulsive buyers suffer from low
self-esteem, identity crisis, and discrepancies in self-concept. Resul­
tantly, they resort to famous, well-known, and expensive fashion apparel
brands to undermine these discrepancies since they carry symbolic
value, prestige, and status (Japutra et al., 2019; Weinstein et al., 2016;
Mrad and Cui, 2020).
5.3. Mediation analysis
This study also tested whether materialism and brand consciousness
mediate the relationship between physical vanity, achieving vanity, and

Table 2
Discriminant/divergent validity.
S.N. Variable α CR AVE 1 2 3 4 5

1 Compulsive Buying 0.70 0.64 0.57 0.76

2 Physical Vanity 0.81 0.78 0.57 0.34 0.75
3 Achievement Vanity 0.75 0.66 0.53 0.36 0.63 0.73
4 Brand Consciousness 0.77 0.75 0.54 0.38 0.34 0.35 0.73
5 Materialism 0.76 0.76 0.51 0.39 0.35 0.28 0.64 0.77

Notes. The diagonal elements are the square root of the AVE values (shown in bold), and the off-diagonal elements are the inter-construct correlations, CR: Composite
reliability, α: Cronbach’s alpha, AVE: Average Variance Extracted.

Fig. 2. Structural model.

7
M.A. Moon et al.
compulsive buying behavior. For mediation analysis, this study adopts
Baron and Kenny’s (1986) model comparison method and Hayes’s
(2015) bootstrapping approach with 5000 resamples at 90% confidence
intervals for the mediation effect’s robust statistical significance. We
measured the direct (with or without mediator for model R2 changes)
and indirect effects of physical and achievement vanity on compulsive
buying behavior, as shown in Table 3.
The results suggest that materialism strongly mediates the relation­
ship between physical vanity (γ = 0.11, p < 0.05) and compulsive
buying as compared to achievement vanity (γ = 0.09, p < 0.05) and
compulsive buying (direct effect remains significant). Findings clearly
show that consumers with materialistic characteristics repetitively buy
excessive amounts of unneeded, unplanned apparel brands/products to
exhibit their appearance and achievements. The excessive possession
and acquisition of fashion apparel products become a primary way for
young consumers to showcase their beauty and attractiveness. On the
other hand, ironically, materialism does not necessarily explain the
relationship between achievement vanity and compulsive buying
behavior. This notion is contrary to the common logic because posses­
sions and acquisition are a primary source of showcasing personal and
professional achievements. Young consumers are at a life stage where
they have very few or no professional accomplishments, and at this age,
they are more focused on their physical beauty and attractiveness.
Furthermore, they may not have enough financial resources to match
the level of possession and acquisitions of those to whom they compare
themselves. They may use cheaper fashion apparel products to portray
their achievements but not without the risk of losing face. In support of
this argument, studies from emerging economies have highlighted that
youngsters use counterfeit apparel products to showcase status and
achievements (Moon et al., 2018).
The results further indicate that brand consciousness strongly me­
diates the relationship between achievement vanity (γ = 0.11, p < 0.05)
and compulsive buying as compared to physical vanity (γ = 0.10, p <
0.05) and compulsive buying. Findings suggest that if the consumers
prefer highly advertised, famous and well-known brands, their inflated
view and concern for appearance and achievement leads them to pur­
chase unneeded fashion apparel products repetitively. This conforms
with our earlier argument that brand preferences encourage the exces­
sive, repetitive purchasing of unnecessary and unplanned fashion
apparel products for the consumers who are concerned, admire, and take
pride in their appearance and achievements (Japutra et al., 2019;
Japutra et al., 2018; Lim et al., 2020).
6. Implications
6.1. Theoretical implications
The current research has several implications for theory. The S–O-R
model explained significant variance confirming that it is a robust
framework for consumer behavior research. The study further extends,
validates, and endorses the social identity theory and empty self-theory
regarding fashion apparel branding consumption among young con­
sumers of Pakistan, indicating that individuals consumed with their
Table 3
Results of mediation.
Structural Paths
WOM Physical Vanity → Compulsive Buying
WM Physical Vanity → Materialism → Compulsive Buying
WM Physical Vanity → Brand Consciousness → Compulsive Buying
WOM Achievement Vanity → Compulsive Buying
WM Achievement Vanity → Materialism → Compulsive Buying
WM Achievement Vanity → Brand Consciousness → Compulsive Buying
Notes. WOM = Without Mediator, WM = With Mediator, γ = Gama and p represents p-Value.
8
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075
‘self’ resort to chronic, repetitive, and unneeded products to compensate
for self-discrepancies. This finding has important implications for con­
sumer’s self-concept and other maladaptive behaviors. This study ad­
vances our knowledge of compulsive buying behavior of fashion apparel
products by understanding its development mechanism in the young
population of an emerging economy from a socio-psychological
perspective. This study further goes on to make advances in the litera­
ture by identifying and testing the interplay between the socio-
psychological motivation of compulsive buying behavior. Findings
reveal how excessive, conspicuous, and symbolic consumption-
dependent socio-psychological motives have implications for other un­
ethical, malicious, and detrimental consumer behaviors.
Furthermore, unlike the previous research that discusses the self-
concept in conjunction with only favorable consumer behaviors, this
study, however, interestingly highlights how self-conceptual traits of
physical and achievement vanity develop compulsive buying behavior.
Consumers with vanity traits suffer from self-regulatory failures, thus
opening new doors for the possibility that consumer vanity is a risk
factor for other addictive pathological behaviors (Rose, 2007). Simi­
larly, notwithstanding the prior findings where brand consciousness has
several positive outcomes, this study suggests that brand consciousness
may result in dark consumer behaviors, which may harm the brand and
consumer prosperity in the long run (Japutra et al., 2019). This advance
in branding literature encourages researchers to reinterpret
brand-building practices. Our study further enlightens the literature by
arguing that consumer vanity indirectly affects compulsive buying
behavior through materialism and brand consciousness. The finding
successfully expands on the previous research by explaining the mech­
anism of compulsive buying manifestation (Dittmar et al., 2014; Japutra
et al., 2019), opening doorways for further investigations on material­
istic values and brand consciousness with other consumer dark
behavior.
6.2. Managerial implication
6.2.1. Policymakers
Policymakers may intervene on several fronts. For instance, policy­
makers should form/strengthen regulatory bodies such as the Ministry
of Information Pakistan (MIP), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory
Authority (PEMRA), Pakistan Advertising Association (PAA) to consis­
tently and vigilantly regulate the advertisement content that fosters
inflated self-concerns and views. Fashion apparel advertisement guide­
lines should incorporate strict social, psychological, and cultural filters
to immediately reduce and eventually eliminate self-idealization
amongst the younger generation in Pakistan. Heavy fines for non-
compliance and reduction of taxes, subsidies on operations, and public
recognition of compliant brands may effectively control marketers.
Policymakers should also enforce measures prompting fashion apparel
marketers to educate consumers on how the self is never satisfied and
excessive consumption to satisfy the self may lead to unbearable con­
sequences. Furthermore, policymakers should extend ethical and so­
cially responsible marketing standards to include self, materialistic, and
brand-driven excessive consumption prevention measures.
Direct Indirect R2
γ p γ p
0.19 0.01 0.25
0.10 0.167 0.11 0.024 0.32
0.12 0.092 0.10 0.004 0.31
0.24 0.004 0.25
0.20 0.031 0.09 0.004 0.32
0.17 0.063 0.11 0.007 0.31
M.A. Moon et al.
In recent years, Pakistan has witnessed a rapid increase in cognitive
and behavioral therapy for addictions. However, shopping-related
therapeutic ventures are still non-existent (Moon and Attiq, 2019).
The state should encourage councilors to advance this practice noticing
the rapid increase in compulsive buyers amongst youngsters in Pakistan.
Materialism’s direct and mediating role in the development of
compulsive buying implies that youngsters value and trust material
goods. The spiritual orientation of such consumers diminishes over time.
A young society without spiritual aspirations is dangerous, implying that
policymakers must undertake serious efforts. One farfetched but effec­
tive measure may be the inclusion of detrimental backdrops of
self-centered, excessive, and chronic shopping into the college and
university curriculum. Pakistan is a Muslim majority country, and Is­
lamic teachings majorly emphasize the control and purification of self,
anti-materialism, and modesty in every field of life. Islamic teachings
may become instrumental in shaping well-being-based consumer-brand
relationships.
6.2.2. Implications for managers
This study forwards several practical implications for fashion apparel
brand managers. The findings of this study enlighten that consumer
vanity (physical and achievement), materialism, and brand conscious­
ness increases the compulsiveness in young fashion apparel product
consumers of Pakistan. This is fascinating for brand managers because
they may emphasize physical beauty, success, sense of accomplishment
in life through brand symbols, artifacts, and possession of their products
in their communications with consumers to increase their sales. Practi­
cally, we see brands doing this already. The fashion apparel brands
exploit vanity-driven consumers with promotional messages that display
the personal and social uniqueness of being physically attractive and
successful in life.
Fashion apparel brands primarily serve the appearance-related self-
image desires of consumers. The fashion apparel brands in Pakistan
design their promotional campaigns showing opposite-sex appeal,
enhanced physical beauty, and envy of same-sex. Cosmetic brands
symbolize fair skin as an emblem of beauty. Fashion apparel adver­
tisements posing young, fair-skinned, underweight, or thin female
models and lean and muscular male models as the standard of beauty,
glamour, and attractiveness accentuate consumers’ physical vanity.
Such promotional tactics create societal hysteria about body dissatis­
faction, fair skin color obsessions, and eating disorders (Dittmar et al.,
2014).
These brands also highlight the prestige, social status, and profes­
sional and life accomplishments associated with the brand in their
promotional campaigns to take advantage of young consumers’
achievement vanity concerns and views. Apparel brands portray mod­
ern, western, expensive, and sophisticated clothes, shoes, watches, and
other related items to symbolize prestige, success, and accomplishment.
Excessive achievement vanity drives consumers to reckless purchasing
of fashion apparel products, resulting in an overly materialistic, self-
obsessed, goal-oriented, lonely, bankrupt, and socially dissatisfied
society.
Fashion apparel marketers propagating vanity traits and capitalizing
on consumers’ compulsive tendencies face ethical dilemmas for being
socially irresponsible. Young consumers now take a keen interest in how
the brands meet their social responsibility. The marketer’s social and
ethical responsibility is to save consumers and society from unhealthy
consumerism and self-centeredness. Fashion apparel marketers should
delimit the excessive use of self-oriented and self-defining appeals in
their marketing campaigns. They may use alternative strategies such as
product quality, reliability, and product usage functional benefits.
Moreover, they may develop marketing campaigns that explicitly
highlight the value of debt avoidance, guilt, feeling of destructive con­
sequences from overspending, and affordability in conjunction with
religious and ethical values condemning self, materialism, and
compulsive buying. This way, fashion apparel brands can alter their
9
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075
image from being a brand focused only on making profits to a brand that
offers healthy consumption alternatives, improves the quality of life of
its consumers, and benefits society (Mrad & Chui, 2020).
Moreover, compulsive buying is financially consequential for fashion
apparel brands in the long run since compulsive buyers tend to return
purchased items frequently, feel less satisfied, are unhappy with a brand,
and take anti-brand actions. Additionally, Fashion apparel brands
condoning compulsive buying behavior ultimately suffer from a bad
reputation. Therefore, fashion apparel marketers must avoid promoting
excessive materialistic and self-oriented shopping and devise alternative
promotional strategies. Furthermore, young consumers are materialistic
and brand-conscious; therefore, fashion apparel brands should focus on
concocting strategies that build consumer relationships with the brand
based on mutual benefits and welfare. Mismanagement of brand-
conscious young fashion apparel consumers may jeopardize the
brand’s reputation and long-run sustainability.
7. Conclusion
This study attempted to understand as to how the self-conceptual
traits and values underline the corridors to compulsive buying
behavior. In doing so, we empirically tested the effects of consumer self-
concept traits (physical and achievement vanity) and mediating role of
materialism and brand consciousness in the relationship between
physical and achievement vanity and compulsive buying behavior.
Findings discovered that self-conceptual traits (physical and achieve­
ment vanity), materialism, and brand consciousness play a pivotal role
in developing compulsive buying behavior in young consumers of
Pakistan. Furthermore, the presence of materialistic attitude and brand
consciousness in consumers firmly explained vanity-driven consumer’s
excessive, chronic, and unneeded purchasing of fashion appeal products.
The results further emphasize the seriousness of compulsive buying
behavior for policymakers in Pakistan and guide the marketers and
practitioners to alter their marketing strategies for the betterment and
sustainable well-being of consumers, society, and businesses. We,
therefore, consider this study successful in better comprehending the
compulsive buying behavior of young fashion apparel consumers of
Pakistan.
8. Limitations of the study
Despite significant theoretical and practical contributions, this study
has some limitations. The current study uses a cross-sectional young
adult shopping mall sample to investigate compulsive buying behavior.
Expanding sample size, inclusion, and comparison of representatives
from other fields of life (general population, different generational,
demographic, and psychographic cohorts) in longitudinal settings may
provide a holistic picture of compulsive buying behavior. Furthermore,
future research may include product categories other than fashion
apparel, such as knick-knacks, books and gifts, car accessories, antiques,
furniture, consumer appliances, electronics, greeting cards, and jewelry.
Additionally, understanding self-conceptual pathways to compulsive
buying in the online setting and, more specifically, in service encounters
such as beauty salons, aesthetic treatment centers, and gyms may pro­
vide exciting findings.
Self-conceptual traits and values significantly explained compulsive
buying behavior. Future researchers may test self-conceptual pathways
to the other negative, dark, unethical, and maladaptive consumer be­
haviors such as impulsive buying, addictive buying, and counterfeit
consumption. Furthermore, other manifestations of self-concept (e.g.,
self-construal, self-control, and actual/ideal self) and other salient brand
perceptions (e.g., brand attachment, brand love/hate, self-brand
connection, and brand engagement) may also provide fascinating in­
sights into compulsive buying behavior in future studies.
M.A. Moon et al. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075

Funding Japutra, A., Ekinci, Y., Simkin, L., 2022. Discovering the dark side of brand attachment:
impulsive buying, obsessive-compulsive buying and trash talking. J. Bus. Res. 145,
442–453.
This study did not receive any funding from any organization. Japutra, A., Ekinci, Y., Simkin, L., 2019. Self-congruence, brand attachment and
compulsive buying. J. Bus. Res. 99, 456–463.
Japutra, A., Ekinci, Y., Simkin, L., Nguyen, B., 2018. The role of ideal self-congruence
Ethical approval and brand attachment in consumers’ negative behaviour: compulsive buying and
external trash-talking. Eur. J. Market. 52 (3/4), 683–701.
This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by Jin, S.V., Ryu, E., 2019. Instagram fashionistas, luxury visual image strategies and vanity.
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any of the authors.
Kapferer, J.N., 2016. The challenges of luxury branding. In: The Routledge Companion to
Contemporary Brand Management. Routledge, pp. 505–523.
Informed consent Kasser, T., 2016. Materialistic values and goals. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 67, 489–514.
Khalil, Z., Ahmad, S., Muhammad, H., 2020. A comparative study among brand-
conscious and non-brand conscious consumers: brand image as a function of self-
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included in the study. Kline, R.B., 2015. Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. Guilford
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Le, M.T., 2021. Compulsive buying of brands, its antecedents, and the mediating role of
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Lee, S.H., Workman, J., 2014. Vanity, fashion leadership, and self-consciousness among
South Korean male and female college students. Int. J. Fash. Des. Technol. Educ. 7
Moin Ahmad Moon (Corresponding Author) declares that he has no (2), 115–124.
conflict of interest. Shakeeb (Co-Author) declares that he has no conflict Lilje, J., Mosler, H.J., 2017. Socio-psychological determinants for safe drinking water
of interest. Amna Farooq (Co-Author) declares that she has no conflict of consumption behaviors: a multi-country review. J. Water, Sanit. Hyg. Dev. 7 (1),
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Lim, X.J., Cheah, J.H., Cham, T.H., Ting, H., Memon, M.A., 2020. Compulsive buying of
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M.A. Moon et al. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 68 (2022) 103075

Shahbandeh, M., 2021, January 22. Global Apparel Market - Statistics & Facts. Statista. Moin Ahmad Moon is assistant professor of Marketing at Air
https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market worldwide/#dossi University School of Management and teaches marketing
erSummary__chapter1. research, consumer behavior, and marketing. He has a Ph.D. in
Shahid, S., Paul, J., 2021. Intrinsic motivation of luxury consumers in an emerging marketing from SZABIST Islamabad Pakistan. His research
market. J. Retailing Consum. Serv. 61, 102531. mainly focuses on transformational consumer research for the
Sharda, N., Bhat, A., 2019. Role of consumer vanity and the mediating effect of brand betterment of consumers and society. His research interests
consciousness in luxury consumption. J. Prod. Brand Manag. 28 (7), 800–811. include addictive & dark consumer behaviors, sustainable
Sharda, N., Bhat, A.K., 2018. Austerity to materialism and brand consciousness: luxury consumption, and relationship marketing. He has several
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(3), 287–300. Shakeeb Faheem is a master’s student at Air University School
Stryker, S., Burke, P.J., 2000. The past, present, and future of an identity theory. Soc. of Management Sciences. His research interest mainly includes
Psychol. Q. 63, 284–297. the self-oriented consumption and buying addiction.
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Education.
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similarities and differences related to studies on young adult consumers in Poland
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compulsive buying behavior: the role of hedonistic shopping experiences and gender
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loyalty: the mediator-moderator effect of brand relationships. J. Consum. Market. 32
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brand: cognitive network influence and brand outcomes. Eur. J. Market. 51 (2),
367–390. Amna Farooq is a doctoral candidate at Air University School
Weinstein, A., Maraz, A., Griffiths, M.D., Lejoyeux, M., Demetrovics, Z., 2016. of Management Sciences and is officer sales and merchandizing
Compulsive buying—features and characteristics of addiction. In: Neuropathology of at Interloop Limited Pakistan. She has publications to her name
Drug Addictions and Substance Misuse. Academic Press, pp. 993–1007. in reputed international journals such as Marketing Intelli­
Zerach, G., 2016. The mediating role of emptiness and materialism in the association gence & Planning, The Social Science Journal, and others. Her
between pathological narcissism and compulsive buying. Int. J. Ment. Health research interests include transformative consumer psychology
Addiction 14 (4), 424–437. and consumer’s pathological behaviors.
Zhang, B., Kim, J.H., 2013. Luxury fashion consumption in China: factors affecting
attitude and purchase intent. J. Retailing Consum. Serv. 20 (1), 68–79.

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