PRICING STRATEGIES THAT STIMULATE

IMPULSIVE BUYING BEHAVIOR OF

UNIVERSITY OF MINDANAO COLLEGE OF
ACCOUNTING EDUCATION LEARNERS

Belarga, Nhovy Bianca

Lorenzo, Abbie Jessica A.
Sanchez, Jaselle S.
CHAPTER 1
Introduction

• Impulsive buying behaviour had been a

pervasive phenomenon. Psychology viewed
this practice as an irrational and reckless
behaviour (Amara, 2014); however, recent
findings have pointed out that impulse buying
may have benefits for the consumer.
• Nowadays, students often recklessly expend
their cash without any consideration to its
value. They often satisfy their cravings, wants,
and preferences dispensing their available
money. College students, on average, spend
$1096 on food and clothing alone annually
contributing to 22% of their total annual
average expenditure (Bailey, Falls, Natke, and
Thompson, 2005). On stores, customers are
often persuaded by different factors to buy
products which were observed in Rook (1987)
— impulse buying behaviour.
Purpose and Objective
• This study aims to identify different factors that
stimulate consumer urges to purchase an item
spontaneously. The results and findings will be
beneficial to both University of Mindanao College of
Accounting Education learners and the business
enterprise as well. On the part of the consumers,
they will raise awareness on their tendencies that
stimulate impulse buying behaviour. This can
improve consumers' spending habits to avoid
expenditure on unnecessary things, thus saving
money.
• It does not only bring in the customers, but they
would also keep on coming back to the store. If for
instance, the needs of the buyer are met they will be
happy with the service, they would keep coming
back. This will cause impulse buyers to give into the
itch of purchase.
Conceptual Framework

Impulsive Buying
Pricing Strategies Positive Effect
Behavior
• This framework aimed to determine whether there is
a significant relationship between the two variables.
The relationship was then used to identify which
pricing strategies have significant relationship with
the respondent impulsive buying behaviour.
• In the framework, positive affect, as an intervening
variable, connects the relationship between the
other two variables. This follows the concept of
Beatty and Ferrel (1998) and the underlying principle
regarding positive affect.
Theoretical Framework
• Beatty and Ferrell (1998) model suggested the
concept of consumers' positive affect greatly
influencing their impulse purchase decision which
was also observed in Rook (1987). Theoretically, an
increased in consumers' positive affect increased
their urge to purchase resulting in an impulsive
purchase decision (Ling & Yazdanifard, 2015; Rook,
1987; Amara and Kchaou 2014).
• This theory of individualism states that people have a
certain social pattern of impulse purchase motivated
by their own self, preference, needs, goals, and
emotion/feeling (positive affect) on certain products
(Kacen and Lee, 2002). In this situation, the goal is to
achieve satisfaction through the impulse purchase
decision.
• Regardless, the research aimed to identify whether
there was a correlational relationship between the
pricing strategy and the impulse buying behaviour.
Statement of the Problem
• The study was focused on the University of
Mindanao College of Accounting Education learners
impulsive buying and the effects of pricing strategy. It
aimed to answer the following questions:
• Respondents. What characteristics of impulse buying do the
respondents exhibit?
• Impulsive Buying Respondents. Who among the respondents
shows signs of impulsive buying behaviour? Identify the following:
– Age
– Gender
– Weekly Allowance
• Pricing Strategy. What pricing strategies induce
aspects of positive affect of the respondents?

• Correlational Relationship. Is there a direct

correlational relationship between the pricing
strategies and impulse buying of the respondents?
Significance of the Study

• College of Accounting Education Learners. This

research will help the CAE learners identify
what causes impulse buying and its results.
The study will help them prevent spending too
much by identifying and avoiding what causes
their impulse buying behaviour.
• Micro and Small Businesses and Retailers. This
study will aid them to identify pricing
strategies to induce impulse buyers. This study
will guide them to decide what is the best
price or value to set for their products that
would derive the impulse buying behaviour of
consumers and result to increase of profit.
• Future Researchers. The information that will be
gathered in this research will be used as a reference
for future research about impulsive buyers. It will
serve as a guide to minimize errors that will help
future researchers conduct a more effective and
efficient research. This will also be a possible
foundation for a more specific and extensive
research regarding impulse buying behavior of a
specific population.
Scope and Delimitation
• In this research, the sample participants were
geographically limited, as well as the age range was
narrow which was from 16-19 years old only because
the respondents were the learners. This was done to
have a specific sample size for the study. However,
sticking to this sample scope, the data collection
yielded very varying results affecting the results of
the research.
• For the purpose of yielding targeted and saturated
results, the respondents chosen were from the
University of Mindanao College of Accounting
Education learners of the school year 2018-2019.
• With this, the pool of respondent was only limited to
1st year college enrolled in the school year 2018-
20119 of the University of Mindanao College of
Accounting Education.
• The instrument that was utilized in this study was
limited to survey questionnaire, wherein, some
question was modified and adapted from previous
researchers while others were developed by the
researchers, themselves.
• The characteristics of impulse buying were also
identified from previous studies to sort out the
participants in categories of the tendency of impulse
buying behaviour.
Definition of Terms
• Positive Affect — is the pleasant state that can be
induced by small things that happen in everyday life.
It has a large impact on social behaviour and
interpersonal processes, as well as on thinking,
problem-solving, and decision making.
• Pricing Strategies — price is the value that is put into
a product or service and is the result of a complex set
of calculations, research and understanding, and risk-
taking ability.
• Stimulate — raise levels of physiological or nervous
activity in (the body or any biological system)

• Impulsive Buying Behaviour — is a consumer buying

behaviour defined as a quick and unplanned or
impulse shopping decision that involves a sudden
strong and irresistible urge.
CHAPTER 2
Research Design
• This study was a correlation design under
quantitative approach wherein the researchers' goal
was to identify whether different pricing strategies
and consumers' impulse buying behaviour indicated
a relationship. The researchers utilized different
correlation tools and theoretical framework and
reasoning to prove the correlational relationship
between the two variables.
• It was the design preferred by the researchers to aid
the business entities to conceptualize their approach
in handling impulse buyers.
• This study is a positive correlation because of the
pricing strategies of the products and the urge of
impulse buying of customers. Thus, this study was
conducted to help the impulse buyer and the
business entities to identify what were the factors
affecting impulsive buying and what pricing
strategies attract the most buyers, wherein in this
study was the University of Mindanao College of
Accounting Education— 1st year learners.
The Sample
• The first step of the process of collecting quantitative
data was to identify the respondents. The
researchers used purposive sampling since the
researchers needed specific respondents for the
study.
• The researchers determined which group of
respondents to study including who these people
were.
The Instruments
• This study utilized a survey questionnaire that was
adapted from Kim (2003). The survey questionnaire
consisted of different sections addressing the
research question of the study. The first section was
allotted for identifying the demographics of the
respondents.
• The survey also contained question intended for
determining the significant correlational relationship
between the different pricing strategy and
respondents’ impulse buying behaviour.
Data Collection Period

• First, the researchers researched on previous studies

related to the topic. The collected information from
the research was used as the foundation for the
study. Second, the researchers selected respondents
from College of Accounting Education –1st year
learners of University of Mindanao. Third, impulse
buyers were identified from the selected CAE
learners through the questionnaires given to them.
Plan for Data Analysis

• This research had 32 participants that helped

determine the results of 1st year CAE learners
exhibiting impulse buying behaviour. Having this
much number of participants, the use of Microsoft
Excel spreadsheets to organize focus group and
survey data was highly recommended.
The raw data from the survey questionnaire was
measured with the Likert-scale of Likelihood:
Table 1. Likert-scale of likelihood

Scale Likelihood

1 Extremely unlikely

2 Unlikely

3 Neutral

4 Likely

5 Extremely likely
Table 2. Evaluation Range for the Composite Likert Scale

Range Likelihood Range Value

Extremely unlikely Very Low
1.00 - 1.80
1.81 - 2.60 Unlikely Low
2.61 - 3.40 Neutral Moderate
3.41 - 4.20 Likely High
4.20 - 5.00 Extremely likely Very High
Table 3. Interpretation for the Degree of Correlation

Range of Correlation Coefficient Degree of Correlation

-1 Perfect negative relationship between

-0.99 to -0.75 Very strong negative relationship

-0.74 to -0.50 Moderately high negative relationship

-0.49 to -0.25 Moderately low negative relationship

-0.24 to -0.01 Very low negative relationship
0 No correlation relationship
Very low positive relationship
0.01 to 0.24
0.25 to 0.49 Moderately low positive relationship
0.50 to 0.74 Moderately high positive
0.75 to 0.99 Very strong positive relationship
Table 4. Interpretation of the significance of the relationship

P-value Significance Level

0.01 Highly significant

0.05 Moderately significant

0.10 Low significance

Ethical Considerations

• Informed consent. Prior to the study, participants

were ensured to be conscious of the purpose of the
study. Additional information such as who will be the
benefactors of the study, when the study or survey
will be conducted, where the research study will be
used, what groups are funding the study, and how
the study of the researchers will be used was
specified (Trochim, 2004).
• The informed consent also includes where and when
the study was conducted in the University of
Mindanao, Bolton st.

• Safety. It was important to take consideration of the

well-being of every participant who took part on the
study. The researchers were liable for the danger that
might come about to the participants (Trochim,
2004).
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