Abstract

The college students selected by random sampling were classified into several groups by their impulse buying pattern and the psychological characteristics that cause them. Their life styles, fashion leadership, self-confidence and self-image in clothing were the subjects of comparative analysis. The results of this research can be summarized as follows. 1. The college women students could be classified into several groups by their impulse buying orientations. 2. The student life styles were different by their shopping orientations. The high shopping involved shopping type and the leisure pursuit shopping type attached great importance to material life and modern life style. The economic shopping type took the intellectual self-image seriously, and the low shopping involved type thought much of the traditional life style. 3. The high shopping involved type and the leisure pursuit shopping type were more impulse buying oriented. They showed the tendencies to the fashion innovativeness and fashion opinion leadership. But the economic shopping involved shopping type and low shopping involved shopping type showed quite different tendencies. The high shopping involved shopping type and low shopping involved shopping type were contrast in their self-confidence in shopping. The former showed the highest self-confidence and the latter showed the lowest self-confidence. 4. The high shopping involved shopping type were more extroversive, dominant, sensitive and pioneering. These psychological characteristics were supposed to contribute to their impulse buying. 5. The high shopping involved shopping type and the leisure pursuit shopping type perceived themselves as more sophisticated, modern, creative and sociable. They thought they had diverse life styles. These two groups were more impulse buying oriented, and their self-images were different from economic shopping type and low shopping involved shopping type.

Keywords