Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition 
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concerns of self-recrimination about responsibility for personal actions (Wilson, Drozdek, & Turkovic, 2006).
Among the primary factors of guilt are lack of justification for actions, violation of personal standards, hindsight 
bias or responsibility, and emotional distress (Kubany, Haynes, Abueg, Manke, Brennan & Stahura, 1996). In the 
impulse buying context, the identified guilt factors are likely to be present and consequently consumers engaging in 
impulse buying are prone to the feeling of guilt because impulse buying is based on impulse (lack of justification for 
actions), is overt behavior of yielding to temptation (violation of personal standards) and negative post-purchase 
reappraisal (ie, “I shouldn’t have bought this”).
 
Empirical studies in impulse buying research provide evidence for such mixed experience of positive and 
negative affect. For example, Rook’s 1987 study shows that consumers experience positive affective spontaneously 
on confrontation with a product, however, the cognition conflicts associated with impulse behaviors are also likely 
to produce a negatively valence affective state. Taken together, we suggest that the cognitive conflict (cognitive 
ambivalence) gives rise to the simultaneous experience of positive and negative affect (affective ambivalence). The 
hypothesis is summarized as follows:
H2: The level of cognitive ambivalence experienced by an impulse buyer is positively related to the level of felt 
affective ambivalence.