Passion for online shopping: The influence of personality and compulsive buying

In this study the relationships among personality traits, harmonious passion, obsessive passion, compulsive buying behavior, and online shopping dependency are examined. An empirical survey of 403 student respondents from a Taiwanese university was conducted. Results show that both harmonious passion and obsessive passion can lead to online shopping dependency; passion is related to compulsive buying behavior; compulsive buyers are more online-shopping-dependent than other consumers. It was also found that three personality traits - openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness - can lead individuals to develop a passion for online shopping activities. These findings may be useful for discussing the influence of personality traits on online shopping activities.