Psychological characteristics and situational factors as correlates of buying behavior based on bloom's taxonomy in undergraduate students

Abstract

This research was a correlational-comparative study. Its objectives were 1) to identify important predictors and predictive percentage of psychological traits and situational factors related to buying behavior based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and 2) to study direct and indirect influences of situational factors and psychological traits on buying behavior based on Bloom’s Taxonomy using Interactionism Model as the research framework. This research used a multi-stage sampling method.The samples were 622 undergraduate students, 151 of whom were male (24.30%), and 471 of whom were female (75.70%). The average age was 21.16 years, and 265 students were from social sciences field (42.60%), 233 students were from science field (37.50%), and 124 students were from business administration field (19.90%).

There were 5 groups of variables in this study. The first group was the dependent variable, namely buying behavior based on critical thinking, and supportive behavior influencing buying based on critical thinking. The second group was psychological state consisted of 2 variables, namely favorable attitude towards buying behavior based on critical thinking, and perceived behavioral control of buying based on critical thinking. The third group had 4 situational factors, namely peer role modelling, university experience, media influence, and family cultivation. The fourth group was psychological trait consisted of 4 variables, namely future orientation and self-control, core self-evaluation, materialism, mental health. The fifth group was the biosocial background of the samples. There were 12 measures and one biosocial background questionnaire. Most of the measures were in the form of summated rating scales. Item discrimination, Item-Total Correlation, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed for measurement quality. The reliability score of each measure ranged between 0.77 to 0.87.

There were 3 hypotheses which were analyzed by 1) Multiple Regression Analysis) and 2) Path Analysis. The major findings were as follows; First, the data analysis on attitude towards buying behavior based on critical thinking supported the hypothesis 1, both in the total group and in 19 subgroups. In the total group, psychological traits and situational factors could predict attitude towards buying behavior based on critical thinking for 43.3%. The important predictors were future orientation and self-control, media influence, mental health, family cultivation, and peer role modelling.

Second, the data analysis on perceived behavioral control of buying based on critical thinking supported the hypothesis 1 both in the total group and in 19 subgroups. In the total group, psychological traits and situational factors could predict perceived behavioral control based on buying based on critical thinking for 42.7%. The important predictors were future orientation and self-control, media influence, family cultivation, peer role modelling, and core self-evaluation.

Third, the data analysis on buying behavior based on critical thinking supported the hypothesis 2 both in the total group and in 8 subgroups. In the total group, psychological traits, situational factors, and psychological states could predict buying behavior based on critical thinking for 48.9%. The important predictors were the attitude towards buying behavior based on critical thinking, perceived behavioral control of buying based on critical thinking, media influence, core self-evaluation, and peer role modelling.

Fourth, the data analysis on supportive behavior influencing buying based on critical thinking supported hypothesis 2 both in the total group and in 20 subgroups. In the total group, psychological traits, situational factors, and psychological states could predict supportive behavior influencing buying based on critical thinking for 52.5%. The important predictors were the attitude towards buying behavior based on critical thinking, perceived behavioral control of buying based on critical thinking, family cultivation, university experience, media influence, mental health, and peer role modelling.

Fifth, results from path analysis indicated that the psychological trait latent variables and the situational latent variables directly affected on buying behavior based on Bloom’s taxonomy variable and indirectly influenced buying behavior based on Bloom’s taxonomy latent variable through the psychological state latent variables.

Finally, the at-risk group of the undergraduate students were 1) low GPA students 2) business administration students 3) students who had the mother with low educational background 4) young students who had the mother with low educational background as well as 5) first-generation students in bachelor degree of the family. It can be suggested that they should be heightened and created, attitude towards buying behavior based on critical thinking, perceived behavioral control of buying based on critical thinking, media influence, and core self-evaluation. In the future, a training package should be developed based on predictive factors found in this research. An experiment should be done to evaluate the training package in order to improve buying behavior based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.