Understanding Excessive Shopping Behavior: A Review of Classification and Measurement

Although over-purchasing behavior was mostly addressed in consumer research in the past, nowadays it has been considered as a psychological problem. Debates have still continued on how to name excessive shopping behavior, which was previously more prominent among consumer research, as a psychological problem and in which classification it should be included in. The possible options can be impulse control disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and associated disorders, or a behavioral addiction. This problem that has been stated with various names in the past, is now more commonly referred as compulsive buying and shopping addiction. Another non-consensual issue is how to measure this behavior. Depending on the context in which the problem is handled, the dimensions of the behavior that the measurement instruments consider will change. The aim of this review is to examine the classification, measurement and characteristics of measurement instruments developed according to the context in which over-purchasing behavior is addressed. Thus, an overview will be provided on which measurement instruments can be preferred in the clinic and purchasing behavior research, and how the treatment plan will be developed accordingly. Consequently, it can be stated that the nature of over-purchasing behavior and in what context it occurs should be evaluated in detail, and the behavior can be included in different classifications according to different contexts.