Personality and E-shopping: Insights from a Nationally Representative Study

Abstract

According to previous research, a high degree of Openness and Neuroticism, and a low degree of Agreeableness are personality determinants of e-shopping. This study aims to explore the relationship between the Five-factor model of personality (i.e. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) and e-shopping in a Swedish context. In a nationally representative sample, a questionnaire was distributed to 3400 citizens. The response rate was 53 percentage (N\ua0=\ua01812). The questionnaire included measures of the Five-factor model of personality (BFI-ten) and e-shopping. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test if the Five-factor model of personality predicted e-shopping. The dependent variable was self-reported frequencies of e-shopping during the last 12 months. The first analysis showed that Openness is predicting e-shopping. However, this effect disappeared, when age, educational attainment and income were controlled for. Our conclusion is that the Five-factor model of personality is a poor predictor of e-shopping and that e-shopping frequencies are unrelated to the personality of internet users. Methodological limitations are discussed, for instance the use of a single-item for measuring e-shopping and a short-scale for measuring personality. There are difficulties comparing our findings with previous findings, since the concepts personality and e-shopping have not been defined uniformly. The analyses revealed significant variation in definitions, measurements and methodologies. Caution should also be taken in generalizing the present results to other countries and other time periods