Adolescents' Actual Conditions of Buying and Impulsive Buying, Imitative Buying, and Conspicuous Consumption on the Internet Items

청소년의 인터넷 아이템의 구매실태 및 충동, 모방, 과시소비 성향

The aims of this study were to examine the actual conditions surrounding the purchasing of online game items and Internet cyberspace items by adolescents the propensity of adolescents to consume these items, to determine the difference in the propensity for high and low consumption of these items among adolescents, and to investigate the characteristics of the adolescents who show a high propensity for the consumption of Internet items. The data for this study were collected from 483 adolescent consumers who were middle school and high school students in the city of Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province. The statistical methods used for the data analysis included frequency, percentage, standard deviation, t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The results of the present study can be summarized as follows. The majority(79.5%) of the students surveyed had had the experience of purchasing items. Most students(67.5%) had a rare frequency of buying ($1{\sim}2$ times in a period of 6 months or less). Nearly half (47.9%) of the students spent less than 1000 won per month on the item(s) purchased. Most of the students purchased items with their parents' permission, but 26.6% of the students bought the items without their parents' permission. Most of the characteristics of the items purchased, such as the major item purchased, payment method, amount purchased per month, average amount spent per buying experience, and whether or not they had their parents' permission differed according to gender, grade level, record, and monthly allowance. The level of propensity to consume the items was not high. The propensity of imitation consumption (1.96) was lower than that of impulsive consumption (2.38) and conspicuous consumption (2.45). Most of the buying characteristics, including the major item purchased, payment method, amount purchased per month, average amount spent per buying experience, parents' permission, grade level, and monthly allowance were different between the high and low propensity for consumption groups.