FAMILIAR OR RISKYHow the Asperger syndrome affects exploratory consumer behaviour and impulse buying.

Tjerk H. Baas & W. Fred van Raaij

INTRODUCTION

Asperger syndrome

Definition: “Asperger Syndrome is one of several

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) characterized by

difficulties in social interaction and by restricted,

stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and

activities. AS is distinguished from the other ASDs in

having no general delay in language or cognitive

development” (McPartland & Klin, 2006).

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INTRODUCTION

Exploratory Tendency Behavior

Definition: “behaviour with the goal to change environmental stimuli” (Raju, 1980)

Dependent on the Optimum Level of Stimulation (OLS). “a characteristic of an individual in terms of

his/her general response to environmental stimuli” (Raju, 1980)

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INTRODUCTION

Impulse Buying Tendency

Definition: “the tendency of a person to do unplanned, immediate and thoughtless purchases” (Weun, Jones, and Beatty, 1997).

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HYPOTHESES

H1 : Persons with many autism characteristics show less exploratory behaviour than people with few autism characteristics.

H2 : People with many autism characteristics show a lower tendency for impulsive purchases than people with few autism characteristics.

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FIGURE 1 & 2. EXPECTED RELATIONS BETWEEN AUTISM-SPECTRUM QUOTIENT (AQ) SCORE AND EXPLORATORY

BEHAVIOUR (1) / IMPULSE BUYING TENDENCY (2)

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METHOD

Operationalisation

Explorative Consumer Behavior Exploration Tendency in Consumer Behavior Scales [ETCBS] (Raju, 1980). 39 items.

Impulse Buying Tendency Impulse Behaviour Tendency scale [IBT] (Weun, Jones, Beatty, 1997) 5 items.

Autistic traits Autism-spectrum Quotient [AQ] scale (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001)

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METHOD

Sample 93 participants

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METHOD

Sample

People with AS contacted by advertisements on internet sites of associations for autism and on e-mail circles and newsletters.

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METHOD

Data collection & materials

Survey questionnaire with ETCBS (Raju, 1980), IBT (Weun, Jones, & Beatty, 1997) and AQ (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001), translated into Dutch.

Further socio-demographic items were asked: gender, age and level of education.

Printed and internet versions of the questionnaire.

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RESULTS OF SCALE ANALYSIS

Discriminant Function Coefficients_______________________________________________AQ Total 0.906Gender (male=1) 0.115Age 0.269Education –0.491_______________________________________________Table 1. Explanation of Diagnosis AS with standardized

canonical discriminant function coefficients (two-group multiple discriminant analysis)

Canonical correlation is 0.8112

RESULTS MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS  

Beta t sig.________________________________________________________

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AQ Total –0.556 –5.20 .000Gender male –0.039 –0.41 .681Age –0.077 –0.73 .468Education 0.090 –0.96 .342________________________________________________________

_ Table 1. Explanation of Exploratory Tendency in

Consumer Behavior Scales (ETCBS) (Raju, 1980) (adjusted R² = 0.328)

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RESULTS MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS

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Beta t sig.

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AQ Total –0.205 –1.92 .059

Gender male –0.161 –1.67.098

Age –0.238 –2.27.026

Education –0.385 –4.03.000

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Table 2. Explanation of Impulse Behavior Tendency (Weun, Jones, & Beatty, 1997) (adjusted R² = 0.256)

CONCLUSIONS

Results of regression analyses support the first hypothesis (on exploratory behaviour). Marginal significance for the second hypothesis (on impulse buying).

A higher AQ score leads to less exploratory behaviour and less impulse buying behaviour.

Generalisability: There are probably many more people in the population with few autistic characteristics.

Research may be done on the direct relationship between autistic characteristics and OLS.

Available time for the acquisition of information is probably an important factor.

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