Does Eye Tracking Reveal More About the Effects of Buying Impulsiveness on the Green Industry Consumer Choice Behavior?

Although consumer behavior research has investigated impulsive buying behavior since the early 1950s, no studies explored the relationship between eye gaze metrics, buying impulsiveness scores and purchase decisions. The present study is a preliminary approach to setting consumer purchase decisions as a function of not only product attributes, but also individuals’ buying impulsiveness and eye gaze measures, which were collected using an eye tracking device during choice experiments. Specifically, we investigated the moderation effects of eye gaze measures on the relationship between buying impulsiveness and plant purchase likelihood. The results showed that impulsive buying scores were negatively related to purchase decisions, and that eye gaze duration (when viewing plant displays) influenced that relationship, depending on the type of the display information viewed (e.g., price vs. production methods or plant type signs). Theoretical contributions to choice behavior literature and implications for developing effective plant sales marketing efforts are discussed