The Effect of Gender Identity on Consumers’ Impulse Buying Behavior and the Moderating Role of Biological Sex

Biological sex is a demographic variable whose effect has been examined in consumer researches for many years. However, the effect of gender identity, defined as the existential femininity or masculinity of individuals, has started to be examined in consumer researches since the 1960s. In the literature, there are studies investigating the effect of biological sex on consumers' impulse buying behavior. However, studies investigating the effect of gender identity on consumers' impulse buying behavior and whether this effect differs in terms of biological sex are quite limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of gender identity on the consumers' impulse buying behavior and whether the effect of gender identity on the consumers' impulse buying behavior differs in terms of biological sex as a moderator variable. Research data were collected from consumers in Bursa via face to face survey method. The data obtained were evaluated by structural equation modeling to determine the effect of gender identity on impulse buying behavior. As a result of the analysis, it was found that feminine gender identity positively affected impulse buying behavior, whereas masculine gender identity did not affect impulse buying behavior. In the research, biological sex was also analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was found that according to females, the feminine and masculine gender identity were not effective on impulse buying behavior. In addition, it was found that according to males, feminine gender identity was effective on the impulse buying behavior and masculine gender identity was not effective on impulse buying behavior.