LAUSR

ABSTRACT The consumer’s emotional state after purchase/non-purchase is affected by regret, a negative emotion leading to dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, and diminished intention to buy the brand again. This study compared tendency to regret and compulsive buying tendency among fashion time-of-adoption groups and by gender. Participants were US university students. A questionnaire measured demographics, compulsive buying tendency, fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership, and tendency to regret. Participants were divided into four time-of-adoption groups and two compulsive buying tendency groups. Findings support that in post-purchase evaluation, earlier (vs later) fashion adoption groups and those higher (vs lower) in compulsive buying tendency had a greater tendency to regret not purchasing. Earlier (vs later) fashion adoption groups had higher compulsive buying tendency. No gender differences existed in compulsive buying tendency. There were no significant results for consumer tendency to regret purchasing either by gender or fashion adoption group. Implications for researchers and practitioners are provided.