Failure to replicate the credit card effect and failure to extend it to mobile payment
(A2019-4940)

AUTHORS

Yunxin Liu, KU Leuven; Siegfried Dewitte, KU Leuven

KEYWORDS

impulsive; payment; spending

ABSTRACT

Prior research has shown that credit cards increase both the probability of spending and the spending amount. This paper attempts to replicate the effect of credit cards on the spending behavior. Given the widespread use of mobile payments in our daily life, this paper also explores whether the credit card effect can be extended to mobile payments. In a series of three studies, comprising two online studies and one lab study (total N = 507) conducted in the U.S. and Western-Europe respectively, we provide insight into the relationship between payment methods and impulsive buying behavior. Specifically, we fail to replicate the credit card effect using two different measures for the dependent variable, that is, willingness to pay and the number of hedonic items bought. We also fail to extend this effect to mobile payments with an analogous procedure and measure as the ones used in prior studies for credit cards.