Journal Press India^®

Author Details ( * ) denotes Corresponding author

This paper investigates the influence of demographic and behavioral factors-gender, age, education, income, occupation, time spent online, and monthly expenditure-on the Big Five personality traits among Indian consumers. Using a quantitative design, data were collected from 125 respondents and analyzed through one-way ANOVA. The results indicate that most demographic and behavioral variables do not significantly influence personality traits, suggesting that traits remain largely stable across groups. However, gender and occupation were found to have a significant impact on Conscientiousness, highlighting differences in responsibility, discipline, and work-related behavior. Additionally, monthly expenditure showed a significant association with Neuroticism, with higher spending linked to emotional instability and stress-related consumption patterns. Other traits-Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience-were largely unaffected. The study contributes theoretically by emphasizing the contextual role of occupation and financial behavior in shaping personality expression. Practically, the findings provide useful insights for marketers, organizations, and financial advisors in designing- personality-aligned strategies.

Keywords

Consumer behavior; Demographic factors; Expenditure; Conscientiousness; Neuroticism

1. Ahmed, M. & Verma, R. (2023). Investigating demographic moderators in the personality–purchase relationship in online shopping. Journal of Digital Consumer Behavior, 12(3), 145–162.
2. Andreassen, C. S., Pallesen, S.,& Griffiths, M. D. (2018). The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: Findings from a large national survey. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 287–293. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.20 16.03.006
3. Bosnjak, M., Galesic, M., & Tuten, T. (2007). Personality determinants of online shopping: Explaining online purchase intentions using a hierarchical approach. Journal of Business Research, 60(6), 597–605. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.06.008
4. Camoiras-Rodríguez, Z., Vázquez-Casielles, R., & Rio-Lanza, A. B. (2020). The influence of consumer personality traits on mobile shopping intention. Spanish Journal of Marketing – ESIC, 24(2), 177–197. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-02-2020-0029
5. Chaturvedi, S. & Yadav, R. (2018). Gender differences in the role of personality on online purchase decisions. Indian Journal of Marketing, 48(9), 25–37.
6. Chen, L., Wang, T., & Li, Y. (2020). Cultural variations in online shopping behavior: The role of personality traits. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(2), 245–262.
7. Choi, J., & Park, S. (2022). Generational differences in personality traits and online shopping behavior: A structural modeling approach. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Logistics, 34(2), 300–319.
8. Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.
9. Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2008). The revised neo personality inventory (neo-pi-r). The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment, 2(2), 179-198.
10. Costa, P. T., Terracciano, A., & McCrae, R. R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 322–331. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.2.322
11. Díaz-Gutiérrez, J. M., Mohammadi-Mavi, H., & Ranjbari, A. (2024). COVID-19 impacts on online and in-store shopping behaviors: Why they happened and whether they will last post-pandemic. Transportation Research Record, 03611981231155169. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981231155169.
12. Girard, T., Silverblatt, R. & Korgaonkar, P. (2003). Influence of product class on preference for shopping on the Internet. Journal of Business Research, 56(11), 875–881. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(01)00278-3
13. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26–42. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26
14. Gupta, P., Sharma, K. & Rao, S. (2024). Social media influence, personality traits, and online purchasing: A mixed-method study. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 56, 102–118.
15. Gupta, R. & Arora, P. (2019). Gender as a moderator in online shopping: The personality perspective. International Journal of E-Commerce Studies, 12(3), 89–102.
16. Hermes, A., Sindermann, C., Montag, C. & Riedl, R. (2022). Exploring online and in-store purchase willingness: Effects of Big Five personality traits and culture. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 808500. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.808500.
17. Huang, J., Li, Q. & Zhang, X. (2024). Consumer personality and deep online consumption. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 76, 103564. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.jretconser.2023.103564.
18. Hussain, F. & Fatima, T. (2021). Cultural context and personality traits: Their impact on online shopping intentions. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 45(5), 912–928.
19. Iqbal, M. S., Mulyaningsih, T. & Laato, S. (2021). Personality traits and online shopping: Evidence from a large-scale Swedish study. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 61, 102577. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102577
20. Islam, T., Pitafi, A. H., Arya, V., Wang, Y., Akhtar, N., Mubarik, S. & Xiaobei, L. (2020). Panic buying in the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country examination. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59, 102357. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.20 20.102357
21. Itani, O. S., Kassar, A. N. & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2019). Value get, value give: The relationships among perceived value, relationship quality, customer engagement, and loyalty in B2B context. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 34(7), 1410–1424. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-07-2018-0210
22. John, O. P. & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford Press.
23. Judge, T. A., Piccolo, R. F. & Kosalka, T. (2009). The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A review and theoretical extension. The Leadership Quarterly, 20(6), 855–875. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.09.004
24. Kim, H. & Lee, J. (2017). Personality-based segmentation of online consumers: Implications for e-commerce. Journal of Retail and Consumer Services, 35, 62–70.
25. Kooti, F., Aiello, L. M., Grbovic, M., Lerman, K. & Mantrach, A. (2015). Evolution of conversations in the age of email overload. Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web, 603–613. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1145/2736277.2741130
26. Laato, S., Islam, A. K. M. N., Farooq, A. & Dhir, A. (2022). Unusual purchasing behavior during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: The stimulus-organism-response approach. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 63, 102667. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102667.
27. Lee, W. & Tan, H. (2025). Predicting online shopping patterns using personality and demographic analytics: A machine learning approach. Electronic Commerce Research, 31(1), 89–107.
28. Li, X. & Zhang, J. (2015). Big Five personality traits, trust, and purchase intention in e-commerce. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 14(3), 233–242.
29. Li, X. & Zhao, J. (2016). The role of Big Five personality traits in e-commerce adoption. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 17(4), 68–79.
30. Lichtenstein, D. R., Ridgway, N. M. & Netemeyer, R. G. (1990). Price perceptions and consumer shopping behavior: A field study. Journal of Marketing Research, 27(2), 234–245. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/002224379002700209
31. Lixăndroiu, R., Săplăcan, Z. & Ioanas, C. (2021). The influence of personality traits and social media use on compulsive buying. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59, 102401. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102401
32. Martínez-López, F. J., Pla-García, C., Gázquez-Abad, J. C. & Rodríguez-Ardura, I. (2016). Utilitarian motivations in online consumption: Dimensional structure and scales. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 19, 102–116. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.elerap.2016.09.003
33. Matz, S. C. & Netzer, O. (2017). Using Big Data as a window into consumers’ psychology. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 18, 7–12. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.cobeha.2017.05.009
34. McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. (2017). The five-factor theory of personality. In T. A. Widiger (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Five Factor Model (pp. 27–48). Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199352487.013.3 
35. McElroy, J. C., Hendrickson, A. R., Townsend, A. M. & DeMarie, S. M. (2007). Dispositional factors in Internet use: Personality versus cognitive style. MIS Quarterly, 31(4), 809–820. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/25148821
36. Mohamed, N., Hussein, R., Zamzuri, N. H. A. & Haghshenas, H. (2014). The impact of extraversion and experience on continuance intention to use social networking sites: A commitment-trust theory perspective. International Journal of Web Information Systems, 10(4), 393–410. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWIS-07-2014-0024
37. Montag, C. & Elhai, J. D. (2020). Discussing digital technology overuse in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 12, 100313. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100313
38. Montag, C. & Panksepp, J. (2017). Primary emotional systems and personality: An evolutionary perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 464. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10. 3389/fpsyg.2017.00464
39. Moslehpour, M., Pham, V. K., Wong, W.-K. & Bilgiçli, İ. (2018). e-Purchase intention of Taiwanese consumers: Sustainable mediation of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Sustainability, 10(1), 234. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/su10010234.
40. Mount, M. K., Barrick, M. R. & Stewart, G. L. (1998). Five-factor model of personality and performance in jobs involving interpersonal interactions. Human Performance, 11(2-3), 145–165. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/08959285.1998.9668029
41. Otero-López, J. M., Santiago, M. J. & Castro, M. C. (2024). Big Five personality traits and compulsive buying: The mediating role of self-esteem. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 14(1), 103–116. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/ ejihpe14010007.
42. Patel, R. & Sharma, N. (2020). Demographic determinants and their influence on fashion e-commerce adoption. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 24(4), 589–605.
43. Piroth, K., Rumpf, H. J. & Bischof, G. (2020a). The role of personality in compulsive buying—Results from a representative German sample. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 9(4), 1040–1049. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2020.00081
44. Poropat, A. E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 322–338. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.10 37/a0014996
45. Prentice, C., Han, X. Y., Hua, L. L. & Hu, L. (2019). The influence of personality traits on consumers’ impulsive online buying behavior. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 47, 215–223. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.11.014
46. Rahman, M., Khan, A. & Alam, S. (2019). Personality traits and online shopping: The mediating role of trust. Journal of Business Research, 98, 147–158.
47. Rashmi, K. & Singh, A. (2015). Personality and impulse buying behavior in online markets. Indian Journal of Marketing Research, 10(1), 45–57.
48. Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 1–25. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909. 132.1.1
49. Roos, J. M., Laato, S., Islam, A. K. M. N., & Rainer, A. (2022). The five-factor model of personality as predictor of online shopping: Analyzing data from a large representative sample of Swedish Internet users. Cogent Psychology, 9(1), 2024640. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2021.2024640.
50. Schmitt, D. P., Realo, A., Voracek, M. & Allik, J. (2008). Why can’t a man be more like a woman? Sex differences in Big Five personality traits across 55 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(1), 168–182. Retrieved from https://doi.org/ 10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.168
51. Sharma, P. & Mehta, R. (2023). Generational differences in personality-driven online shopping: The role of social media. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Logistics, 35(4), 783–799.
52. Singh, A. & Kaur, P. (2016). Demographic determinants of online apparel shopping in India. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 44(8), 812–830.
53. Soto, C. J. (2019). How replicable are links between personality traits and consequential life outcomes? The life outcomes of personality replication project. Psychological Science, 30(5), 711–727. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619831612
54. Wong, I. A., Leung, R. & Law, R. (2012). Analysing the intention to purchase on social commerce sites. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(4), 938–946. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2011.11.005
55. Xiao, S. H. & Kumar, V. (2021). Robotics for customer service: A useful complement or an ultimate substitute? Journal of Service Research, 24(1), 9–29. Retrieved from https://doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670520902491.
56. Xiao, S. H. & Kumar, V. (2021). Spending behavior and personality traits: A psychological perspective. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 20(2), 221–234. Retrieved from https://doi.org/ 10.1002/cb.1905