ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Impulsive spending is increasingly relevant among university students as digitalised consumption environments provide convenient access to purchasing and payment mechanisms. This study examines the associations of financial self-control, financial stress, and financial risk attitude with impulsive spending behaviour among university students. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted using convenience sampling, yielding 129 complete responses for analysis. The measurement properties were assessed using internal consistency reliability and exploratory factor analysis, while Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were employed to examine the relationships among the study variables. Regression robustness was further evaluated using HC3 heteroskedasticity-consistent standard errors and bootstrap confidence intervals based on 10,000 resamples. The conventional regression model explained 47.2% of the variance in impulsive spending behaviour. Financial self-control was negatively associated with impulsive spending and remained statistically significant across OLS, HC3, and bootstrap analyses. Financial stress showed a positive association under conventional OLS estimation, but the relationship was not sustained under the robustness analyses. Financial risk attitude was positively associated with impulsive spending under OLS estimation; however, the evidence was mixed across the HC3 and bootstrap procedures. The findings identify financial self-control as the most statistically stable correlate of impulsive spending and demonstrate that the unique associations of financial stress and financial risk attitude require more cautious interpretation. The study highlights the importance of behavioural self-regulation in understanding university students’ impulsive spending while demonstrating the value of robustness analysis in financial-behaviour research.
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