Competitiveness

Abstract

This chapter proposes that the need to compete impacts consumption behavior as well as work behavior. After describing the development of a need to compete scale, the chapter presents empirical work demonstrating that the construct meets the four requirements for a compound trait. First, it is unidimensional. Second, the scale has excellent internal reliability (alphas averaged over.90). Third, a series of five studies indicated that a combination of elemental traits accounted for an average of 39 percent of its variance. Significant predictors were: the need for arousal, material needs, body needs, emotional instability, conscientiousness, and disagreeability. Finally, after partialing out the effects of the elemental traits in a hierarchical regression model, competitiveness was shown to account for additional variance in other traits, including bargaining proneness, impulsive buying, sports interest, task orientation, and the ATSCI scale. The results are discussed in terms of the important role that competitiveness may play in consumer behavior.