The compelling urge to misbehave: Do impulse purchases instigate unethical consumer behavior?

•We investigate whether there is a dark side to impulse buying for retailers.•Unrelated study shows more cheating behavior with visceral versus plain products.•Not only trait impulsiveness but also state impulsiveness predicts deviant behavior.•Consumers making impulse purchases are more likely to engage in unethical behavior.

The present research explores the relationship between impulse buying and unethical consumer behavior. This work is based on the surprising results of an unrelated study, during which we observed that participants shopping for impulse products were more likely to cheat to obtain a more expensive product than participants shopping for regular products. Based on these findings and building on previous research on the relationship between impulsiveness and delinquency, three studies were set up to test the impact of impulse buying on different forms of unethical consumer behavior. The results confirmed that consumers making an impulse purchase were more likely to behave unethically than consumers making a regular purchase. These findings illustrate there is a dark side to impulse buying for retailers.