Beyond Beauty: Understanding Cosmetic Buying Behaviour Among Young Women through Psychological Need Fulfilment - An Integrated Literature Review

Abstract

Cosmetic products are generally observed as method and tools for enhancing appearance and beauty. Researches advocates that young women use makeup products and cosmetics for reasons that go beyond looking beautiful and physically attractive. Cosmetics may help in fulfil various psychological needs such as: feeling confident, expressing one's identity, gaining social acceptance, improving self-image, and feeling more in control of self-presentation. Although previous studies have examined factors such as self-esteem, body image, confidence, attractiveness, identity expression, and social influence, these factors have usually been studied separately. As a result, there is limited understanding of the different psychological needs in comprehensive and in totality, that may influence cosmetic buying behaviour among young women.

The purpose of this review research paper was to integrative review of existing research on cosmetics buying behaviour in the psychological need fulfilment perspective. Specifically, the paper aimed to identify the psychological needs discussed in the previous literature and examine how these needs influence cosmetic consumption among young women. The methodology a “Integrated Literature Review” approach was used to identify, evaluate, and synthesise relevant studies. Relevant research articles were collected from major academic databases and analysed using thematic analysis.

The conclusion recommended that cosmetic products consumption is associated with a variety of psychological needs. Existing studies indicate that young women often use cosmetic products to build confidence, maintain a positive and socially approved self-image, express who they are, feel accepted by others, manage social impressions, and gain a greater sense of control over their appearance. The review also showed that these psychological needs are scattered across different research areas and limited research are examined together within a single framework. This review research contributes to the literature by bringing together different psychological perspectives to provide a broader understanding of cosmetic buying behaviour among young women and examined beyond appearance-based explanations, the review highlighted the important role of psychological need fulfilment in cosmetic consumption and offers directions for future research.