“Locus of control as a mediating variable for the factors influencing consumptive behavior among students”

The consumptive behavior of students tends to be excessive. Therefore, this study aims to test the impact of financial literacy, peer group, social media usage, and locus of control on students’ consumption behavior. The population consists of 41,061 active S-1 students of Universitas

Locus of control as a mediating variable for the factors influencing consumptive behavior among students

INTRODUCTION
The development of IT and internet networks that are so fast is making it increasingly convenient for humans to meet their needs. Changes in the marketing sector and how funds are transferred have made it easy to conduct transactions. Buying and selling no longer require direct contact with another person (Zhang, 2014). The digital marketing era has dramatically changed consumer behavior, while the marketing area has become wider, and there are no longer time barriers (Jain & Yadav, 2017).
This new era of digital marketing has had an impact on efficiency while also impacting impulsive buyers. There needs to be efficiency because, with one click, a customer can get a range of product information, compare them, and make purchase decisions quickly (Kates, 2013). Meanwhile, according to Kurniawan (2017), digital marketing enables irrational buyers and tends to be consumptive. Consumptive behavior is caused by wanting to be different, self-pride, and following the style of others.
Edward Thorndike's (1874Thorndike's ( -1949 work forms an integral part of the studies on behavior. His theory initially proposed that humans and animals acquire behaviors by associating stimuli and responses (Goodenough, 1950). The convenience offered by digital marketing creates stimuli to which consumptive behavior is the response. By way of an improvement to his theory, Thorndike's Law of Effect specifies that any time a behavior is followed by a pleasant outcome. Moreover, behavior is likely to recur if consumptive behavior is fun. Changes in the consumer behavior can be further explained by Skinner's theory, which says that environmental conditions form community behavior.
Cultural, social, psychological, and individual aspects have an impact on how consumers behave (according to consumer behavioral theory) when making purchases (Kotler & Keller, 2016). The environmental and cultural aspects of self-control are psychological components that can affect the social environment. According to several studies examining the variables that affect consumers' purchasing decisions, financial literacy is a crucial component (Fattah et al., 2018; Qurotaa'yun & Krisnawati, 2019; Riskayanti, 2021). The peer group then impacts consumers' purchasing decisions (Riskayanti, 2021; Nurachma & Arief, 2017). Furthermore, social media use significantly affects consumer spending (Hidayah & Bowo, 2018). In addition, the locus of control affects consumption-related purchases (Dilasari et al., 2021;Anggraeni & Setiaji, 2018;Hardini, 2019;Dharani & April, 2022). Therefore, the locus of control is a moderating variable in this study, and the use of social media and peer group are other financial literacy factors.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES
Impulsive buying is examined from the perspective of the theory of consumer behavior. It is influenced by cultural factors such as culture and social classes, social factors such as the family and peer environment, personal factors such as self-control, lifestyle, and self-concept, and psychological factors such as motivation, perception, and learning (Kotler & Keller, 2016).
Ajzen and Fishbein proposed the theory of reasoned action in 1980. This theory assumes that behavior is determined by the individual's desire to or not to perform a particular behavior or is otherwise determined by two independent variables, namely attitudes and subjective norms (Ajzen, 1991). Attitude is a tendency that is learned regarding behaving in a way that is consistently beneficial or unfavorable in connection with certain objects, subjects, ideas, or behaviors. This attitude has an interdependent relationship with subjective norms as a justification of values and norms considered to be a basis for considering how to behave as desired or hoped. This will usually be influenced by self-control (perceived behavioral control). If the control is applied or not, it will continue to form the behavior (Septifani et al., 2014). However, perceived behavior control often does not have a direct relationship with inter-est, meaning that whether a person's intention is formed is not the result of the influence of perceived behavioral control. Perceived behavior control in this study, also referred to as locus of control, has two sides, namely external and internal.
Consumptive behavior is consuming goods that are less or not needed (especially in relation to the response to the consumption of secondary goods that are not needed) (Zahra & Anoraga, 2021). Is an individual's attitude more concerned with desire when making a purchase? A person's consumptive attitude is an addiction to engaging in consumptive activities without restrictions and engaging in unnatural purchasing activities without planning (Romadloniyah & Setiaji, 2020). The indicator is the purchase of products on the grounds of being interested in prizes, attractive packaging, maintaining appearance, consideration of expense to increase self-confidence, status symbols, elements of conformity to models in advertisements, and comparing two similar products (Sumartono, 2002).
Academics and marketing experts have extensively investigated and analyzed impulsive purchasing to boost sales (Amos et al., 2014;Kacen et al., 2012). Due to impulsive buying being an unanticipated purchase (Clover, 1950), it was seen to be a very unreasonable behavior in the 1940s (Muruganantham & Bhakat, 2013 The mechanism of understanding financial literacy will increase one's loyalty. According to Riskayanti (2021), it is positive and partially significant to consumptive behavior, which means that the higher the level of understanding financial literacy, the lower the consumptive behavior. This is supported by Munawir  The peer group is a student's social environment that plays a vital role in the development of everyone (Yusuf, 2009 Locus of control is an object of psychological study to determine individuals' ability to control behavior and is related to impulsive buying (Rotter, 1960 The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the theory of reasoned action (TRA) can be used to study how impulsive buying often results in consumptive behavior (Ajzen, 2002). The modification of TRA in consumptive behavior can be seen in Figure 1.
The purpose of this study is to test whether financial literacy, peer group, social media usage, and locus of control will affect consumptive behavior.
The research hypotheses in this study are: H1: Financial literacy affects consumptive behavior negatively and significantly.
H2: Peer group affects consumptive behavior positively and significantly.
H3: Social media usage affects consumptive behavior positively and significantly.
H4: Locus of control affects consumptive behavior positively and significantly.
H5: Locus of control is positively influenced by financial literacy.
H6: Locus of control is positively influenced by a peer group.
H7: Locus of control as a mediator significantly strengthens financial literacy's effect on consumptive behavior.
H8: Locus of control as a mediator significantly strengthens peer group's effect on consumptive behavior.

METHODOLOGY
The approach in this study is quantitative. The paper employs quantitative causality because the purpose of this study is to determine the causal relationship between variables, both in terms of the independent variables' effect on the dependent variable and on the mediating variable, to examine the effect on the independent variables. The population comprised undergraduates of Universitas Negeri Semarang, with a total of 41,061 participants. To determine the sample to be taken from the research population, the formula put forward by Slovin was used with an error rate of 5%, as much as 398. The sampling formula is: 398. 1 41.061 0.05 n = = +⋅ Table 1 shows that the response variable is consumptive behavior; three predictor variables are financial literacy, peer group, and social media usage; and the mediating variable is locus of control. The type of data is ordinal, and it is measured using a 5-point Likert scale.
The study used a questionnaire to collect the data. The questionnaire was distributed using a WhatsApp group that had previously been registered and set up by the respondent group. All group members were sent a link to Google Forms, where they could record their answers. The data collected were then subjected to two tests to ascertain the validity of data, namely the validity and reliability tests. Validity testing compared the value of r-

RESULTS
There are two categories of UNNES students: students attending education programs and those attending non-education programs. UNNES students come from various groups all over Indonesia and not only from Semarang, generally with a lower middle-class economic background. Nevertheless, the development of a better Indonesian economy and the increasing level of prosperity means UNNES students have their pocket money or monthly allowance both from family sources and other sources (scholarships, Bidikmisi budgets, and others) is greater than what is needed by usual standards. The behavior of students in shopping according to the results of initial observations of 91 students showed that they tended to be wasteful, as indicated by lifestyle and a group of friends who think about looking trendy and different from the others. Pocket money that is more than needed for students' immediate needs encourages them to shop irrationally, with a tendency to engage in impulsive buying. A lack of understanding of financial literacy also encourages consumptive behavior in students, which is also caused by the ease of shopping through social media and the existence of e-money, which the average student has, whether it is a fund site, Shopee-Pay, Go-Pay, and the like. This makes it easy for them to shop online ( Table 2).

Classic assumption test
The normality test is carried out in data processing and aims to determine the amount of residual value and whether it has a normal distribution. The normality test used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov method, and the result of the residual value test was 0.200, which is higher than 0.05 in 389 informants. Therefore, consumptive behavior as a dependent variable in normality has a standardized residual value distributed as "normal" to be used in this analysis.
The multicollinearity test indicates the regression of relationships between independent variables. When the results of the variable test count with a higher tolerance value of 0.10 and VIF lower than 10.00, it is declared as having "no symptoms of multicollinearity" between the dependent variable.
A heteroscedasticity test aims to recognize and display regression models that do not have the similarity of both variance and residual value, the ratio between GIS in the independent variable and GIS in research of 0.05. If the probability is below 0.05, it is known that the regression equation does not exhibit heteroscedasticity. Using the Glejser test, the significance value of each variable is > 0.05. Then it can be concluded that the variables of financial literacy, peer group, social media usage, and locus of control "do not exhibit heteroscedasticity.

Multiple regression analysis
The results of data analysis using two equations obtain the following results. Equation 1 tested whether there is an influence of the independent variable on the mediating variable (Tables 4 and 5).
The equation can be stated as follows: 53.829 0.638 0.251 .
This equation can be explained as follows: • Locus of control will be worth 53.829 if the financial literacy and peer group variables are fixed.
• The path analysis showed a coefficient value of 0.638, meaning that each additional financial literacy unit will increase the locus of control by 0.638, assuming the peer group variable is fixed.
• The regression coefficient for the peer group variable has a coefficient value of 0.251. This can be interpreted as meaning the locus of control will increase by 0.251 for each additional unit of the peer group variable, assuming another variable, namely financial literacy, is fixed.   Tables 6 and 7.
This second equation can be explained as follows: • The path analysis results show that the financial literacy variable has a coefficient value of 0.218. Furthermore, these results show that if each financial literacy variable has increased by one unit, the consumptive behavior can decrease by 0.218.
• The regression coefficient of the peer group variable has a value of 0.354. These results show that each increase in peer group variables by one unit can increase consumptive behavior by 0.354.
• The coefficient of social media usage has a value of 0.878, indicating that an increase by one unit of social media usage can increase consumptive behavior by 0.878.
• The regression coefficient of the locus of control variable has a coefficient of 0.359. These results show that each increase in the locus of control variable by one unit can impact wasteful behavior, namely an increase by 0.359. The residual error value symbolized by e 2 of 0.808 is a consumptive behavior variant that cannot be presented by financial literacy, peer group, social media usage, and locus of control.

Sobel Test
Hypotheses results in Table 8 indicate that if only one variable predictor is rejected, the financial literacy variable has no direct effect on the consumptive behavior variable. However, with the support of the locus of control as the mediating variable, financial literacy influences consumptive behavior. The peer group variable has a direct or indirect effect on consumptive behavior. Social media, because it is not associated with locus of control as a variable, is not calculated in the path analysis but directly influences consumptive behavior.   • The results of the Sobel test indicate that the value of tcount was 2.68832912, the value of ttable was 1.96608, and a significance value was 0.00359053 (less than 0.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that locus of control can mediate peer group's effect on consumptive behavior with a total value of 0.204. Table 9 shows the result of hypothetical testing. This study proves the relationship between financial literacy, peer group, social media usage, locus of control, and consumptive behavior. Financial literacy has a negative impact on consumptive behavior. Meanwhile, other independent variables have a positive effect. Locus of control also proves as a mediator variable in the relationship between financial literacy, peer group, and consumptive behavior.

DISCUSSION
The descriptive tests of financial literacy in active students indicate high results. This is in line with the 2016 Financial Literacy index of 29.7% and the financial inclusion index of 67.8%. There has been increased financial understanding (OJK, 2019). The relationship between financial literacy and consumptive behavior is inversely proportional, so increased financial literacy will reduce consumptive behavior. Literacy in terms of scientific knowledge, psychologically speaking, is learning about science that will increase the level of knowledge of each student. Literacy in terms of financial knowledge will theoretically create a stimulus of the characteristics of consumers and produce a wise decision-making process (Kotler & Keller, 2016 (Agita, 2021). Instead, it is more encouraged by desires, advertising, promotional interests, and purchases due to prestige (Prawiro, 2018). The results show that students tend to buy for tertiary needs, not to satisfy basic needs, but more due to prestige and following trends.
On the other hand, financial literacy is knowledge of how individuals can manage finances, which includes being a rational buyer (Muñoz-Céspedes et al., 2021). Therefore, according to the two concepts above, the more people understand financial literacy, the more they will be rational or not consumptive buyers. Thus, it can be said that excellent knowledge that someone cannot improve behavior in the case of consumptive behavior. Therefore, the results demonstrate that stating that financial literacy does not influence consumptive behavior can be justified.
The results of other studies, however, indicate the positive influence of financial literacy on impulsive buying (Maris & Listiadi, 2021). The higher the level of financial literacy, the lower the consumptive behavior. This study is in line with Maris and Listiadi (2021), even though it is through the locus of control. This study also strengthened previous research on the effect of The results of this study indicate that peer group has a positive and significant effect on the consumptive behavior of students. A peer group is a group that is very influential in terms of dressing, hobbies, associations, and even other social activities. Here, a teenager buys a product not because it is needed but because of the opinions of others who are considered very important. In addition, there is a sense of wanting to appear attractive in front of many people (Amaliya & Setiaji, 2017). The growth of everyone is affected by the existence of his or her peer group as an important social influence (Yusuf, 2009 According to Takndare and Yulita (2019), a peer group can strengthen self-efficacy and self-esteem. Making purchases often also requires self-confidence, especially related to those purchases that will be seen by others (Kotler & Keller, 2016). The formation of self-efficacy in the peer group is because of the togetherness and similarities in decision-making. The absence of a peer group will be a barrier to the association (Cardoso & Marques, 2008). Likewise, esteem needs will often appear when experiencing togetherness with a peer group; having the courage to appear different from the peer group can often be a fatal risk. Likewise, high self-efficacy and the ability to maintain opinions will increase self-efficacy and esteem needs. A peer group is an external element in the locus of control; therefore, the reinforcement in the peer group will affect the locus of control, and the ability to control oneself and be not easily influenced by the peer group will improve purchasing behavior (London, 1997

CONCLUSION
This study aims to code the locus of control on consumptive buying to investigate the effects of financial literacy, peer groups, and social media usage. The findings showed that financial literacy negatively affects student consumption, which means that the more financial literacy a student has, the less likely they are to engage in it. Peer groups significantly influence student consumption. Therefore, students' consumptive behavior will rise directly to the degree of their peer group relationships. Social media use has a positive impact on students' consuming behaviors. The locus of control positively affects student consumptive behavior, meaning that the higher the locus of control (external) possessed, the more it will increase student consumption behavior. This means that the more social media is used, the more it increases students' consumption behavior. The locus of control of the student is unchanged by financial literacy. As financial literacy rises, students' sense of (external) control will decrease. Because peer groups have a beneficial impact on students' locus of control, consumptive conduct among students is more likely to occur when peer relationships are closer.
Students' locus of control (external) increases with increased social media use, suggesting that using social media has a positive and significant impact on students' locus of control. Student consumption behavior is partially mediated by financial literacy. As a result, it is claimed that the locus of control increases the contribution of financial literacy to consuming behavior. Accordingly, the locus of control mediates financial literacy in favor of consumptive behavior. The locus of control may partially mediate the relationship between peer groups' effect and students' consumer behavior. When the locus of control shifts, the influence of peer groups on consumption behavior does too. Therefore, the locus of control manages the peer group's propensity for consumptive behavior. Finally, the locus of control can regulate how social media usage affects students' impulsive conduct. Thus, as the locus of control shifts, social media usage influences consumer behavior too. Therefore, the locus of control plays a crucial role in mediating social media usage to counteract compulsive behavior.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We acknowledge the Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Semarang, for publication funding.