How technical and situational cues affect impulse buying behavior in social commerce? Evidence from bored consumers

Introduction: With the rise of social media and web technologies, users are increasingly spending time on browsing and purchasing on social commerce, particularly during idle moments of casual scrolling. Social commerce applications with sophisticated social features and security measures may tend to attract a significant number of highly engaged users. The purpose of this study is to find out whether customers will be interested in the content posted on the applications and generate impulse consumption when they are bored.

Methods: Drawing on stimulus-organism-response framework, this paper explores how technical cues and situational cues affect impulse buying behavior in social commerce applications and the mediating impact of consumer-perceived values. Data were gathered from 395 respondents who frequently utilize and have shopping experience on social commerce applications. The PLS-SEM and fsQCA were applied to formulate and test the proposed hypotheses.

Results: The results of PLS-SEM reveal technical cues (ease of use, visual appeal and security) and situational cues (passing time and serendipity) positively influenced impulse buying. The results of fsQCA offer six solutions of different combinations of constructs which can lead to high impulse buying.

Discussion: These findings may extend existing research on impulse buying behavior and consumer psychology, offering valuable insights for marketers. They also point towards strategies for more effectively encouraging impulse purchase in digital retail environments, particularly among consumers who are browsing out of boredom.