How Does the Use of Mobile Social Platforms Impact Impulsive Buying? A Case of Wechat

Abstract

Based on affective event theory (AET), the present study examines how information source credibility and platform media richness are impacting consumers’ impulsive buying during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The experience sampling method was adopted, and 550 matched cases nested in 110 Chinese samples were collected over five consecutive days. A multilevel structural equation model (MSEM) was employed to analyze the research model. Our main findings indicate that (1) daily information source credibility related to COVID-19 pandemic decreases information anxiety, whereas platform media richness increases information anxiety; (2) information anxiety mediates the impacts of information source credibility and media richness on impulsive buying; (3) chronic COVID-19 induced strain moderates the indirect relationship between daily platform media richness and impulsive buying through information anxiety. This study enriches the impulsive buying literature by incorporating informational and technical characteristics of mobile social platforms in the COVID-19 period. This study provides us with practical implications about how to manage impulsive buying.