Understanding the Psychological Mechanisms of Impulse Buying in Live Streaming: A Shopping Motivations Perspective

Abstract

Live streaming is an effective tool to increase products sales, which has become a new social commerce. However, few studies have explored the psychological mechanisms of individuals’ impulse buying, although live streaming has transformed behaviors of customers. In this study, ground on S-O-R paradigm and motivation theory, we developed a research model to explore how customers develop shopping motivations in live streaming shopping. The results from 318 actual customers in China showed that three situational factors: visibility, parasocial interaction, and social presence of others differently affect form utilitarian and hedonic motivation of consumers. The motivations of both utilitarian and hedonic drive customers’ impulse buying decisions. Specifically, utilitarian motivation plays a less significant role in driving customers’ purchase intention than hedonic motivation. In conclusion, these findings increase one’s comprehension of customers’ psychological mechanisms of impulse buying development in live streaming context and spread the range of motivation theory. The findings also supply perceptions to both sellers and platforms in developing strategies.