Consumers’ impulsive buying behavior of restaurant products in social commerce

Abstract

Purpose: First, this paper aims to investigate the impact of impulsiveness on two types of shopping value (e.g. utilitarian and hedonic value) and the urge to buy restaurant products and services impulsively in social commerce environments. Second, the study assesses the impact of situational factors (e.g. scarcity and serendipity) on individuals’ shopping values. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 332 participants. By using PLS-graph 3.0, structural equation modeling was conducted. Furthermore, a hierarchical regression model was conducted for testing the mediating and moderating effects. Findings: The results indicate that impulsiveness is a strong predictor for two types of shopping value (hedonic and utilitarian) and the urge to buy impulsively. While the hedonic shopping value was found to have a significant influence on the urge to buy impulsively, utilitarian value was not. Scarcity was moderator in the relationships between impulsiveness and both types of shopping value, whereas serendipity was found to moderate only the relationship between impulsiveness and the utilitarian shopping value. Practical implications: The findings show that the marketing managers and application developers of social commerce should place their focus on scarcity and serendipity to stimulate consumers in having a hedonic shopping value so to have an urge to buy impulsively. Originality/value: First, although most previous studies focused on only rational or planned consumption, this study focused on irrational and unplanned consumption as well. Second, the authors assessed the role of situational factors (scarcity and serendipity) occurring in social commerce and asserted that these factors moderate the relationship between consumers’ shopping values and their urge to buy impulsively.