Factors Affecting Online Impulse Buying: Evidence from Chinese Social Commerce Environment

Umair Akram, Peng Hui, Muhammad Kaleem Khan, Chen Yan and Zubair Akram
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Umair Akram: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 10th Xitucheng Road Haidian District, Beijing 100876, China
Peng Hui: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 10th Xitucheng Road Haidian District, Beijing 100876, China
Muhammad Kaleem Khan: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 10th Xitucheng Road Haidian District, Beijing 100876, China
Chen Yan: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 10th Xitucheng Road Haidian District, Beijing 100876, China
Zubair Akram: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 2, 1-28

Abstract: First, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of situational variables, scarcity and serendipity, on online impulse buying (OIB) in Chinese social commerce (SC) environment. Second, the study further assesses the moderating role of five dimensions of hedonic shopping value. Data were gathered from 671 online shoppers who come from two metropolitan cities of China, Beijing, and Shanghai. Structure equation modeling utilized was generated by AMOS 23 version to test the study hypotheses. The results confirm that situational factors positively influence the online impulse buying among Chinese online shoppers in SC environment. Four dimensions of hedonic shopping value (social shopping, relaxation shopping, adventure shopping and idea shopping) positively moderate the relationship between serendipity and OIB; value shopping is insignificant with moderation effect. The finding is helpful to the online retailers and SC web developers by recommending them to take the scarcity and serendipity in their consideration. These factors have the potential to motivate the consumers to initiate the hedonic shopping aptitude to urge to buy impulsively. Unlike the previous work which remained unsuccessful in incorporating all factors into one study, this study has incorporated irrational and unplanned consumption along with rational and planned one in the same research.

Keywords: online impulse buying behavior; scarcity; serendipity; social shopping; adventure shopping; value shopping; idea shopping; relaxation shopping; Chinese social commerce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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