The differential effectiveness of scarcity message type on impulse buying: A cross-cultural study

Abstract

This study tries to empirically compare the effects of scarcity message type on impulse buying in online advertising between Korean and Chinese consumers. In addition, it attempts to highlight the moderating roles of message framing and need for cognitive closure (NCC). This study found Chinese consumers' impulse buying (compared to Korean consumers') is more likely to be impacted by limited-time messages than limited-quantity messages. It also found a significant three-way interaction effect of scarcity messages, message framing and country on impulse buying. However, the three-way interaction effect of scarcity messages, NCC and country is not significant with regard to impulse buying. It would be useful to investigate in detail how various marketing factors support impulse buying and which ones exert the strongest influence within different degrees of context and collective cultures.