“Oh, My God, Buy It!” Investigating Impulse Buying Behavior in Live Streaming Commerce

TLDR

Live streaming commerce has rapidly emerged as a new business model, and its high interactivity and rich sensory stimuli readily trigger consumers’ impulse buying, yet research on this phenomenon remains limited. The study proposes a theoretical framework, grounded in social presence theory and the cognitive‑affective framework, to examine how live streaming influences consumers’ urge to buy impulsively and to deepen understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms. The authors tested this framework by conducting an online survey of 267 valid responses. Results indicate that the social presence of the streamer, other viewers, and the product boosts affective intensity, reduces perceived risk, and that affective intensity—not perceived risk—drives impulse buying, offering actionable insights for online retailers.

Abstract

The rapid popularity of live streaming promotes the emergence of a new business model known as live streaming commerce. Due to high interactivity and rich-sensory stimuli, live streaming easily leads to consumers' impulse buying. However, knowledge on impulse buying in live streaming commerce is considerably limited. Drawing on the social presence theory and cognitive-affective framework, our study proposes a theoretical framework with which to examine how live streaming affects consumers' urge to buy impulsively. In an online survey, 267 valid responses were obtained. Results indicate that social presence of live streamer, social presence of other viewers and social presence of product positively influence affective intensity. Results also show that social presence of other viewers and social presence of product negatively influence perceived risk. Furthermore, this study proves that the urge to buy impulsively is driven by affective state (i.e., affective intensity) instead of cognitive state (i.e., perceived risk) in the live streaming commerce context. This study provides a deep understanding of the psychological mechanism underlining consumers' impulse buying in live streaming commerce. The findings also offer suggestions for online retailers to enhance product sales.