Exploring the Affective Way Leading to Impulse Buying in Social Media Live Streaming

Social media live streaming commerce is getting popular and performed by brand companies, channel retailers, and purchasing operators. Utilizing characteristics of social media live streaming commerce results in viewers' immersive and engaging shopping experience, as well as more interpersonal connections. Viewers could be easily attracted by vivid, attractive, immediate stimulus, interaction, a sensation of closeness in spatial, temporal, and social relationship with remote other viewers and so on. Accordingly, impulse buying in social media live streaming commerce could be frequently happened. This study investigates impulse buying in social media live streaming commerce by considering overall contextual and atmospheric factors based on the flow theory and psychological distance. One hundred and sixty records collected by the online survey are analyzed. Results show that interactivity, participation, social interaction and social herding facilitate the vividness and interactive process in social media live streaming and then reduce the psychological distance. Social and spatial psychological distance and social presence as affective organism enhance viewers' flow experience and in turn inducing viewers' impulse buying. Theoretical and managerial implications are listed.