Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states
Background: Live-streaming e-commerce has emerged as a dynamic shopping medium, engaging consumers through interactive and immersive experiences. “Keeping Consumers in Suspense” (KCIS), encompassing preview fuzziness, suspense setting, and delight creation, is widely used to drive engagement and imp...
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Elsevier
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000757 |
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| author | Xiangxi Kong Ren Wang Yuyang Zhang |
| author_facet | Xiangxi Kong Ren Wang Yuyang Zhang |
| author_sort | Xiangxi Kong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Live-streaming e-commerce has emerged as a dynamic shopping medium, engaging consumers through interactive and immersive experiences. “Keeping Consumers in Suspense” (KCIS), encompassing preview fuzziness, suspense setting, and delight creation, is widely used to drive engagement and impulse buying. Still, its impact on consumer inner states and behaviors remains underexplored. Objective: This study examines the influence of KCIS on consumer impulse buying behavior, focusing on the mediating roles of value perception and expectation perception. Methods: Data were collected from 352 active users of Chinese live-streaming platforms using a structured survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) tested the relationships among KCIS dimensions, inner states, and impulse buying. A bootstrapping analysis with 5000 iterations assessed the stability and significance of mediating effects, supported by validity and reliability tests of newly developed KCIS constructs. Results: Preview fuzziness (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) and suspense setting (β = 0.48, p < 0.01) significantly influenced value and expectation perception, while delight creation primarily affected expectation perception (β = 0.34, p < 0.01). Expectation perception mediated the relationship between KCIS and impulse buying more strongly (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) than value perception (β = 0.15, p < 0.05). Bootstrapping confirmed the robustness of these mediation effects. Conclusion: KCIS strategies play a pivotal role in shaping consumer behavior in live-streaming e-commerce by influencing impulse buying through mechanisms such as value and expectation perception. The results highlight the effectiveness of preview fuzziness, suspense setting, and delight creation in enhancing consumer engagement and driving sales. These findings provide practical guidance for streamers to design tailored suspense tactics that maximize impact. Future research should extend this framework to diverse cultural contexts to validate its generalizability and explore additional influencing factors. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-af4022c0d6f54af3abd50f667deb8089 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-af4022c0d6f54af3abd50f667deb80892025-02-03T04:16:25ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-03-01253104762Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner statesXiangxi Kong0Ren Wang1Yuyang Zhang2School of Business Administration, Ningbo University of Finance and Economics, Ningbo 315175, ChinaGraduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanSchool of Economics, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266061, Shandong, China; Corresponding author.Background: Live-streaming e-commerce has emerged as a dynamic shopping medium, engaging consumers through interactive and immersive experiences. “Keeping Consumers in Suspense” (KCIS), encompassing preview fuzziness, suspense setting, and delight creation, is widely used to drive engagement and impulse buying. Still, its impact on consumer inner states and behaviors remains underexplored. Objective: This study examines the influence of KCIS on consumer impulse buying behavior, focusing on the mediating roles of value perception and expectation perception. Methods: Data were collected from 352 active users of Chinese live-streaming platforms using a structured survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) tested the relationships among KCIS dimensions, inner states, and impulse buying. A bootstrapping analysis with 5000 iterations assessed the stability and significance of mediating effects, supported by validity and reliability tests of newly developed KCIS constructs. Results: Preview fuzziness (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) and suspense setting (β = 0.48, p < 0.01) significantly influenced value and expectation perception, while delight creation primarily affected expectation perception (β = 0.34, p < 0.01). Expectation perception mediated the relationship between KCIS and impulse buying more strongly (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) than value perception (β = 0.15, p < 0.05). Bootstrapping confirmed the robustness of these mediation effects. Conclusion: KCIS strategies play a pivotal role in shaping consumer behavior in live-streaming e-commerce by influencing impulse buying through mechanisms such as value and expectation perception. The results highlight the effectiveness of preview fuzziness, suspense setting, and delight creation in enhancing consumer engagement and driving sales. These findings provide practical guidance for streamers to design tailored suspense tactics that maximize impact. Future research should extend this framework to diverse cultural contexts to validate its generalizability and explore additional influencing factors.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000757Live streamingKeeping consumers in suspenseConsumer inner statesImpulse buying |
| spellingShingle | Xiangxi Kong Ren Wang Yuyang Zhang Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states Acta Psychologica Live streaming Keeping consumers in suspense Consumer inner states Impulse buying |
| title | Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states |
| title_full | Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states |
| title_short | Exploring the influence of “keeping consumers in suspense” in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states |
| title_sort | exploring the influence of keeping consumers in suspense in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior a test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states |
| topic | Live streaming Keeping consumers in suspense Consumer inner states Impulse buying |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000757 |
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