From AI Persuasion to Impulse-Compulsive Buying: The Mediating Role of Addictive Shopping

Abstract

Artificial intelligence–driven persuasive design, spanning personalisation, social influence cues, nudging, hedonic features and conversational tools, is increasingly associated with problematic consumption patterns among vulnerable consumer segments. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework and Dual-Process Theory, this study examines the association between AI-driven persuasive design (AIPD) and impulse-compulsive buying behaviour (ICBB) among women in India, testing addictive AI-driven shopping behaviour as a mediating mechanism within a first-stage moderated mediation model. Data from 847 female online shoppers in India were analysed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS. AIPD was positively associated with addictive shopping behaviour, which was in turn positively associated with impulse-compulsive buying. Social influence and nudging showed the strongest associations with addictive behaviour, whereas conversational AI was uniquely and negatively associated with both addictive behaviour and impulse-compulsive buying, consistent with a distinct pathway involving friction or reflection rather than compulsion. These associations were stronger among consumers with higher psychological vulnerability and greater platform engagement. Digital financial literacy (DFL) showed a conditional rather than universal buffering pattern, corresponding with a meaningful reduction in the persuasive-design–addiction association among psychologically vulnerable consumers but no comparable association among less vulnerable consumers. The study contributes to the literature on algorithmic influence in digital commerce by identifying the differential, and in one case countervailing, pathways linking persuasive AI design to problematic purchasing, and by specifying the conditions under which financial literacy is protective. The findings carry practical implications for ethical platform design, targeted financial literacy interventions and regulatory attention to the design features most strongly associated with consumer harm.