Socialization and Impulse Buying of Young Adults in S-Commerce: Mediating Roles of Hedonic Browsing and Upward Social Comparison

Social media has become ubiquitous in the lives of young adults, exposing them constantly to their peers’ online activities and an influx of commercial content that triggers impulsive purchases. Drawing insights from theoretical and empirical literature, the current study proposes a conceptual model to help explain what leads young adult consumers to impulse buy while using social media platforms for social interaction. The model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling, with data collected from 416 young adults from Thailand. The findings revealed that the social interaction motive elicits both hedonic browsing and upward social comparison. Hedonic browsing also acts as an antecedent of upward social comparison. The increased intensity of browsing and comparison elevates the likelihood of impulse buying. The study also found that hedonic browsing mediates the relationship between social interaction motives and upward social comparison. This comparison variable, in turn, mediates the connection between browsing and buying. However, the frequency of social media use does not have significant moderating effects on the relationships among hedonic browsing, upward social comparison, and impulse buying. These findings have significant practical and theoretical implications.