An empirical investigation of the impact of influencer live-streaming ads in e-commerce platforms on consumers’ buying impulse

Purpose - E-commerce live streaming is a new influencer advertising method that allows influencers to interact directly with consumers on e-commerce platforms. Although evidence suggests that influencer live-streaming advertisements (ads) on social media can increase consumers’ buying impulses, little research examined how this similar but new advertising method on e-commerce platforms may influence consumers’ urge to buy impulsively. This study explores the role of influencer credibility, celebrity effect, perceived entertainment, trust and perceived usefulness on consumers’ attitudes toward influencer ads and their urge to buy impulsively.

Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire containing seven constructs was developed and distributed to participants using a convenient sample and snowball sampling approach. The constructs were measured based on validated measurement items from the literature and adjusted according to this study’s focus. A total of 236 valid responses were obtained from the survey and used for data analysis. A partial least squares structural equation modeling approach was employed for parameter estimation and model testing.

Findings - The empirical results show that all constructs influenced consumers’ urge to buy impulsively via attitude toward influencer ads. The proposed research model explains 61.7% of the variance in attitude toward influencer ads and 19.4% of the urge to buy impulsively.

Originality/value - This is an early study investigating the relationship between influencer advertising and impulse buying. The results provide valuable insights into improving the design of influencer ads and marketing strategies.

Highlights 
(1) I-eIB model tests the mechanism of influencer ads on consumers’ buying impulse.
(2) Consumers’ attitude towards influencer ads affects their urge to buy impulsively.
(3) Influencer credibility affects consumer attitude via celebrity effect as a mediator.
(4) Trust affects consumer attitude via perceived usefulness as a mediator.
(5) Entertaining ads help develop favorable consumer attitude.