How do product recommendations affect impulse buying? An empirical study on WeChat social commerce

Abstract Social commerce is creating increasing opportunities for consumers to access product recommendations. Evidence from practical and academic literature shows that product recommendations may lead to impulse buying, yet relatively limited research exists on this topic. Based on the signaling theory, this research proposes a model to examine how product recommendations on social media affect a user’s urge to buy impulsively. Our results indicate that urge to buy impulsively is determined by affective trust in the recommender and affection toward the recommended product, which are influenced by both recommender-related signals (information quality and similarity) and product-related signals (vicarious expression and aesthetic appeal).