Online Impulse Buying—Integrative Review of Psychological Factors

The aim of this paper is to make an integrative review on the impact of psychological factors on online impulse buying, namely stress reaction; self-esteem; materialism; boredom; positive affect; absorption; shopping pleasure; need for hedonic and utilitarian consumption and habit. We emphasize that (1) those highly reactive to stress may buy on impulse in order to mitigate negative emotional states; (2) the greater the online impulsive buying behavior, the lower may be the self-esteem; (3) materialistic values and the desire for goods are probably strongly and positively correlated to online impulse buying; (4) shopping can be an activity performed to avoid boredom and a possible antecedent of online impulse buying; (5) positive and negative affect may impact hedonic and utilitarian online browsing, in turn influencing the impulse buying desire, and, thus, the online impulse buying behavior; (6) those with great levels of absorption may be more susceptible to sensory stimuli, being more likely to online impulse buying; (7) social and idea shopping may impact online impulse buying; (8) when the motor scheme is triggered more often by exposure to a certain stimulus, it is more likely that it will continue to be triggered in the future (habit).