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Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice

Ronan de Kervenoael a,b,, D. Selcen O. Aykac c, Mark Palmer b
a
Sabanci University, 34959 Orhanli, Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey
b
Aston Business School, Aston University, Aston triangle, Birmingham E4 7ET, UK
c
Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Socially constructed marketing imageries (e.g. e-atmospherics) help consumers while making choices
Keywords: and decisions. Still, human and retailing technology interactions are rarely evaluated from a social
Retail behaviour practice perspective. This article explores the potential impact of socially constructed e-atmospherics
E-impulse on impulse buying. A framework with three interrelated factors, namely social acoustic, co-construction
Social atmospherics/capital and practice and mundane language enactment is analysed. The way these allow for e-social norms to organically
emerge is elaborated through a set of propositions. Retailing implications are subsequently discussed.
Crown Copyright & 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction models (TAM). Hitherto research studies have employed a

Research indicates that virtual store layouts and atmospherics
are encouraging consumers to modify their shopping habits
towards engaging more deeply with the online channel (Burke,
2002; Dailey, 2004; Eroglu et al., 2001; Vrechopoulos et al., 2002).
Specifically, it has been found that the online medium facilitates
impulse buying behaviour (Greenfield, 1999; Li et al., 2000). At the
same time, economic and social changes such as credit cards, cash
machines, and 247 retailing, impulsive buying opportunities
are rising significantly (Dittmar and Drury, 2000; Kacen and Lee,
2002; Rook, 1987). While an emerging literature has mainly
focused on the functional cues of e-atmospherics, little has
been done in terms of understanding the sociality and practice
of impulse buying (Hui et al., 1997; Spangenberg et al., 1996).
Practice, is defined within three broad parameters, including
practitioners (the actors or individuals actually using/experien-
cing/creating in our case social acoustic), practices the social,
symbolic and material tools through which work is done and
praxis that embraces the flow, intensity and timing of activities
(Jarzabkowski et al., 2007).1
A gap exists in our understanding of how e-atmospherics have
been portrayed in the literature. Our approach draws on a number
of intellectual traditions, including social network theory, strate-
gic management, innovation studies and technology acceptance
 Corresponding author at: Sabanci University, 34959 Orhanli, Tuzla, Istanbul,
Turkey. Tel.: +90 2164839707; fax: +90 2164839699.
E-mail addresses: dekervenoael@sabanciuniv.edu (R. de Kervenoael),
Selcen.aykac@ozyegin.edu.tr (D.S.O. Aykac), m.j.palmer@aston.ac.uk (M. Palmer).
1
A range of special issues on this topic include: European Management
Review (McKiernan and Carter, 2004); Human Relations (Balogun et al., 2007);
Long Range Planning (Cailluet and Whittington, 2008); Journal of Management
Studies (Johnson et al., 2003); Revue Francaise de Gestion (Rouleau et al., 2007).
deterministic technological perspective from a macro-level
(top-down) without any appreciation of (i) the social capital
‘acoustic’ at the micro-level, (ii) the grounded day-to-day practice
of information communication technology (ICT) including co-
construction of meanings and (iii) digital and social connecting
mechanisms. In our context, ICT is defined as the cornerstone on
which post-industrial societies’ ‘productions’ are based, in transi-
tion via ever more powerful technological tools that will allow the
movement from an information age to a (socially related)
knowledge-based society.
In turn, social acoustic is also a multi-dimensional concept.
It can be defined as a sum of web experiences’ elements (e.g.
usability, aesthetics), web site technical abilities (e.g. navigation
bar, integration with other software, structure) and users’ life-
styles’ symbols including norms, art, posture, gender, politics,
learning rates/capabilities, online intellectual investment, refer-
ence points, histories and experiences with shopping channels.
Acoustics are assumed to be recognized and positively experi-
enced only if the social elements are aligned and resonate in all
the above dimensions. The chemical reactions require dynamic,
repeated and value-driven integration and interaction of all
stakeholders, i.e., technology, content providers, the amalgam of
users (both active and passive; personal or business), the linked
partners (e.g. advertisers, information providers, forums, suppli-
ers), and third party such as security certifications and legal
partners. The association and role(s) of each stakeholder including
their past experiences and their expected contributions will lead
to the (co)creation of specific ambiances and moods conducive
(or not) to organic impulse buying behaviour.2 At this point,
2
That is to say, practice is conceptualized as a social activity, constructed
through the actions, interactions and negotiations of multiple actors (Jarzabkowski

0969-6989/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright & 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007

Please cite this article as: de Kervenoael, R., et al., Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
2 R. de Kervenoael et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]
offline shopping cultural capital processes and praxis will have
been translated to the new channel creating its indigenous,
specific social acoustic. Taken together, these conscious and
unconscious cues form the part of the emerging digital culture
which users identify and relate with, prompting them to act, think
and relate differently to impulse buying opportunities. Parties
start to inter-relate and inter-mingle with each other as trust in
the quality, relevance, validity and value of exchange increases.
Fine tuning through fictionalization of the information-feeding
process in areas such as character traits, opinions, and strength
of language is allowing ‘real’ engagement with the e-atmospherics
from a dispersed audience. These allow functions and tools
such as flattery, fear and humour to be fully exploited within
boundaries that users (co)define and (co)control. At the outset,
social acoustics could be interpreted as a kind of refresh-
ment break offered to users while online, similar to a coffee
break or short-term engagements with friends/colleagues/other
e-customers (O’Kane et al., 2007). At a broader level, a specific set
of personalized socially oriented e-atmospherics are de-facto
created.
There is a need for reflective analysis by interrogating and
re-dimensionalising the online social aspects of behavioural
phases and sequences related to current ICT understanding and
their impacts on impulse buying. Little consensus exists among
researchers for web site characteristics that affect sociality and
consumers in situ (Novak et al., 2000; Srinivasan et al., 2002;
Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003; Yoo and Donthu, 2001; Zeithaml
et al., 2002). Categorization and listing of attributes are among the
preferred approaches, though there is a need to focus on the social
abstraction of constructs and possible interpretation of meanings
both from an individual user or a group of users’ perspective.
We neither contemplate the entire purchase situation nor look at
a single characteristic. Instead, we try to go beyond the usual
categorization by integrating the notions of online social capital
‘acoustics’, co-construction of meanings, pervasive mundane
usage of ICT and unpredictable impulsive behaviour.
Our reasoning takes us to theoretical directions that can be
traced back to the work of John Dewey, as recently underscored
by Musolf (2003, p. 61): ‘‘Humans are not passive reactors to
‘objectively given’ stimuli but are, instead active interpreters of the
symbolic nature of stimuli. Objects, communication and interaction
are infused with culturally derived symbolic meaning’’ rather than
following Milliman and Fugate’s (1993), Eroglu et al.’s (2001), and
Levenburg’s (2005) works where e-atmospherics mainly encom-
passes the design of space cues, basic harmony and functional
service ambiance. These perspectives do not, for example, take
into account consumers as social agents interacting within
dynamic and intangible reference sets; restricted by collective
standards, value, beliefs, status and duties beyond basic online
businesses technical language and regulatory frameworks.
Neither does these works analyse, in detail, the constructed logic3
behind social information design such as interconnectivity and
engagement, nor do they analyse the timing of the language/
information used. That is to say, the human contact/computer
interaction (or isolation) as a reflection of the offline social world
has yet to be fully integrated. We further position our theoretical
(footnote continued)
et al., 2007). But, the actors are also ‘‘part of social groups—social elites or social
outsiders—that need to be understood as part of a larger picturey’’ Whittington,
2006, p. 628). Jarzabkowski (2005, p. 47) points out that these sources are often
‘‘overlooked because they are hidden in the everyday tasks that constitute a stream of
activity.’’
3
The concept of logic (Thornton, 2002, 2004), refers to the broad cultural
beliefs and rules that structure cognition and fundamentally shape decision-
making and action in a field (see also Fiss and Zajac, 2004).
Please cite this article as: de Kervenoael, R., et al., Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007
discussion within what Smith (1996) termed as ‘styling spaces’ to
interpret the complexity of e-social lifestyle practices over
e-impulse buying online.4 For impulse buying to be considered,
e-atmospherics need to act/interact together within the de-facto
dichotomy of styling spaces in a dynamic setting through which
outcomes remain uncertain till a product/service is actually
bought (Lee, 2007).
The following section aims to extend the e-atmospherics
literature by unpacking and dimensionalising ‘online social
contexts’ regarding impulse buying behaviour. The third section
provides a theoretical review of e-atmospherics and impulse
buying behaviour to lay out the background for our discussion. It
also considers early theorizations including technology accep-
tance models and stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R), which
are often used to assess the impact of e-atmospherics as well as
more recent works from other academic disciplines such as social
presence theory and media richness (Culnan and Markus, 1987),
social information processing theory (Fulk et al., 1990, 1987;
Walther, 1992, 1995), conversation and discourse theory (Taylor
et al., 2001) and kernel theory (Markus et al., 2002a). The fourth
section extends this theoretical base making a case for reframing
and reinterpreting e-atmospherics in the context of impulse
buying as an emerging social practice. Finally, the article
concludes by outlining a number of theoretical opportunities,
managerial implications and avenues for future research, building
a theoretical bridge that embeds socilities within web sites.
2. Initial theorization: unpacking e-impulse buying and e-
atmospherics in practice
2.1. Unpacking e-impulse buying
Early theorization undertaken by marketing scholars has often
conveyed impulse buying as something negative which consu-
mers should feel guilty about. Impulse buying was originally
perceived to be driven by unethical marketing techniques/tricks
(Ainslie, 1975; Levy, 1976). An equally important number of works
have now shown that impulse buying satisfies a number of
hedonic desires (Piron, 1991; Rook and Fisher, 1995; Thompson
et al., 1990). Impulse buyers are now seen to exhibit greater
feelings of amusement, delight, enthusiasm, and joy (Weinberg
and Gottwald, 1982). As a definition, impulse buying occurs when
a person experiences a sudden urge to buy (Rook and Fisher,
1995). Goods with low marginal needs are often good examples of
impulse buying (Coner, 2003; Youn and Faber, 2000). This sudden
urge to buy can cause consumers to feel out-of-control (Rook and
Hoch, 1985). Impulsive buying has also been reported to cause
inner emotional conflicts, making impulsive buying an emotional
decision rather than a rational one (Rook, 1987). As a practice,
impulse buying has to be differentiated from alternative purchase
intentions (Kollat and Willett, 1967). For example, Piron (1991)
gives 13 different dimensions of impulse buying (Fig. 1). Yet,
all ‘unplanned’ purchases such as regular re-stocking are not
considered impulsive behaviour just by remembering that one is
out of stock (Stern, 1962). Indeed, knowing what type of product
to buy but not knowing exactly which brand to buy, is also
not strictly considered to be impulse buying (Stern, 1962). Most
authors do not consider the product to be the sole responsible
trigger for impulse buying behaviour, a distinction is made
4
Earlier work in the area of physical social spaces pioneered by Whyte (1971),
Miller et al. (1998), Gronow and Warde (2001), Shove (2003), Gregson et al. (2002)
and Gregson and Crewe (2003) are also of particular relevance. The ways people
attach meanings to geographical spaces such as parks, shopping malls, and car
boot sales are mirrored in this research.
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R. de Kervenoael et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]] 3

Dimensions of Impulse Buying

Unplanned purchase
Response to stimulus
Deliberately planned to benefit from offers Consumer Characterictics of Impulse
Thrill seeking Buying
Decision made on the spur of the moment
Age
Result of a deliberation process
Gender
Not a response to a previous problem
Culture
No prior buying intentions
Mood
Sudden and spontaneous desire to act
Materialism
State of psychological disequilibrium
Shopping enjoyment
Psychological conflict and struggle
Impulse buying tendency
Reduction of cognitive evaluation
Degree of self-discrepancies
No evaluation of consequences
Source: (Parboteeah, 2005) Source: (Parboteeah, 2005)

SOCIAL CAPITAL
‘ACOUSTIC’

Online Environment Web Experience Elements

Web Site Capabilities
Navigation bar Navigation bar Functionality Pyschological Content Factors
Next & previous Next & previous Factors Factors
links links USABILITY Transaction AESTHETICS
Favorites Site search Convenience security Design
Site map Site map Information Customer Presentation
Toolbar search Pop-up window architecture data misuse Quality
facilities hyperlinks Site navigation Customer Design elements
Pop-up window Layout—grid / INTERACTIVITY data safety Style/atmosphere
hyperlinks freedom /racetrack Customer servi- Uncertainty MARKETING
Security Visual appeal ce/after sales reducing MIX
Phishing filter / pop- Navigation Interaction with elements Communication
up blocker Structure / Style company perso- Guarantees/ Fulfillment
Third party Professional nel return Product
protection affiliation Customization policies Price
Tab structure Transaction security Network effects Promotion
Personalization Lean vs. rich media Search facilities/
settings base process
Integration with Language Site speed
other softwares customization Findability/
Menu bar Business model accessability
Command bar Ordering/
payment process
Source: (Constantinides, 2004)

Fig. 1. Dynamics of social capital acoustic.

between ‘outside’ factors and ‘inside’ factors (Kacen and Lee,
2002; Rook and Hoch, 1985; Weinberg and Gottwald, 1982).
Outside factors are embedded in the retail environment itself, e.g.
store atmosphere (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982), shelf space
or display location (Kollat and Willett, 1967). They also include
the social ‘physical’ environmental setting, e.g. group versus solo
buying; the purchase occasion, or task environment, e.g. gift
versus non-gift buying; temporal variables, e.g. evening versus
daytime purchases (Hoch and Loewenstein, 1991), demographic
variables (Rook, 1987) and more traditional factors such as short
shelf life, seasonality, ease of storage, size and weight. Inside
factors include consumers’ influence of their normative evaluation
system (Rook and Fisher, 1995). These take into account
consumers’ perception of the appropriateness of impulse beha-
viour; past experiences (Dittmar et al., 1996), self-image definition
and their state of mind when the opportunity to buy arises (Elliott,
1994). One can make a distinction between psychological (mood,
ideal self, self-expression, social standing) and functional buying
considerations like price and usefulness (Beatty and Ferrell, 1998;
Dittmar et al., 1996; Dittmar and Drury, 2000).
As yet, few studies have either theoretically or empirically
linked e-atmospherics and online impulse buying by specifically
analyzing the social impact of the channel itself in creating and
harmonizing the appropriate (socially constructed) atmosphere
(Parboteeah, 2005). Online convenience, including self-service
and flexibility of tempo are described to lead to impulse buying
(Iyer, 1989). Although online-shopping lacks certain tactile
features that positively influence impulsive buying in a traditional
way, online impulsive buying is indeed present (LaRose, 2001).
According to Madhavaram and Laverie (2004) several stimuli that
are responsible for online impulse purchases can be identified
such as images of the product, banner advertisement types, price
and special offers. Certain richer and dynamic media formats were
also found to enhance an emotional response that influences the
amount of online buying (Adelaar et al., 2003). When a sense of
excitement is created by the website, consumers are less able to
control themselves and their shopping behaviour (Constantinides,
2004). However, a lack of excitement, low social experience and a
delay in gratification associated with online buying decreases the
chances of impulse buying. Unregulated buying behaviour,
resulting from a web site’s efficiency at maximizing its multi-
media options and economic efficiency, needs to be differentiated
from pure impulse buying as a social phenomenon. Personal
shopping orientations—especially online—(e.g. convenience,
business, recreational) have also been acknowledged as playing
a role (Kim and LaRose, 2004) in linking the concept of deficient
self-regulation (LaRose and Eastin, 2002) and attention span. Both
the switching between orientations and user roles are considered

Please cite this article as: de Kervenoael, R., et al., Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007
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as fluid over a particular session and ought to be directly related
to the web site’s sociality ‘in practice. We now turn our attention
to this in the next section.
Proposition 1. Sustainable impulse buying in practice would likely
be encouraged by increasing references to the existent/emerging
e-social capital.
2.2. Micro-social practices and e-atmospherics: going beyond the
deterministic approaches of social technology
The literature on e-tail environment draws mainly from two
theoretical foundations. On one hand, there are the technology
acceptance models with three main constructs; perceived ease of
use, perceived usefulness and usage (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh et al.,
2003). These are completed by theories such as reasoned action
(TRA), planned behaviour (TRB) and the unified theory of
acceptance and use of technology, adding aspects such as social
influences and subjective norm constructs. On the other hand,
environmental psychology and the stimulus–organism–response
paradigm have also proved to be popular. For example, Sautter et
al. (2004) emphasize potential effects of consumer’s telepresence
(Steur, 1992) in a dual environment—the online store environ-
ment and the consumer’s physical environment. S–O–R model
have been further adapted to e-tailing by Eroglu et al. (2001,
2003). Vividness, interactivity, symbolism, and social elements have
been described to be the crucial factors. The vividness factor
represents the richness of the environmental information (Shih,
1998). A U-shaped curve is observed pointing at the obvious
limitation of excessive stimulation when it is assumed to
contribute positively (Steenkamp and Baumgartner, 1992; Keller
and Block, 1997). The interactivity factor identifies the suscept-
ibility and responsiveness of the online environment (Ariely,
2000; Klein, 2003; Steur, 1992) and relates to consumer’s pleasure
level derived from the online experience (Childers et al., 2001;
Dailey, 2001). The symbolism factor mainly eases navigational
issues and provides information on overall site credibility. Lastly,
social elements factors are often represented by the availability
of avatars (Morgan, 1999) and other shopping agents. Other
traditional elements focusing on cognitive states involve: online
communities (Papadopoulou et al., 2001) influencing the con-
sumers’ search and choice (Häubl and Trifts, 2000) via affective/
cognitive stages (Sproule and Archer, 2000) that are positively
correlated; ease of navigation (Hoque and Lohse, 1999; Morris-
Lee, 2000), perceived risk/security (Hoffman et al., 1999;
Szymanski and Hise, 2000), personalization (Mittal and Lassar,
1996) and informativeness (Chen and Wells, 1999; Szymanski
and Hise, 2000). These works often include taxonomies of log
analysis to provide feedback and management information flow
(Labuschagne and Eloff, 2000; Novak et al., 2000; Titus and
Everett, 1995).
The above factors have to be further integrated with computer-
mediated communication (CMC) systems that have become a
systemic feature of advanced websites. Avatars (or digital graphic
design characters) which include personal shoppers/helpers along
with multimodal and autonomous embodied conversational
agents (ECA) have been providing primitive support and help in
pre-defined communication schemes. Still, CMC systems are too
often perceived as insufficient communication tools devoid of
contingent functionality (Cassell, 2007; Cassell et al., 2000, 2007).
One concern is related to the minimum breath of acceptable social
skills necessary for consumer engagement with CMC systems.
Works by Cassell et al. (2000) and Nass and Brave (2005) have
further highlighted the importance of the practice and ‘doing’ at
micro-consumer level, for engagement with CMC to occur. The
challenge is to compose the right mix of communicative
Please cite this article as: de Kervenoael, R., et al., Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007
characteristics to facilitate social relational features among
e-stakeholders when pre-conditions for social coherence are often
only emerging or absent. New forms of social systems beyond real
life towards virtual worlds need to be designed, accepted and
engaged with (e.g., second life experiment). Shaped by the
multimedia possibilities of the online environment, CMC systems
as social atmospherics help in creating new social conventions by
developing situational boundary conditions, individuating im-
pression of others, preserving certain spatial relationships and
matching communication requirements with the task at hand.
Progresses have also been made in understanding the interplay
and combination between text, sound and animation where users
can create substantially expressive messages that comprise
representational properties of gaze and iconic gestures (Poggi
and Pelachaud, 2000). The bi-directional and communicational
nature of CMC systems facilitate verbal and non-verbal real-time
interactive sharing on intuitive socio-cultural grounds including
freedom and control in defining the avatar’s parameters, person-
ality trait, emotional disposition and interests that become crucial
for correctly decoding and interpreting each action (Gibbon,
1998). As a result, the framing of time and perceiving the passage
of time upon repetitive visits/transactions become crucial, as
higher familiarity yields better interpretation. The definition of
the meta communication functions for CMC systems are often
grounded in three principal theoretical frameworks including
social presence theory and media richness (Culnan and Markus,
1987), social information processing theory (Walther, 1995, 1992;
Fulk et al., 1990, 1987), and conversation and discourse theory
(Rich et al., 2001).5 Including social acoustics in such frameworks
is surmised to integrate extrinsic social factors that affect the
dynamic course, direction and role of e-stakeholders. Passive
and/or active actors/observers would affect the desired outcome
inexorably in a non-linear, but often incremental fashion.
Proposition 2a. Traditional e-atmospherics’ deterministic design,
detached from the grounded users’ social histories (both online and
offline) is likely to reduce impulse buying.
Proposition 2b. The lack of bi-directional multimedia infrastruc-
tures to facilitate CMC systems communication is likely to hinder the
correct interpretation of e-social meanings.
As previously mentioned, social communication dimensions are
at the core of e-social acoustic. Communication tools initially
developed for multiplayer digital game industry, have further
impacts in creating impulsive e-circumstances. Online store
layout alternatives as game layout, which are the pre-determinant
of e-atmospherics, are currently limited by three main traditional
offline layouts: grid, racetrack and/or freedom. First, the notion of
‘space’ needs to be unpacked, by placing more emphasis on
omnipresent and/or vagrant service perspectives. In most web
sites, the notion of topography is fixed but there exists also a
topological and geometrical setting. Web site design can involve a
dynamic environment in which consumers are allowed to edit/
add content. Secondly, the notion of ‘time’ is often too narrowly
comprehended as convenience and in the context of time-saving.
However, time could be seen as an e-atmospheric that includes
real-time or turn-based service/activities/interaction time, mi-
metic or arbitrary passage of time allowing a greater engagement
5
For an elaboration of these kinds of theories see for discourse theory Fox and
Miller (1996) in the case of public administration and Keane (2001) in the case of
ethics. Media richness theory describes how and why people choose a particular
medium to communicate with others in the workplace (Ferry et al., 2001; Daft and
Lengel, 1984). Lastly, social information processing theory ‘‘proposes that attitudes
and needs are cognitive products that results from the processing of information about
attitude object and past behaviour in a social context’’ (Goldman, 2001, p. 362) (see
also Salancik and Pfeffer, 1978).
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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with the activity at hand; finite or infinite depending on the
service (e.g. auction end time). Thirdly, the online experience’
structures that include single and multiple repeat log-ons for
individuals or teams, as well as private (own social acoustics) vs.
public space (shared social acoustics) are often underrated.
Fourthly, greater control and flexibility mechanisms online can
be implemented including static, power-up or experience level-
ling functions and save-ability, either conditional or unlimited.
Lastly, many web sites seem to underestimate the potential of
rules/objectives, they are mainly fixed and not depending on the
position (e.g. loyalty level) of the consumer (European Commis-
sion, 2001). It is clear that a strategy needs to be in place to
understand better communication via design issues related with
interconnectivity and generic/specific social information require-
ment.
Proposition 3a. Communication setting practices for e-impulse
(mundane language(s) actually used to communicate) as develop-
ment tools for e-sociality are likely to encourage appropriate
decoding of social meaning.
Proposition 3b. Digital games derived social e-atmospherics’ praxes
are likely to encourage organic e-impulse buying behaviour.
Multitasking and pluralism from a strategy perspective
(a common activity online) is not to any great extent taken into
account by most atmospherics (Palmer and O’Kane, 2007).
Pluralism, from a user perspective, reflects the fact that compet-
ing, yet equally legitimate, demands and/or tasks co-exist. Issues
of confidence (e.g. being able to pause without the fear of losing
their current basket or not being able to come back) and
organizational aspects (e.g. no memorization of credit card details,
ID details) co-exist. E-multitasking resulting from the numerous
concurrent active software and other applications creates many
interruptions diminishing the value of the experience at worst,
distracting at best. These debates are often being reduced to a
single dimension, the rise or limitation in machine performance
allowing (or not) the constant display of unrelated information,
rather than taking into account users’ cognitive and behavioural
capacity and willingness. This perspective brings into play the
importance of viewing social e-atmospherics and impulse buying
as ways to develop understanding methods through which to
access situated practices. Language, as a day-to-day communica-
tion ritual that facilitates emerging social capital ‘acoustic’ stock,
is further discussed in the next section.
Proposition 4. Using social norm re-enforcement to control con-
sumer situated ‘practices’ is likely to increase the effect of e-impulse
buying cues.
2.3. Digital online language processing as a contested social practice:
explaining the concept of online acoustics
Online language and communication processes are still often
beset by technological difficulties including slow progress of voice
recognition software. What we are witnessing is the emergence
of new active and interactive language styles and principles.
We assume a more active role for language applications in
practice, specifically as a sustainable way to build (create and co-
create) online social capital, allowing a mundane countenance
of e-shopping to fully emerge. At the broadest level, the question
of language choice remains crucial because of over reliance on
English. Even if consumers understand their lingua franca, it is
important to mediate their overall experiences of the channel by
how comfortable they are when using it and how they bring into
play the use of non-native websites or translated equivalents.
What is important is how consumers act, interact and limit
Please cite this article as: de Kervenoael, R., et al., Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007
5
themselves (anti-choice) in everyday situations. The complexities
and tensions linked to inconsistent and partial understanding of a
language can lead to a divorce between the channel processes
and the expected outcome; either from the retailer or consumer
perspective and further digital divides within society. Subtle
differences between verbal interaction and online social practices
should be observed by marketers as a contested process. The next
section further extends the modern understanding of digital
communication by introducing concepts that goes beyond the
signifiers towards the signified.
Language choices are not only keys for proficient communica-
tion, along with orthography and proper grammatical setting, but
also relate to how we read sentences or texts on WebPages, in
practice where we start and end. In English, we read from left to
right, and the given information is typically towards the beginning
of the sentence, whereas new information is towards the end.
Myers (1994) also refers to the visual geography consisting of a
combination of pictures on the right-hand side and text on the
left-hand side. Further, standards or norms also mean that the
product or the logo is usually placed in the lower right-hand
corner (see also Kress and van Leeuwen, 1990). Following this, the
length of the text displayed on a webpage (requirement to scroll
down or not below the fold), as well as active/passive keywords
and extra information supplied via hypertext raises other
concerns (Chaffey, 2007). Distractions such as interactive features
including banner (static or dynamic) or pop-up windows and
sound are also present cluttering communication and creating
noise within the process. While the right combination of layout
and text is found to enhance readers’ friendliness, not much is
available about social impact in general and social capital creation
in particular. Furthermore, since most of the text regarding e-
atmospherics is written, it is crucial to look at the difference
between spoken and written languages (Halliday, 1985; Leech,
1966). Issues of alphabetization in emerging m-societies are not
discussed here, but are also of increasing relevance.
Online written language, as opposed to novels, poetry or jokes
for example, lacks sounds and prosodic features such as stress,
tone, intonation and rhythm. Simply put, prosodic features help
transmit emotions or sometimes disambiguate meaning during
reading and speaking actions. In written language some of these
features are substituted with vocabulary and punctuation. Online,
new forms of signs and syntax are appearing such as and new
types of abbreviation often derived from mobile phone short
message services (SMS) experiences, e.g., 4U (for you). In addition,
graphology can also reflect emphasis in written texts especially
in ads on a webpage. Myers (1994) mentions techniques such
as changing the print size of letters or words, using words or
expressions repeating the same letters, using unpredicted spelling
or using shapes within the writing to attract the attention of the
reader (catchy print). Alternative usual ways of attracting reader
attention include playing with sentence structure or using puns,
metaphors and slogans (Tanaka, 1994). Vague language, implica-
ture, ellipses and hedges are exploited by web content creators
who appear to be saying or claiming things when they are usually
not (Van Gijsel et al., 2007). Another resource for digital language
creators is the exploitation of stylistic sources such as language
variety (accents, dialects) and language register (formal/informal/
casual) (Bell, 1999; Piller, 2003; Van Gijsel et al., 2007). How much
technical information or even jargon a particular website should
contain seems to be a crucial decision (see audience design, Bell
1984). Assuming that the target audience of e-atmospherics
would be a computer literate one, in comparison to TV advertising
audience (which might not be literate at all) it would be more
likely to encounter an e-formal or a specific cyber style (loyal/club
members). Language that appeals to different groups of interest
or age groups (kids, teenagers, adults) should not be overlooked.
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The emergence of street cyber-language, mirroring the plurality of
languages and online voices are driving in part social (re)inter-
pretation and engagement (Kornberger et al., 2006). Moreover,
ethical digital language that is appropriate for children, avoiding
offensive language and stereotypes are also influencing the
sociality of websites.
It is not unsurprising, then, that gender is also an issue related
not only to the targeted audience or consumers, but also as a
mediator of digital language diffusion and acceptance. Herring
(2007a, b) notes that gender is visible even in an environment
such as the Internet, more specifically text-based computer-
mediated communication, which normally is thought of as having
no trace of information as to gender, race, and social class.
Features of a participant’s discourse style seem to give away
information about a person’s gender. Herring (2007a) lists some
of these linguistic features as the following: verbosity, assertive-
ness, use of profanity, politeness (and rudeness), typed represen-
tations of smiling and laughter, degree of interactive engagement
and alignment towards interlocutors (Coates, 1993). In practice
this requires a rethinking of gender appropriateness online,
including where the user is in effect masking their real sexual
category. Lastly, lexical choice is not only important in terms of
gender, but also reflecting the trends of the day, i.e. buzz words.
Proposition 5. Cultural investment by practitioners in contested
language evolution is likely to disambiguate lexical choice.
One added aspect suggests that media presence and richness
through language is also related to the notions of polyphony or
e-polyphony (Kornberger et al., 2006). Polyphony represents the
variety of sounds heard at a specific point in time within the
environment. It has a direction, allowing or distracting from
current flow, an intensity, rhythm and resonance. E-polyphony, in
our context, represents socially constructed offline language
sound systems as well as digitally produced sounds or silences
made by the sites. The social manners of these sounds are
reflecting, supporting and reproducing language text and image;
forming meanings and the ‘acoustics’ of the online experiences.
The impacts of silences or ‘‘action without words’’ are important
in the co-construction of personal individual e-atmospherics. It is
clear that different lifestyles and plurality need to be reflected
in the aesthetic aspects of mundane digital language day to day
usage. As described by Büscher et al. (2001, p. 1), ‘‘These
perspectives help to identify the ‘socilities’ of people and technologies
and of the relationships between them. They help to distinguish
different forms of cooperation with differing support needs, oppor-
tunities and vulnerabilities. They inform the design of technical
support, the assessment of outcomes, and the design of further
solutions, in a cycle of ‘situated experimentation’’’. Integral to the
sense making process is the alignments of text, photos, avatar
behaviours and sounds in the formation, understanding, and
correct interpretation of social meanings.
Proposition 6. Timing and sequencing (praxis) of social polyphony’
intensity are likely to increase engagement with e-impulse buying
process.
Lastly, in addition to the previous issues, there is a demand for a
better understanding of social informational cues through
application of language. Drawing insights from the area of design
theory for digital information services, we complete our frame-
work by presenting the existing models in which our acoustic cues
could be integrated (Kraaijenbrink and Wijnhoven, 2006). Walls
et al. (1992) define a design theory as ‘‘a prescriptive theory based
on theoretical underpinning which says how a design process can be
carried out in a way which is both effective and feasible’’ (Walls et al.,
1992, p. 37). Such design theories consist of ‘‘an integrated
Please cite this article as: de Kervenoael, R., et al., Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007
Table 1
Levels of information conceptualization and representation.
Level of Level of representation
conceptualization
Low High
Low Qualitative observations & Data delivery services; news,
reports; gossip; business journals; infotainment;
intelligence reports; skills commercial mass software;
descriptions; undocumented datasets and databases; shared
policies resources for academic group
High Theory ideas; paradigms; Professional services;
representation of ideas and courseware; scientific
notions; business and publishing; patents, insurances,
management consulting; contracts; scientific software;
formalized organizational models; business process
routines and norms models; knowledge-based
systems; management reports;
R&D results
Source: Kraaijenbrink and Wijnhoven (2006).
prescription consisting of a particular class of user requirements, a
set of system solutions (y), and a set of effective development
practices’’ (Markus et al., 2002b, p.180). These allow the incre-
mental updating of web sites where content creators can change
parts of databases (e.g. color, design, content, sub-content)
without disturbing the overall aim. From a product information
perspective, Kernel Theories6 have been used to identify relevant
descriptive and exploratory meta-elements leading to good
‘platform/web design content’. The level of conceptualization
of information goods from a content perspective needs to be
underlined (Table 1). Moreover, depending on the stakeholders
and the type of information (e.g., for private or social benefit;
transparent or opaque; many or few intermediaries, demand level
and ability to pay level) such a conceptualization might uncover
underlying dynamics present at different levels of purchase
behaviour. In this regard, user information satisfaction in areas
such as accuracy, format, ease of use and timeliness would also be
fully relevant (Doll and Torkzadeh, 1988). Besides, the levels of
usage frequency and intensity would become crucial, as the
necessity of prior experienced purchase might diminish.
Proposition 7. Effective development practices of sociality are likely
to increase the transition from information to knowledge.
3. Discussion
Grounding the role of e-atmospherics in both social practice
and in users’ activities remains an important task for retailers.
Within this new form of online space activities, opportunities for
deeper, clearer, more believable and meaningful communications
and exchange are present. The nature of the social cues allows for
synchronous and asynchronous communications, permitting hu-
man nature to nurture social subtleties and organic impulse-
buying behaviour. Emerging organic e-impulse-buying behaviour
should be deemed as the by-product of the co-construction
undertaken by e-stakeholders via engagement with the power
of social language, the resources of words as template providers,
mnemonics, immediacy, tension and technology-emergent
6
Kernel theory is from natural or social sciences governing design require-
ments and the design process itself. ‘‘It aims at creating a set of testable design
process hypotheses which can be used to verify whether or not the design method
result in an artifact which is consistent with the meta-design’’ (Walls et al., 1992,
p. 43) (see also Mintzberg (1973) work on managerial work).
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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humanity. Communication expectations and processes will then
evolve from a utilitarian discussion, as a functional deterministic
tool, towards social conversations, as a societal practice. Only
then, will the path for long-term loyalty and differentiation in
today’s fiercely competitive environment be traced back to
marketers. Their e-atmospherics strategies will be deemed
recognizable, credible, sufficient to act upon and value-enabling.
As users become acclimatized to the overall site ‘social
acoustics’, marketers’ technology ought to then deploy higher
levels of socially embedded cues to maximize variety, leverage
learning and loyalty opportunities. Furthermore, it seems that
the initial conceptualization of e-atmospherics has been mainly
based on one-way models, that provided the user with little real
choice or opportunities for content creation and control. These
reductionist views of the channel did not fully permit multiple
spatial scales (e.g. text, picture, ECA, sound, co-branding and
content creation) to be implemented limiting the prospects for
the development of a sustainable online ‘social acoustic’. The
literature often considers technological diffusion and adoption as
the main concerns overlooking basic requirements of both
advanced and disadvantaged users regarding the social meaning
and interpretation of the content. Marketers ought to approach e-
socialites and ICT as ubiquitous and pervasive within everyday
practice, rather than separate and isolated ones. Technological
development and construction of meanings cannot be separated.
Some machines do have relative thinking capabilities and
humanity allowing them to partially participate in the minutia
of the social exchange. These emerging digital micro-social
processes are re-defining e-social communication management
and administration. Advanced e-atmospherics allow sites’ rhetoric
to be filtered through multiple regular contacts. Consecutively, an
evolution of the communication process providing matched or
‘real’ user congruence within the pluralism of the channel is
assembled in a non-deterministic fashion. E-impulse buying logic
can then organically emerge.
E-atmospherics need to be co-constructed and co-branded by
all the stakeholders. This will lead to a fundamental rethink of the
online human social dimension that should translate marketers’
strategies into actions and doing. What does it mean to interact/
communicate online? What does it mean to co-create content/
brand? What does it mean to be in (out of) control? In our context,
the pervasive element of technological progress becomes central
to comprehending ‘achievable’. Just like a good instructor, a good
web site ‘acoustic’ would stick in our memories, have a sound
knowledge, kindle interests and challenge assumptions.
4. Conclusion
Given the contested process of online cultural capital building
and the wide range of e-atmospherics, reflections imply that
the current retailers’ strategy using a one-size—fits-all model
may have reached its limits. We argue that a new generation of
experiential/relational web sites should be designed. These ought
to include more subjective, qualitative, local social norms of
information delivery towards creating social knowledge. This will
enable retailers to form and engage with socially constructed new
online groups. Two aspects including content origin formation
and social experiences are particularly relevant.
This article makes a three-fold contribution to the literature.
First and foremost, it provides the additional lens of social
‘acoustics’ for understanding social e-atmospherics potential in
the context of impulse buying. At the basic level, we argue for a
certain level of social momentum, where complex sets of
emotional and intellectual attributes allow users’ actions and
reactions to be fully integrated and build upon. This is quickly
Please cite this article as: de Kervenoael, R., et al., Online social capital: Understanding e-impulse buying in practice. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services (2009), doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.02.007
7
followed and associated with other parties to form social groups
in-between time and more functional activities linked to the
shopping process. Our contribution recognizes the complicity of
socialities, acoustics and technology in every day assembly of the
online content.
Second, role of each online actor is re-dimensionalised in terms
of co-creation. Impulse buying is seen as an activity driven by the
value added which underpins the online business models rather
than promoting another marketing tactic to push user consump-
tion. This should be seen as an extension of the existing
infrastructure, as it decreases the complexity of implementation
and management. Content and user intellectual investment
remain critical.
Finally, in contrast to most research on e-atmospherics that
focuses mainly on the functional aspects and impacts of cues,
we have attempted to conceptualize the system in situ. The
channel currently seems to have been high jacked by a minority
of stakeholders and a re-distribution of power is necessary.
To capture the real opportunities, lower scepticism and newly
fostered alliances are needed involving, for example, C2C models.
While the first round of the battle has been won by technologists;
as the channel is being recognized and engaged with, the second
sustainability/profitability round has to be marketer-driven
and will only be possible by the development of sociality and
mundane features, the creation of a true sense of well being and
respect between the actors.
Taken together, the article provides a more holistic view
of the online consumer practice as a co-creator and consumer of
socialities. This is a significant step towards a better under-
standing of online consumer practice and the emerging repre-
sentations of cyber cultural capital necessary for the channel to
achieve sustainability. Indeed, the locus of power ought to be
shifting from technologists to retailers and consumers. We believe
that, while valuable, most of the functional e-atmospherics
constructs used are too vague because of the numerous ways
in which day to day practice(s) are enacted by users. While
unplanned online impulse behaviour remains complex; accepted,
emotional and cognitive points of references are required to
facilitate challenging buying behaviour. Our approach also has
important implications for retailers. The multi-scalar nature
of online users as consumer of technology, social capital and
information mean that appropriate socially understood interfaces
offer a great potential often at a low cost (social knowledge versus
technology costs). This suggests that in the future, normative
evaluations of impulse buying will need to be assessed against the
cyber-cultural capital created online and not using only the offline
traditional point of references.
A reminder is that most companies cannot afford to give all
their customers all experiences. However, the ideas of experience-
based differentiation (EBD) (Financial Times, 2007) as a systema-
tic approach to interaction seem to be currently the only
sustainable leveraging asset in rapidly transforming digital
societies. By its very nature, experiences are mainly rooted in
mundane activities and social capital building. Social acoustic
effect acts as an integrator of technology. This framework sees the
pluralism of social capital, emphasizing the importance of ‘net-
work innovation’ that allow mass audiences not only to access but
participate in online social development at the dawn of a new era
of digital lives. In our context, users’ social requirement have often
outpaced technology adaptation rate. Social ‘acoustics’ will allow
the development of retailers’ strategies using platforms that will
define new categories rather than competing in large with pre-
existing setting within what can largely be described as an
existing captive market. While we have situated our discussion in
the context of impulse buying, and transactional web sites,
we underline that we still are not sure where in effect social
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8 R. de Kervenoael et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]
acoustics’ birth and growth may be initially fostered with a
greater rate of success including sites such as show rooms,
informational sites, forums or blogs.
Acknowledgement
We are very thankful to Leyla Marti from Bogazici University,
Istanbul, Turkey for her help in reviewing and developing our
earlier ideas on linguistic in this article.
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