JBR-08778; No of Pages 7

Journal of Business Research xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

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Journal of Business Research

Flow and social capital theory in online impulse buying☆

Li-Ting Huang ⁎
Department of Information Management, Chang Gung University, 259, Wenhua 1st Rd., Guishan Dist., Taoyuan City 33302, Taiwan

article i nfo abstract

Article history: This study examines the influence of affective and reactive factors, as well as two mediators of consumers' online impulse
Received 1 September 2015 buying behavior in social commerce, by following the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) paradigm, so- cial capital theory,
Received in revised form 1 October 2015 and flow theory. Social interactions and content are important stimuli on social networking websites. This study conducts
Accepted 1 November 2015 structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze data from an online
Available online xxxx questionnaire. Four main findings emerge. First, the urge to buy differs from impulse buying, and significantly predicts impulse
buying behavior. Second, internal processing exists be- tween the stimuli and responses, per the SOR paradigm. Third, peers'
Keywords: opinions on social networking websites exert considerable influence on consumers' impulsive desire to purchase. Fourth, the
Online impulse buying fsQCA results show ways to increase consumers' desire to purchase impulsively, including reactive and affective factors. The
Social capital
method for impulse buying only includes social capital, peer communication, urge to buy, and vividness.
Content attractiveness
Peer communication © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Browsing activity
Social commerce

1. Introduction
Verhagen and van Dolen (2011) point out that impulse buying oc- curs in
about 40% of all online expenditures. This upwards trend results from easy
access to products, easy purchasing, lack of social pressure, and an absence of
delivery effort (Verhagen & van Dolen, 2011). The es- timated e-commerce
market size of Taiwan in 2015 is USD 3 billion, and the estimated average
growth rate of the e-commerce market of Taiwan is 11%. Online marketing
information easily attracts users' attention and stimulates their desires to buy
something during the online shopping, or e-tail, process. Consumers may easily
buy products that they have no plan to purchase or do not really need because of
limited volume, low price, and limited time. As such, social commerce will be
mainstream (Liang & Turban, 2011). A combination of social activities and
commer- cials will catch consumers' eyes. The influence of marketing and pur-
chase stimuli is stronger on social networking websites because of the greater
exposure time and volume of information that users receive when surfing these
websites.
Social networking websites provide rich opportunities to search for products
and read reviews contributed by peers. Fan pages on Facebook regularly issue
coupons, promotional activities, news, or touching
☆ This article was presented at the Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation in
Management Conference, July 30–31, 2015, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. The
author thanks Arch Woodside for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. The author
thanks the reviewers of Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation In Management
Conference for their careful reading and suggestions. The author thanks the financial support
by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan under grants MOST103-2410-H-182-
010.
⁎ Tel.: +886 930782446.
E-mail address: lthuang@mail.cgu.edu.tw.
articles to attract more consumers. When users surf social networking websites
and browse posts, shared experiences catch their eyes and fos- ter an urge to buy
the same product. In the meantime, consumers may see interesting links to
shopping websites on social networking websites and, subsequently, purchase
several products impulsively. Under these circumstances, impulse buying is
unavoidable, especially with regard to social commerce. However, the literature
on social com- merce pays little attention to the issue of impulse buying and
usually fo- cuses on motives and planned purchase intentions. The literature
related to impulse buying usually pays attention to stimuli and re- sponses.
However, internally processed stimuli still exist, even though the processing time
is short, on social networking websites because the volume of information from
vendors, news, or friends is great, and the importance is distinct. Accordingly,
this research explores users' im- pulse buying behavior in social commerce,
based on the stimulus- organism-response (SOR) paradigm. The circumstances
of social net- working websites are full of stimuli from not only commerce, but
also personal and social influence.
The literature on social commerce does not pay much attention to impulse
buying behaviors. Moreover, the literature on impulse buying usually focuses on
marketing and environmental factors, as well as per- sonal characteristics, rather
than on social factors. Social factors refer to social normative influences and
conformity to others' expectations, such as self-image, self-presentation, or self-
identity. For example, Li, Yong, and Pia (2014) show three important user
motives in social retail commerce—meeting functional needs, social
gratification, and hedonic gratifications—based on the empirical data of their
study. Xiang, Zheng, Zhang, and Hu (2014) show that both social and task
attraction increase consumers' social commerce intention. Dholakia (2000) lists
three kinds of antecedents of impulse buying based on the literature,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042

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Flow
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impulse
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buying,
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Journal
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dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
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Huang,
Huang,
L.-T.,
L.-T.,
Flow
Flow
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impulse
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Research
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dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
2 L.-T.
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namely, marketing stimuli, the environmental factors surrounding a particular
consumption occasion, and the impulsivity traits of the consumer. Several
studies explore the determinants of impulse buying regarding emotional factors,
such as arousal and playfulness/enjoyment (Adelaar, Chang, Lancendorfer, Lee,
& Morimoto, 2003; Verhagen & van Dolen, 2011), prices (Jeffery &
Hodge, 2007), web elements (Parboteeah, Valacich, & Wells, 2009), and
web quality (Wells, Parboteeah, & Valacich, 2011). Hostler, Yoon, Gui,
Guimaraes, and Forgionne (2011) examine the effect of recommender agents
on impulse buying and show that product promotion effectiveness and product
search effectiveness are important in unplanned behavior. However, these
studies do not consider the influence of the interactive environment. Thus, this
study proposes that the influence of social net- works on online impulsive
shopping should receive more attention. On- line users of social networking
websites can observe others' decisions, preferences, experiences, and evaluations
through posts, as well as in- teract with other customers; however, they cannot
directly talk to a salesperson or other customers. Users who read messages
related to what their friends are currently doing may be easily attracted and
have an impulse to do the same things.
The literature on impulse buying usually emphasizes the direct con- nection
of stimuli and response, rather than paying much attention to internal processes.
This study proposes that internal processes are still important, despite impulse
buying being a sudden, spontaneous, and emotional behavior. Consumers
should, first, be aware of and sense stimuli, and then respond to them. However,
Shen and Khalifa (2012) examine the influence of system design on impulse
buying based on the SOR paradigm. The more stimuli to which consumers are
exposed, the more opportunities they have to engage in impulse buying, and
users receive more stimuli when they take time browsing well- designed
web pages (Shen & Khalifa, 2012). Following their idea, this study proposes
that spending more time surfing social networking websites is important to
impulse buying behavior.
Moreover, this study distinguishes between the concepts of urge to buy and
impulse buying by treating the former as a precursor to the lat- ter, following
Beatty and Ferrell's (1998) suggestion. The literature usu- ally views impulse
buying as the final dependent variable and explores the direct effect of
impulsiveness on impulse buying. Beatty and Ferrell (1998) state that an urge to
buy is a state of desire that occurs before the actual behavior. Further, empirical
research supports the directly posi- tive effect of urge to buy on impulse buying.
Accordingly, this study aims to answer the following three research questions.
• What factors induce consumers' impulse buying on a social network- ing
website?
• Do consumers internally process factors before they perform re-
sponses?
• Does the urge to buy mediate the relationship between impulsiveness and
impulse buying?
2. Conceptual background and hypotheses
This study applies the SOR paradigm, social capital theory, and flow theory
to determine whether these factors strongly induce online im- pulse buying on
social networking websites. This study explores the af- fective and reactive
factors related to impulse buying, as proposed by Weinberg and Gottwald
(1982), who state that strong affection arouses impulse buying (affective), and
specific situational factors stimulate the result of lacking rational control and
displaying spontaneous behavior (reactive). This study identifies the reactive
factors based on social cap- ital theory. Social capital is an important resource
for social networking websites; it can enrich consumers' exposures to the
opinions of others, and deepen the other consumers' influence on social
networking websites. Thus, the situation is more likely to stimulate consumers
who will then impulsively shop online. In addition, this study identifies
Please
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Huang,
Huang,
L.-T.,
L.-T.,
Flow
Flow
andand
social
social
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capital
theory
theory
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dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
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the affective factors based on flow theory. The most important factor is that
consumers are playful on social networks. When consumers are in a positive
mood, they may emotionally respond to situational stimuli and then perform
impulse buying behaviors. Aside from hedonic gratifica- tion from social
interaction, flow experience may play an important role in the formation of
impulse buying behavior. According to flow theory, consumers enjoy browsing
attractive content and immerse themselves in social network participation.
Positive feelings and time distortion keep consumers' attention and increase the
length of their ex- posure to stimuli. After internally processing these stimuli,
consumers may experience a strong desire, and perform impulse buying
behavior. This study also emphasizes the mediating role of the urge to
buy, which represents the consumers' desires at that given moment.
2.1. Impulse buying and the SOR paradigm
Stern (1962) defines impulse buying as “any purchase which a shop- per
makes but has not planned in advance” (p. 59). During the process of impulse
buying, customers cannot form cognitive-structured atti- tudes or intentions and
are unable to resist attraction to the product be- cause their feelings direct buying
behavior (Verhagen & van Dolen,
2011). The preclusion of information processing is not possible, even though
emotion dominates cognition in impulse buying. However, Verhagen and
van Dolen (2011) emphasize the existence of information processing when
customers encounter impulse buying situations. Con- sumers should, first,
perceive or be aware of stimuli, process and assim- ilate them, and then react.
Hence, the SOR paradigm could be a basic model for this study.
The SOR paradigm demonstrates that a stimulus can provoke an ac- tion, and
an organism initiates internal processes to prepare for making the final response.
The intervening processes consist of perceptual, physiological, feeling, and
thinking activities (Fang, 2012). Li et al. (2014) explore consumers' purchase
intention on social networking websites based on the SOR paradigm. Marketing
stimuli, situational fac- tors, and the impulsivity trait of consumers usually lead
to impulse buy- ing (Dholakia, 2000). Situational factors relate to the
environmental, personal, and social conditions surrounding the particular
consumption occasion, such as store environment, customers in the store,
personal characteristics, etc. The impulsivity trait refers to the tendency to re-
spond quickly and without reflection, as well as the tendency to act without a
careful plan (Dholakia, 2000). Accordingly, this study focuses on affective
(marketing stimuli) and reactive (situational stimuli) fac- tors, which have a great
impact on the formation of users' internal pro- cesses (organisms) and lead to the
final response of impulse buying. This study treats the impulsivity trait (cognitive
factors) as a control variable because the literature establishes the positive effect
of impul- siveness on impulse buying well. For example, Rook and Fisher (1995)
view impulsiveness as a cognitive construct and reveal a positive rela- tionship
between the impulsiveness trait and impulsive behavior.
2.2. Affective factors: social capital theory and peer communication
Social capital is rooted in the structures of durable social networks and the
relationships among mutually acquainted and recognized peo- ple (Ellison,
Steinfield, & Lampe 2007; Putnam, 2000). Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) define
social capital as “the sum of the actual and poten- tial resources embedded
within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships
possessed by an individual or social unit” (p. 243). Putnam (2000) classifies
social capital into two categories: bridging and bonding. Bridging social capital
is similar to a weak tie; individuals gain new, useful resources (such as
information or perspec- tives) from loose connections with little emotional
support (Putnam,
2000). On the other hand, bonding social capital exists between individ- uals
with strong ties, in which individuals develop emotionally close relationships
(Putnam, 2000); it provides mutual emotional or substan- tive support through
continued reciprocity (Williams, 2006).
impulse
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buying,
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This study considers bridging and bonding social capital to be affec- tive
determinants. Relationships on social networking websites facili- tate peer
communication, which is an important agent of consumer socialization (Zhang
& Daugherty, 2009). Moreover, Putnam (2000) states that users gain new
information and resources from weak ties. Thus, consumers that hold bridging
social capital could gain a broader set of information and opportunities, as they
more frequently interact with members of diverse backgrounds. Accordingly, the
following hy- pothesis is proposed.
H1. Users' bridging social capital is positively associated with their per- ceived
peer communication in a social network.
Consumers that hold bonding social capital could gain emotional or
substantive support from one another through continued reciprocity (Williams,
2006). Wang, Yu, and Wei (2012) demonstrate the positive effects of tie strength
with peers and identification with peer groups on communications. Users tend to
frequently interact with their close friends, and could have discussions and
emotional support through intensive communication. Accordingly, the
following hypothesis is proposed.
H2. Users' bonding social capital is positively associated with their per- ceived
peer communication in a social network.
2.2.1. Peer communications
During socialization, consumers learn new information, consumption-
related skills, knowledge, attitudes, and purchase behaviors through mes- sages
from peers (Wang et al., 2012). Lueg and Finney (2007) emphasize that social
interaction, such as online peer communication, strongly influ- ences consumers'
purchase behaviors as online shoppers. A high intensity of peer communication
could increase the stimuli presented to con- sumers, such as product/service
information, store information, shared experiences, and new products.
Consumers that are exposed to more stimuli may have increased opportunities
to engage in impulse buying. Additionally, peer communication increases
members' mutual under- standing, validation, and cares and, in turn, produces
long-lasting and close feelings, such as trust and intimacy. Adelaar et al. (2003)
focus on emotional factors and reveal a significant association between
emotional arousal and impulse buying. Verhagen and van Dolen's (2011) study
demonstrates the importance of enjoyment and customers' emotions re- garding
impulse buying. The following hypothesis captures the influence of peer
communication.
H3. Users' perceived peer communication in a social network is posi- tively
associated with their perception of the urge to buy.
2.3. Reactive factors: flow theory, content attractiveness, and browsing activities
Parboteeah et al. (2009) show that web elements influence impulse buying
and that enjoyment mediates said buying, defined as an affective reaction. Wells
et al. (2011) demonstrate the direct influence of web quality on impulse buying.
De Kervenoael, Selcen, Aykac, and Palmer (2009) investigate the impact of
socially constructed e-atmospherics on impulse buying and show that social
acoustics, co-constructions, and mundane language enactment are three
important and interrelated factors, based on the SOR paradigm and
environmental psychology. Moreover, Csikszentmihalyi (1977) introduces the
concept of flow, de- fining it as “the holistic sensation that people feel when they
act with total involvement” (p. 36). When people are in a state of flow, they feel
deep enjoyment, happiness, and exhilaration (Csikszentmihalyi,
1990). Hoffman and Novak (1996) define flow as “a seamless sequence of
intrinsic enjoyment facilitated by interactivity with computers, which is
accompanied by loss of self-consciousness” (p. 57), and propose that the
primary antecedent of flow is congruency between skills,
Please
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Huang,
Huang,
L.-T.,
L.-T.,
Flow
Flow
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social
social
capital
capital
theory
theory
in online
in online
impulse
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
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challenges, and focused attention. In addition, vividness, interactivity, and
involvement determine the level of focused attention (Hoffman & Novak, 1996).
Impulse buying behaviors are spontaneous emotional re- sponses; therefore, this
study focuses on vividness and involvement. At- tractive content can catch
consumers' eyes with immersion in social network participation. The results
of Shirmohammadi, Ghane, and Ebrahimi's (2015) study show the importance
of consumers' emotions as well as the positive effect of merchandise
attractiveness on browsing that, in turn, affects the urge to buy. Thus, this study
proposes that con- tent attractiveness is the reactive factor, including subject
involvement and vividness, based on flow theory.
2.3.1. Subject involvement
Involvement, which forms from the presence of situational and/or intrinsic
self-relevance (Hoffman & Novak, 1996), affects attention and comprehension
(Celsi & Olson, 1988) and, in turn, arouses users' flow experience. Novak,
Hoffman, and Yung (2000) propose that involve- ment arouses individuals'
feelings of attraction and leads them to focus on the current activity.
Involvement is defined as an individual's perceived relevance of extrinsic
events/objects based on inherent needs, values, and interests (Zaichkowsky,
1985). Subject involvement represents the degree of a consumer's interest in
content posted by members or other information on a social networking website.
If users think that a specific topic is highly relevant and important, they tend to
respond to such content without distraction. Moreover, empirical studies have
shown a positive relationship between product involve- ment and concentration
(Koufaris, 2002), as well as the importance of subject involvement with regard
to focused attention (Huang, Chiu, Sung, & Farn, 2011). When users are highly
involved in content and fo- cused, they are willing to spend more time and effort
on the content and information that they are browsing. The following hypothesis
captures the influence of subject involvement.
H4. Users' perceived subject involvement is positively associated with their
perceived browsing activities in a social network.
2.3.2. Telepresence: vividness
Vividness relates to the representational richness of a mediated en-
vironment, such as the concurrency, resolution, and colorfulness (Steuer,
1992). A vivid interface easily attracts users' attention, as they perceive using
such applications as interesting and uninterrupted. Coyle and Thorson (2001)
indicate that rich media tools, such as video, audio, and animation, could
enhance the overall richness of the experience and arouse multiple senses toward
web page contents. Stud- ies reveal the importance of environmental psychology
on the e-tail en- vironment. Vividness, interactivity, symbolism, and social
elements are crucial factors in the field of environmental psychology (de
Kervenoael et al., 2009). Moreover, studies suggest the importance of vividness
re- garding impulse buying. For example, de Kervenoael et al. (2009) dem-
onstrate the positive relationship between e-atmospherics and impulse buying in
social networking websites. Shen and Khalifa (2012) show the positive effect of
sociable virtual experiences on buying impulses and indicate that the usage of
interactive and vivid website features is criti- cal to consumers' virtual
experiences. The following hypothesis cap- tures the influence of perceived
vividness.
H5. Users' perceived vividness in a social network is positively associat- ed with
their perceived browsing activities.
2.3.3. Browsing activities
Browsing activities are important when determining shopping be- havior
(Bloch, Ridgway, & Sherrell, 1989), as most consumers spend considerable time
looking at products, rather than purchasing them (Shen, Chu, Chiang, & Huang,
2010). Consumers who are shopping with hedonic motives enjoy browsing
products (Bloch et al., 1989;
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Chebat, Gélinas-Chebat, & Therrien, 2005) and perceive enjoyment in the store Table 1
(Cox, Cox, & Anderson, 2005). Jarboe and McDaniel (1987) emphasize that in- Operational definitions and number of measurement items.
store browsing is a central component in the impulse buying process. Consumers Constructs Number of items Sources
can engage in hedonic browsing without prior intention to buy, which can
Social bridging 7 Ellison et al. (2007)
result in impulse buying (Moe,
Social bonding 3 Ellison et al. (2007) Peer
2003). Browsing activities increase the amount of browsed information (Shen et
communication 5 Wang et al. (2012) Subjective
al., 2010) and opportunities for exposure to extrinsic stimuli (Beatty & Ferrell, involvement 5 Wang et al. (2012) Vividness
1998), as well as lead to positive feelings involving 3 Coyle and Thorson (2001)
Beatty and Ferrell (1998)
an urge to buy, which increases the possibility of impulse buying. The Browsing activities 3
Novak et al. (2000) Beatty and
positive influence of browsing activities on online impulse buying and the urge Ferrell (1998) Verhagen and van
Urge to buy 4
to buy has been previously examined (i.e.Park, Kim, Funches, Dolen (2011)

& Foxx, 2012, Shirmohammadi et al., 2015). The following hypothesis Participants answer questions based on the social forum that they most frequently
captures the influence of browsing activities. use, and a sweepstakes is held to

H6. Users' perceived browsing activities in a social network are posi- tively
associated with their perception of the urge to buy.

2.4. Urge to buy and impulse buying

Impulse buying can be divided into either desires or behavior. In ac-

cordance with Rook's (1987) definition, Beatty and Ferrell (1998) state that
consumers should first feel the spontaneous urge to buy something before
actually performing impulse buying behaviors. An urge to buy impulsively is a
state of desire that is experienced upon encountering an object in the
environment, and the actual purchase behavior tends to be spontaneous and
fulfills the desire or urge (Beatty & Ferrell,
1998). Impulse buying occurs when customers have an urge to buy a specific
product without carefully considering the reasons for and con- sequences of the
purchase (Verhagen & van Dolen, 2011). Moreover, Wells et al. (2011) provide
evidence regarding the relationship between impulsiveness and urge to buy.
Song, Chung, and Koo (2015) demon- strate the importance of emotion in
impulse buying and the mediating role of the urge to buy in the social commerce
context. Accordingly, this study proposes that impulse buying is the final
dependent variable following an urge to buy, in accordance with Rook and
Fisher's (1995) study. The following hypothesis captures the influence of the
urge to buy.

H7. Users' perception of the urge to buy is positively associated with their
impulse buying behavior.

3. Research methods

3.1. Operationalization and instrument design

The instruments for the constructs are adapted from the literature and revised
to fit the context of this research. All items are anchored on five-point Likert
scales, ranging from strong disagreement to strong agreement. A short interview
with several colleagues and experts as well as a pre-test ensures both face and
content validity for the corre- sponding questionnaires. This study conducts a
pre-test and checks for test reliability. The results of the pre-test suggest the
deletion of three items: social bonding, vividness, and urge to buy. The others
are includ- ed in the formal questionnaire, as shown in Table A.1 in the
Appendix. Table 1 presents the numbers and sources of measurement for each
construct.

3.2. Data collection

This study employs an online questionnaire for data collection. The target
social networking website is Facebook. This study launches a re- quest to solicit
participation on the Internet and posts the questionnaire link on the survey and
sweepstakes forums of the PTT (a popular bulle- tin board in Taiwan; ptt.cc).

Please
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Huang,
Huang,
L.-T.,
L.-T.,
Flow
Flow
andand
social
social
capital
capital
theory
theory
in online
in online
impulse
impulse
buying,
buying,
Journal
Journal
of Business
of Business
Research
Research
(2015),
(2015),
http://
http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
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Impulse buying 4 Verhagen and van Dolen (2011)

Impulsive ness 4 Wells et al. (2011)

increase survey responses. In order to motivate potential respondents, volunteers

have an opportunity to win a prize after completing the questionnaire. Over three
weeks, 410 records are identified for data analysis.
Table 2 shows the details of the respondents' characteristics. Most
respondents are young adults of about 20–39 years of age. Respondents with
impulse buying experience usually spend NT$100–1000 on impul- sively
purchasing products, and usually impulsively buy them after browsing articles
in virtual communities.

4. Data analysis and results

4.1. Measurement model

Confirmatory factor analysis using SmartPLS 3.0 assesses the mea-

surement model. The factor loadings of the indicators are all above 0.6 and
significant (p ≤ 0.01), ranging from 0.60 to 0.92, which reveals the presence of
construct validity. Cronbach's alpha and composite reliabil- ity are acceptable,
when compared to the threshold of 0.7, ranging from
0.74 to 0.93. Convergent validity is acceptable, when compared to the threshold
of the average variance extracted (AVE) of 0.5, ranging from
0.55 to 0.81. Discriminant validity is acceptable based on the rule that the
correlation between any two distinct constructs is lower than the square root of
the AVE from these constructs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).

Table 2
Sample characteristics.

Sex Male
45.4% Female
54.6
%
Age Under 19 14.6%
20–29 68.8%
30–39 15.6%
40–49 1%
Average prices on products bought
Under 100 1.8%
101–500 33.9%
501–1000 33.5%
1001–1500 11.9%
1500–2000 6.4%
Above 2000
12.5%
After browsing articles in virtual communities, often do you…
Purchase directly without consideration 1.5%
Purchase after reading the whole article 28.3%
Nothing
70.2%
After browsing articles in virtual communities, occasionally do you…
Purchase directly without consideration 6.8%
Purchase after reading the whole article 73.7%
Nothing
19.5%
After browsing articles in virtual communities, never do you…
Purchase directly without consideration 87.6%
Purchase after reading the whole article 2.7%
Nothing 9.8%

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citecite
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Huang,
Huang,
L.-T.,
L.-T.,
Flow
Flow
andand
social
social
capital
capital
theory
theory
in online
in online
impulse
impulse
buying,
buying,
Journal
Journal
of Business
of Business
Research
Research
(2015),
(2015),
http://
http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
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4.2. Hypotheses testing: structural equation modeling Table 3
fsQCA result: fuzzy true table algorithm.
The structure model is analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) Row
conducted in SmartPLS 3.0. Fig. 2 presents the main effect results after obviating
Consistency Raw Unique
the significant influence of impulsiveness on the urge to buy and impulse buying; coverage coverage
H1–H7 are all supported. Moreover, impul-
Outcome: urge to buy

siveness is a control variable. Social bridging and bonding positively Peer communication * browsing activities * 0.8 0.3 0.3
affect peer communication, while subject involvement and vividness positively social bonding * social bridging * subject
affect browsing activities. In addition, both peer communica- tion and browsing involvement * vividness
activities positively affect the urge to buy and, in turn, positively influence Outcome: impulse buying
Browsing activities * peer communication * 0.9 0.2 0.2
impulse buying. Further, the explained variances of impulse buying, urge to buy,
peer communication, and browsing activ- urge to buy
Outcome: peer communication

ities are 47%, 36%, 45%, and 23%, respectively. Social bridging * social bonding 0.8 0.6 0.6
Outcome: browsing activities
4.3. Research model testing: fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis Subject involvement * vividnes s 0.7 0.5 0.5

Woodside (2015) emphasizes the importance of a whole view for exploring

actual phenomena and the appropriateness of fuzzy-set qual- itative comparative
analysis (fsQCA) for analyzing data, which focuses on a case-level recipe for
explaining the influence of all ingredients, rather than the unidirectional net
effects of the variables. Thus, a com- parison between the findings analyzed by
SEM and fsQCA could reveal a match in the empirical data and research model.
The fsQCA technique uses a fuzzy dataset to implement principle comparisons,
and offers so- cial scientists an alternative to conventional quantitative
methods (Ragin, 2010). The data in a fuzzy set is between 0 and 1; the fsQCA
technique redesigns variables as datasets, measurements as calibra- tions, and
dependent variables as qualitative outcomes (Ragin, 2006). Further, Ragin
(2006) describes the details related to the way in which to perform a
calibration and evaluate consistency and coverage. As compared to coverage,
achieving high consistency is more important in fsQCA (Ragin, 2008;
Woodside, 2013).
Transforming the data measured by the Likert-like scales into a dataset for
calibration is the first step when conducting fsQCA. The pro- cess of
transformation follows the concept proposed by Ragin (2006), and goes through
the following steps: (1) calculate the average score of each construct, based on
the participants' responses and factor load- ings, and (2) assign a calibration to
each construct, based on the percen- tile of the average score. The research
model, as shown in Fig. 1, includes a two-step analysis. The first step examines
the urge to buy by consider- ing social bonding, social bridging, peer
communication, and browsing activities, as shown in Table 3. The second step
examines impulse buy- ing by considering peer communication, browsing
activities, and the urge to buy, as also shown in Table 3. The results show that
the consis- tency of the urge to buy is 0.8, and all antecedents positively
contribute to the consumers' urge to buy. Moreover, Table 3 reveals that the
consis- tency of impulse buying is 0.9 and negates browsing activities; peer
communication and the urge to buy have positive contributions. This
result shows that peer communication and the urge to buy are more im- portant
than browsing activities, which is similar to result of the SEM analysis. Although
the results of SEM and fsQCA, with regard to the urge to buy and impulse
buying, are similar, those of the latter explain the relationships better than the
path coefficients captured by the for- mer. The consistency of peer
communication is approximately 0.8, while that of browsing activities is only
approximately 0.7.
This result shows that social bonding and bridging are good ingredi- ents in
peer communication, but vividness and subject involvement alone are
insufficient. The results of the fsQCA confirm the prediction of the research
model in this study and reveal that the recipe of the urge to buy and impulse
buying is a combination of factors in the re- search model, like the results of
SEM.
Additionally, the subset/superset analysis in the fsQCA lists every
combination of all factors and shows that the consistency of the four
combinations is above 0.7, as shown in Table 4. The four combinations show
that the urge to buy is the most important ingredient in impulse buying; factors
related to social capital (social bridging, social bonding, and peer
communication) and vividness are indispensable ingredients as well.
5. Discussion and implications
5.1. Conclusions
The results support four main findings. First, the urge to buy and im- pulse
buying are distinct concepts. The former is a desire for impulse buying and the
latter fulfills this desire (Beatty & Ferrell, 1998; Rook & Fisher, 1995). The
significant relationship between impulse buying and the urge to buy revealed in
this study is identical to that of Wells et al. (2011) and Song et al. (2015).
Second, the SOR paradigm is

Social Capital Social 0.32** significant

** p<0.05
H1 (+), H2 (+) Bridging Peer
Social Communi-
Bridging Peer 0.37**
Social cation
Communi- 0.42**
Social H3 (+) Bonding R2=0.45 0.39**
cation H7(+)
Bonding Urge to Impulse
Urge to Impulse
Buy Buying
Buy Buying
Content 0.35**

2
Attractiveness H6 (+) Browsing 0.13** R =0.36 R2=0.47
Browsing Subject Activities 0.32**
Subject Activities Involvement 0.42**
R2=0.23
Involvement Control Variables: 0.17**

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citecite
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as:as:
Huang,
Huang,
L.-T.,
L.-T.,
Flow
Flow
andand
social
social
capital
capital
theory
theory
in online
in online
impulse
impulse
buying,
buying,
Journal
Journal
of Business
of Business
Research
Research
(2015),
(2015),
http://
http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
7 L.-T.
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Huang
Huang
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/ Journal
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Research
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Vividness H4 (+), H5 (+) Impulsiveness Vividness Control Variables:

Impulsiveness

Fig. 1. Research model. Fig. 2. Structural model: main effect (H1–H7).

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as:as:
Huang,
Huang,
L.-T.,
L.-T.,
Flow
Flow
andand
social
social
capital
capital
theory
theory
in online
in online
impulse
impulse
buying,
buying,
Journal
Journal
of Business
of Business
Research
Research
(2015),
(2015),
http://
http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
8 L.-T.
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Huang
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Table 4 and closeness among members, as well as encourage the behaviors of helping
fsQCA result: subset/superset analysis. others and interactivity on social networking websites. Increas- ing the
Outcome: impulse buying Row consumers' communication frequency and intensity with peers on these websites
is important in arousing the consumers' desire to
Consistency Coverage Combined
buy something that they have discussed with others. Second, social
Social bridging * peer communication * 0.7 0.3 0.4
commerce e-tailers could pay more attention to the richness and vivid- ness of
vividness * urge to buy
Social bonding * peer communication * 0.7 0.2 0.4 articles, as well as provide articles of high interest or value, based on consumers'
vividness * urge to buy browsing history. When users spend more time on

Peer communication * urge to buy 0.7 0.4 0.5
Vividnes s * urge to buy 0.7 0.4 0.5
appropriate in the field of impulse buying. The results show that reactive
and affective factors are important stimuli in facilitating im- pulse buying
behavior. Social networking websites construct affective perceptions, and
factors related to social capital and peer communica- tion can influence
consumers. Social networking websites also construct e-atmospherics (reactive
perceptions), and consumers can be influ- enced by web page content, such as
vividness and subject involvement, if they perceive focused attention. Third,
peers' opinions always exert great influence on their impulsive desire to
purchase. That is, consumers' impulse buying behaviors exist on social
networking websites as usual, just as in other contexts, such as group buying or
brick-and-mortar stores. Friends on the same social networking website have a
considerable influence on consumers' desires to buy something. Gunawan and
Huarng (2015) also point out the effects of social influ- ence and subject norm
on consumers' purchase intention on social net- working websites. Fourth, the
analysis results of SEM and fsQCA are similar. Further, the results of the fsQCA
show a recipe for increasing consumers' desire to purchase impulsively,
including reactive and affec- tive factors. The recipe for impulse buying reveals
the importance of so- cial capital, peer communication, the urge to buy, and
vividness, but weakens browsing activities.
browsing activities, they are more probable to have a strong desire to buy
impulsively. Third, consumers should be aware of their desire to buy something
without rational consideration, and then try their best to suppress these desires,
such as by shifting attention or postponing payment. The urge to buy is a critical
determinant of impulse buying based on the high degree of variance (47%).
Users are more likely to per- form impulse buying once their desires appear.
5.4. Limitations
Three limitations narrow the scope of the interpretation of the re- sults. First,
only posts on the PTT boards request data collection mes- sages. Thus, the
diversity of the respondents may be limited. In the future, data collection should
occur in multiple virtual communities, such as micro-blogs, Facebook, or
Twitter, in pursuit of generalization. Second, self-selection may lead to bias, as
the participants are volun- teers attracted by monetary incentives. Third, this
study only considers vividness and subject involvement to be important
antecedents of browsing activities. The explained variance of browsing activities
is only about 20%, and the results of fsQCA do not show high consistency in
browsing activities. An additional study should consider other factors that might
increase consumers' article-browsing activities, such as sto- rytelling and virtual
reality.
Appendix A

5.2. Academic implications

Table A.1
Measurement items.
These findings support three academic implications. First, this study
extends the application of the SOR paradigm in the area of impulse buy- Construct Measurement Items

ing in social commerce. The existence of an internal process reveals that Social bridging (Coyle & Thorson, 2001)
consumers have to process stimuli and have affective perception before (Ellison, Steinfield,
performing impulse buying behavior. The processing time is short, and only the & Lampe, 2007)
stimuli that could move consumers after processing can induce impulse buying
on social networks. Second, impulse buying behavior may commonly exist in
social commerce. Social networking websites construct affective perception
from both social capital and focused at- tention from well-designed web pages.
Peer influence and the content attractiveness of web pages inspire consumers'
desire to buy products on social networking websites. However, the literature
seldom explores impulse buying in social commerce, except for Song et al.’s
Social bonding
(2015) study, which focuses on the influence of users' emotional responses, in-
(Ellison et al., 2007)
duced by the content of social networking websites, on impulse buying, as well
as shows the distinction between the urge to buy and impulse buying behavior.
This study extends Song et al.’s (2015) scope and si- multaneously considers the
content of web pages and peer interaction, as well as reveals that social capital
Peer communication
is critical to impulse buying in social commerce, and is more important than
(Wang et al., 2012)
content attractiveness. Third, conducting both SEM and fsQCA to analyze the
data shows the comple- mentarities and matching of the case-level and
empirically predictive analyses, and comprehensively explains the research
model. Further, fsQCA enhances the asymmetric thinking concerning the data
and in- creases the understanding of both the phenomena and theory. Subject involvement
(Wang et al., 2012)
5.3. Managerial implications

These findings lead to three suggestions for managers and con- sumers.
Vividness
First, social commerce e-tailers could increase connections

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Huang,
Huang,
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Flow
Flow
andand
social
social
capital
capital
theory
theory
in online
in online
impulse
impulse
buying,
buying,
Journal
Journal
of Business
of Business
Research
Research
(2015),
(2015),
http://
http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
 9 L.-T.
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1. I feel I am part of the XXX community.

2. I am interested in what goes on at XXX.
3. XXX is a good place to be.
4. Interacting with people at XXX makes me feel like a part of a large community.
5. I am willing to spend time to support general XXX
activities.
6. At XXX, I come into contact with new people all the time.
7. Interacting with people at XXX reminds me that everyone in the world is
connected.
1. There are several people at XXX I trust to solve my problems.
2. There is someone at XXX I can turn to for advice about making very important
decisions.
3. The people I interact with at XXX would be good job references for me.
1. I talked with my peers about the product on social media.
2. I talked with my peers about buying the product on the Internet.
3. I asked my peers for advice about the product.
4. I obtained the product information from my peers.
5. My peers encourage me to buy the product.
1. Uninterested – Interested
2. Not involved – Highly involved
3. Of no concern – Of concern to me
4. Unimportant – Important
5. Irrelevant – Relevant
1. Some of the websites I saw included animation, flashing pictures, and moving
images. The website included at least one of these elements.
2. The website included sound.

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Huang,
Huang,
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L.-T.,
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Flow
andand
social
social
capital
capital
theory
theory
in online
in online
impulse
impulse
buying,
buying,
Journal
Journal
of Business
of Business
Research
Research
(2015),
(2015),
http://
http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.042
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impulse
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buying,
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(2015),
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