Research On The Interaction Effects Between Time Pressure And Reference Group Influence Types On Impulsive Buying

The influence of time pressure on impulsive buying has been pervasively examined in the psychology literatures.Some literatures found that time pressure positive impact consumer impulse buying while others on the contrary conclusion.However,current literatures only consider the individual factors,ignoring the group effect.Based on reference group influence,we explored the relationship between time pressure and impulsive buying under different reference group influence types.We proposed the impulsive buying was largely due to a matching effect between different time pressure and different reference group influence types,and different informational types furtherly.Second hand data and three studies were conducted to check the propositions.Firstly,the second hand data verified the interaction effects between time pressure and reference group influence types on impulsive buying.Secondly,experiment 1 and experiment 2 supported the interaction effects of time pressure and reference group influence types on impulsive buying through 2(time pressure: high vs.low)× 2(reference group influence types: informational influence vs.normative influence)between-subjects design.Further,experiment 2 aimed to check the underlying mechanism.Based on extant research,we tested the role of normative evaluation and instant gratification.Finally,experiment 3 verified the interaction effects of informational types and time pressure.The results of second hand data and three studies provided supports for our theorizing:(1)Participants in high time pressure were more likely to impulsive buying in normative influence,whereas those in low time pressure were more likely to impulsive buying in informational influence.(2)Reference group at different time pressure influence consumers’ normative evaluation and instant gratification to affect consumers’ impulse buying.(3)Study 3 provided evidence for the interaction effects between time pressure and informational types,and proved that participants in low time pressure were more likely to impulsive buying in content information influence,whereas those in high time pressure were more likely to impulsive buying in quantity information influence.The research discussed the theoretical contributions and managerial implications.Firstly,we propose the interaction effects between time pressure and reference group influence types which expand the research on time pressure.Secondly,by exploring the relationship between the time pressure-reference group influence’s interaction and impulsive buying,we found that instant gratification and normative evaluation plays a mediating role.At last,this paper further explored different informational types to impulsive buying in different time pressure.This article as well as offers some critical insights for marketers.