Online Promotions and Hedonic Motives as Moderators in the Relationship Between e-Impulsive Buying Tendency and Customer Satisfaction: Evidence From India

Abstract

This research aims to empirically examine the interrelationships between online impulse buying tendencies (IBT), hedonic motives, online promotions, impulse purchase decision (IPD), and customer satisfaction. A structured survey instrument was used to collect data from 625 consumers from southern India. After checking the psychometric properties of the survey instrument with structural equation modeling, the moderated-mediation model was analyzed using Hayes PROCESS. The results showed that (i) impulse purchase decision (IPD) mediated the relationship between impulsive buying tendency (IBT) and customer satisfaction (CS), (ii) hedonic motives moderated the relationship between IBT and IPD, and (iii) hedonic motives and online promotions moderate the relationship between IPD and CS. This study contributes to the literature because it provides valuable insight into two-way and three-way interactions among the significant variables in consumer behavior. The COVID-19 global pandemic brought a paradigm change in consumer behavior, and thus understanding the e-shopper’s IB behavior is critical for e-retailers to change their strategies to capture a broader market. The implications for marketing research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Impulse buying tendency
• impulse purchase decision
• hedonic motives
• customer satisfaction
• online promotions