The Middle-Class Consumption Trap: How Affective and Marketing Stimuli Drive Impulsive Buying in Social Commerce

The rapid proliferation of social commerce in Indonesia, particularly among the economically vulnerable middle class, has given rise to concerns regarding impulsive and emotional purchasing decisions. The present study examines the factors driving impulsive buying behaviour among social commerce application users in the JABODETABEK area. The data presented herein is based on responses from 445 respondents collected via a Likert-scale questionnaire between 9 April and 27 May 2025. Utilising the SEM with SmartPLS 4 framework, the research examined 11 hypotheses, of which only two exhibited significant effects on impulsive buying: sales promotion (path coefficient 0.249; t-statistic 3.602; p < 0.001) and the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) phenomenon (path coefficient 0.389; t-statistic 6.686; p < 0.001). Sales promotions triggered unplanned purchases through limited-time offers, while FOMO acted as a strong psychological catalyst, motivating consumers to act quickly to avoid missing out. The findings revealed that other variables, including positive and negative emotions, arousal, pleasure, scarcity, hedonic motivation, trust, and satisfaction, did not demonstrate a significant association with the outcome. Furthermore, the utilisation of AI-based customer services (path coefficient 0.540; t-statistic 8.889; p < 0.001) led to a substantial enhancement in satisfaction levels, although this did not exert a direct influence on impulsive purchasing behaviours. The findings underscore that external marketing and psychological stimuli are more influential on impulsive buying than internal emotional factors, offering practical guidance for marketers to prioritise urgency-driven strategies while encouraging consumers to be more cautious about persuasive online campaigns.