Online impulse buying of organic food: Moderating role of social appeal and media richness

Abstract

While antecedents of impulsive buying behavior have been addressed by existing literature, the current study investigates the impulse buying of organic food through indirect effect of social appeal and media richness of website on relationship between consumer attitude and online impulse buying behavior. In total, 270 individuals from Beijing, China were approached and in response 197 valid responses were collected. Data were collected in the span of two months (September and October, 2018) through online questioannaire placed on Wechat, a famous social media platform. Results revealed a significant moderation of social appeal as social communities and forums influence consumer attitude in both cognitive and affective extents. A websites with highly media richness can increase impulsive decisions and can convert intentions into buying. Results instigate professionals of virtual marketing to review schemes to deal modern consumers by developing websites with social learning mechanism, user-friendlier and visually appealing to push organic intake.