Exploring neuromarketing’s influence on consumer impulsivity through the lens of personality traits

Abstract

Background – This study examines the effectiveness of neuromarketing stimuli shaping consumer impulsive behaviour and investigates the moderating role of consumer traits. Addressing a key gap in the literature, it integrates the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) framework with dual-process theory to explain how neuromarketing stimuli interact with individual dispositional characteristics to influence impulsive buying behaviour. Method – A quantitative research design was employed using survey data from 609 digitally active consumers from Delhi–NCR region, India, who frequently interacted with neuromarketing-driven content. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to assess relationships among six neuromarketing determinants: emotional appeals, scarcity and urgency cues, sensory triggers, endorsement influence, neuro-pricing strategies, and cognitive processing, and their effects on neuromarketing efficacy and consumer impulsivity. Findings – Emotional appeals, sensory triggers, neuro-pricing strategies, and cognitive processing significantly enhanced perceived neuromarketing efficacy, which in turn was positively associated with consumer impulsivity. In contrast, scarcity and urgency cues as well as endorsement influence did not demonstrate significant effects. Consumer traits exerted a direct influence on impulsive behaviour and strengthened the positive relationship between neuromarketing efficacy and consumer impulsivity. Conclusion – The findings indicate that neuromarketing effectiveness is mediated by both affective and cognitively reinforced mechanisms and conditioned by dispositional characteristics. By incorporating trait-based boundary conditions within a unified structural framework, this research advances theoretical understanding of impulsive consumption in digitally amplified environments and provides evidence-based guidance for responsible marketing practice.