How Do Scarcity Messages Lead to Impulsive Online Purchase? The Perspective of Arousal

With the proliferation of e-commerce, online promotion strategy of limited quantity and limited time is widely used by online retailers to entice consumer purchases. However, few research works have investigated the exact effects of such a promotion strategy on consumers’ impulsive online purchase. Based on the environmental psychology view, this proposal focuses on the mediating role of arousal in explaining the impacts of scarcity messages in aspects of limited quantity and limited time on impulsive purchase. To empirically verify the research model, we plan to conduct a lab-controlled experiment. Finally, both potential theoretical and practical contributions and future plans are elaborated in this proposal.