The Dark Side of Social Commerce: Investigating Information Overload as A Mediator of Online Impulsive Purchase

Abstract

The rapid growth of social commerce AI has transformed online shopping by enabling consumers to interact, exchange information, and make purchases through the platforms. While these features enhance engagement and facilitate purchasing activities, they also expose consumers to excessive information, resulting in information overload. This cognitive burden may influence consumers’ online impulsive purchase behaviour, particularly when they continuously see reviews, recommendations, and promotional content. Despite the increasing popularity of social commerce, limited studies have examined the effects of social commerce constructs, social support, and information overload on online impulsive purchase behaviour in the Malaysian context. Based on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) theory, this study examines the interrelations among social commerce constructs (SC), social support (SS), information overload (IO), and online impulsive purchase (OIP) behaviour. Specifically, the study evaluates the factors influencing consumers’ impulsive purchasing decisions on social commerce platforms and examines the mediating role of information overload. Data collected with non-probability convenience sampling and used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) resulted in 392 valid responses obtained through an online survey. The findings reveal that most proposed relationships are significant. Social commerce constructs and social support significantly influence information overload and online impulsive purchasing behaviour. Besides, information overload significantly mediates the relationship between the antecedent variables and online impulsive purchase behaviour. This study contributes to the literature by extending the application of S-O-R theory in social commerce and provides valuable insights to platform providers, marketers, and researchers seeking to understand consumer behaviour in information-rich digital environments.