Accepted Manuscript

Title: How Do Product Recommendations Affect Impulse

Buying? An Empirical Study on WeChat Social Commerce

Authors: Yanhong Chen, Yaobin Lu, Bin Wang, Zhao Pan

PII: S0378-7206(17)30537-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2018.09.002
Reference: INFMAN 3102

To appear in: INFMAN

Received date: 29-6-2017

Revised date: 22-7-2018
Accepted date: 4-9-2018

Please cite this article as: Chen Y, Lu Y, Wang B, Pan Z, How Do

Product Recommendations Affect Impulse Buying? An Empirical Study
on WeChat Social Commerce, Information and amp; Management (2018),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2018.09.002

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How Do Product Recommendations Affect Impulse Buying? An Empirical Study

on WeChat Social Commerce

Yanhong Chen , Yaobin Lu , Bin Wang , Zhao Pan

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Yanhong Chen

School of Management
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Huazhong University of Science and Technology
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China
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yachne@hust.edu.cn
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Yaobin Lu
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School of Management

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

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China
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luyb@mail.hust.edu.cn
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Bin Wang

College of Business and Entrepreneurship

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 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Edinburg, TX 78539, USA

bin.wang@utrgv.edu

Zhao Pan (Corresponding author）

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School of Management

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Huazhong University of Science and Technology

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China

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victola.pz@gmail.com

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ABSTRACT
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Social commerce is creating increasing opportunities for consumers to access product

recommendations. Evidence from practical and academic literature shows that product
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recommendations may lead to impulse buying, yet relatively limited research exists
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on this topic. Based on the signaling theory, this research proposes a model to
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examine how product recommendations on social media affect a user’s urge to buy

impulsively. Our results indicate that urge to buy impulsively is determined by

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affective trust in the recommender and affection toward the recommended product,

which are influenced by both recommender-related signals (information quality and

similarity) and product-related signals (vicarious expression and aesthetic appeal).

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Keywords: Product recommendations; signaling theory; urge to buy impulsively;

cognitive trust; affective trust; product affection

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1. Introduction

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As a form of commerce facilitated by social media through the convergence of

online and offline channels [81], social commerce has undergone rapid changes and

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development in recent years. Social commerce focuses on consumer-driven commerce
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and social interaction, which differentiate it from traditional e-commerce that focuses
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on product-centered commerce with firm-provided information. In this research, we

examine product recommendations on social media such as friends’ recommendations

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on social networking sites (SNS) and bloggers’ recommendations on blogs. As one

component of social commerce [26], product recommendations on social media can

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be much more influential compared with marketing messages created by marketers.

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According to a 2016 McKinsey report, half of all online consumers rely on social
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media to obtain recommendations and make their purchase decisions [60]. This trend
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is likely to strengthen as consumers become more comfortable with social media and

social commerce.

Product recommendations on social media affect both planned and impulse

buying [31, 74]. In the former case, social media users may actively seek out

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information on products that they intend to purchase, obtain other users’

recommendations and reviews, and make their decision based on such information. In

the latter case, users may encounter recommendations for products or services that

they did not plan to purchase while browsing social media or interacting with other

users. Product recommendations in this case can lead to impulse buying, which is a

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sudden, powerful, and persistent urge to purchase something immediately when

driven by stimuli encountered within the environment [89]. The impulse buying

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literature indicates that the awareness effect of recommendations often inspires

individuals to buy products that they otherwise would not have noticed [51, 76, 88].

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According to Stern’s four types of impulse buying [76], users’ buying behavior based
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on the recommendations of others can be viewed as suggestive impulse buying, which
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occurs when an individual sees a product first and visualizes a need for it [84, 88]. Lo

et al. [51] also pointed out that peer recommendations that fulfill consumers’
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expectations can be seen as motivational factors that evoke online impulse buying.

Therefore, we can reasonably infer that product recommendations generate or

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influence the needs of consumers and stimulate their online impulse buying [51, 66].
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However, the extant literature on product recommendations mainly focuses on

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planned purchase behavior, and few studies have examined impulse buying behavior
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[32]. For instance, Hsu et al. [31] investigated the effect of bloggers’

recommendations on consumers' online purchase intentions. Therefore, it is important

for academics and practitioners to explore how product recommendations on social

media facilitate impulse buying.

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 The current study investigates how product recommendations in WeChat social

commerce affect consumers’ impulse buying behavior. As the most popular social

media app in China, WeChat supports WeChat store and WeChat payment that allow

users to directly buy products and services based on product recommendations made

by WeChat official accounts, thus providing a new marketing channel for social

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commerce while promoting impulse purchases at the same time [60, 77]. WeChat

official accounts provide an important way to obtain information for users, therefore

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users browse official accounts mainly for getting information rather than searching or

buying specific products [48]. That is to say, compared with a directed search, in

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which the consumer has a specific purchase goal [36, 61], consumer buying behavior
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in WeChat is associated with an exploratory search in which consumers are less
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focused and no purchase is planned. Previous research shows that a consumer's

exploratory search is often driven by stimuli and often results in an impulse purchase
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[61]. Therefore, the product recommendations may serve as the stimulus in WeChat

that leads to the consumer buying the recommended product impulsively. Moreover,
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when exposed to product recommendations by an official account, followers often

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have little prior knowledge on the recommended products. The official account
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possesses more information than the followers do on the quality of the recommended
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product and may exaggerate the advantages of the product. In addition, social

commerce transactions are similar to e-commerce ones in that they are not conducted

face to face, and this may increase the uncertainty of the transaction [3].

The signaling theory provides a framework for understanding how informational

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cues (i.e., signals) are used by one party to convey hidden or limited quality

information to another party to facilitate a purchase or exchange. As past online

impulse buying research has shown, consumers might process informational cues as

an “information signaling mechanism” to facilitate their decision-making [10].

Because a WeChat official account interacts with its followers mainly through its

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pushed posts, these posts may convey informational cues (i.e., signals) that establish

relationships with account followers and support followers in their buying decisions.

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Therefore, we use the signaling theory to examine how WeChat official accounts use

signals to differentiate themselves from other accounts and convey information about

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the quality of their recommended products to facilitate their followers' impulse buying
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behavior.
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This study makes the following contributions to the extant literature. First, our

research examines how relationships developed between a WeChat official account

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and its followers in social media (i.e., the social aspect) combined with product

recommendations (i.e., the commercial aspect) influence impulse buying. The extant
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impulse buying literature mainly focuses on e-commerce and how impulse buying
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may be influenced by online store characteristics such as website quality [84], store
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belief [79], and website atmosphere [19]. Our study examines the impact of
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informational cues present in person-to-person interactions on impulse buying. The

combination of social and commerce factors allows us to empirically test our research

model unique to social commerce. Second, our study applies the signaling theory to

the understanding of how information cues trigger impulse buying in social commerce.

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Using the signaling theory, we investigate how informational cues (i.e., signals)

influence online buyers’ perceptions of trust, product attitude, and urge to buy

impulsively [5, 56, 57, 85]. Previous research has applied the

stimulus–response–organism (SOR) framework to investigate the role of extrinsic

cues on impulse buying [9, 66]. The current study is one of the few that applies the

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signaling theory. Third, our study highlights the pivotal role of affect, especially the

role of affective trust, in the impulse buying process. Few studies have examined the

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role trust plays in impulsive buying [86]. An exception is Wu et al. [86], who pointed

out that trust belief in shopping websites is critical to online impulse buying. However,

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Wu et al.’s [84] study does not distinguish between cognitive trust and affective trust.
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The current research shows that affective trust is a central construct for impulse
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buying in social commerce. Finally, the findings of this study provide valuable

guidance for social commerce recommenders on how to build trust and effectively
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present recommendation contents to facilitate consumers’ purchases of the

recommended products.
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In the remainder of this paper, we first introduce the research background and the
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relevant literature. Next, we present the research model and hypotheses, and these are
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followed by a discussion on the methodology and data collection. We conclude with

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our findings, implications, and limitations and suggestions for future research.

2. WeChat Social Commerce and Product Recommendations

2.1 WeChat Social Commerce

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 Launched in January 2011 by Tencent, WeChat (or Weixin in Chinese) is the

largest social media app in China and is also widely used by Chinese populations

outside of China. WeChat boasted 938 million active monthly users in March 2017

[78], which accounted for more than half of the population in China and has rapidly

become an integral part of many Chinese people’s everyday lives [50]. WeChat

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official accounts, a key functional module of WeChat, has become very popular.

According to a survey reported by Technode [77], approximately 80% of WeChat

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users follow official accounts.

WeChat official accounts are similar to Facebook pages and blogs where social

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media users can follow the accounts and receive pushed articles. Followers can read
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information, opinions, reviews, or ideas posted by official accounts and interact with
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them by writing comments on the articles. WeChat official account operators focus on

pushing content to build social connections and establish relationships with their
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followers. Based on these social connections, WeChat official account operators can

promote products or services through product recommendations published to their

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followers, thus providing a new channel for social commerce [77]. In the rest of the
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paper, we will use “recommender” and “operator” interchangeably as we examine

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WeChat official account operators that provide product or service recommendations.

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If the followers are interested in the recommended products, they can access the

WeChat store and check out through the WeChat payment service. Followers can

directly buy products and services without leaving the WeChat app, which may easily

stimulate users’ impulse purchase desire when they are exposed to product

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recommendations [19, 79]. WeChat official accounts have been able to generate a

significant amount of revenue. For example, one well-known account Rice-Cake

Mama that focuses on child care reached 10 million followers and 80 million yuan in

revenue in November 2016 [63].

2.2 Product Recommendations on WeChat official accounts

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There are two types of posts published by WeChat official accounts:

non-product-related posts and product recommendation posts, as illustrated in

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Appendix A. The non-product-related posts are often the reasons users follow the

official account because they present valuable information. These posts often focus on

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specific topics, such as childcare, beauty, or travel, in which the official account
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specializes. For example, a popular WeChat official account “Loujisiwei” publishes
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stories about historical misconceptions and comments on social events. In addition to

pushing content based on specific topics, WeChat official accounts can also push
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content which designed to offer enjoyment and encourage user participation and

facilitate interaction [54]. Unlike blog posts that focus on personal feelings, ideas, and
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opinions related to specific events in everyday life [31, 33], non-product-related posts
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by WeChat official accounts are original, informative, and specific, and the posts are
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sent from official accounts only once per day.

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Product recommendations by WeChat official accounts are similar to sponsored

recommendations on blogs [34, 52], which are articles written by bloggers who

receive payments or incentives from sponsoring marketers to provide persuasive

information about products or services on their personal blogs [52]. Lu et al. [52]

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pointed out that sponsored recommendations posted by bloggers are a form of online

consumer review for readers when they evaluate products for purchase decisions.

Product recommendation posts by WeChat official accounts are also

consumer-generated sponsored recommendation posts with direct purchase links.

These recommendations contain detailed information about the recommended

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products such as product features, pictures, product experiences, and the advantages

and benefits of the products. Such information is often presented as storytelling with

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specific usage experience. WeChat official accounts support different fonts, colors,

layouts, and graphics in the recommendation posts. Content can also include audio

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and video. Moreover, an official account can publish long articles, thus allowing
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content that is more comprehensive.
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In addition, product recommendations by WeChat official accounts are different

from general product reviews and recommendations posted on a product’s or seller’s

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website by peer consumers. Product recommendations by an official account target

specific consumers and the recommender is often visible, whereas peer consumers on
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a product’s or seller’s website are usually anonymous or somewhat ambiguous [6].

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Most important of all, recommendations generated by peers on traditional websites

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are considered to be non-commercial conversations because these recommendations

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are independent from a marketer’s persuasive intent [74]. However, recommendations

posted by WeChat official accounts and sponsored posts on blogs are commercial

because they aim to review and promote products and services [34, 52]. Table 1

compares key differences among product recommendations in WeChat official

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accounts, sponsored recommendations on blogs, and peer recommendations on

traditional websites.

Table 1. Comparison of product recommendations on different platforms.

Characteristic WeChat official Blogs Traditional
accounts (e.g., Weibo) websites
(e.g., Taobao, JD)

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Author/creator of Operators of the Bloggers Other
recommendation WeChat official consumers/users

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contents accounts
Media richness Text, pictures, Text, pictures, Predominantly

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audio, and video audio, and video text based
(multimedia) (multimedia)

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Self-presentation of High High Low
the recommender
Visibility of the Yes Yes No
recommender
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Commercial Yes Yes No
conversation
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3. Theoretical Framework and Literature Review

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3.1 Impulse Buying

Rook [70] defined impulse buying as occurring “when a consumer experiences a

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sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately.” The
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process of impulse buying is characterized by a lack of cognitive deliberation and

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being dominated by emotions [1, 9, 79]. During the impulse buying process,

consumers often experience positive affective reactions and reduced information

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processing and cognitive reactions [9]. For example, Parboteeah et al. [66] found that

consumers are more likely to feel the urge to buy impulsively if they perceive

enjoyment when interacting with the shopping environment. In addition, cues from

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the environment such as website quality [84], store belief [79], and website

atmosphere [19] influence impulse buying. In social commerce, consumers’

increasing exposure to information and social interactions on social media makes the

influences of the purchase stimuli (e.g., social factors) stronger, thus leading to

impulse buying [32, 88].

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According to Luo [55], it is difficult to measure actual impulse buying in

controlled settings because participants' responses or behaviors are often biased when

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they are asked to recall their impulse buying behavior. Previous research on impulse

buying has used the “urge to buy impulsively” as a surrogate measure for the actual

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impulse buying behavior [10, 66, 84]. The urge to buy impulsively is “a state of
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desire that is experienced upon encountering an object in the environment” [4].
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Therefore, we also use the urge to buy impulsively as the surrogate of actual impulse

buying in this study.

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3.2 Signaling theory

The signaling theory emerged from information economics studies to explain

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scenarios with asymmetric information, i.e., when two parties (e.g., sellers and buyers)
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have access to different information in a transaction [15, 73, 75]. According to the
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signaling theory, one party can invest in signals that reveal some relevant and
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meaningful information to the other party, thus reducing uncertainty and facilitating a

purchase or exchange [15].

Signals are informational cues sent out by one party to another to lead to desired

outcomes [57]. We propose that official accounts may use signals to influence

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followers' perceptions of trust and product attitude to induce impulse buying behavior.

Because an official account interacts with its followers mainly through its posts, it

may convey signals through its non-product-related and product recommendation

posts. Li et al. [46] provided a typology for classifying Internet auction features such

as quality signals into product- and seller-related characteristics. Similarly, we

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categorize the signals conveyed by the posts as product- and recommender-related

signals. The main objective of the official accounts is to establish relationships with

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their followers through non-product-related posts. Based on these relationships, the

official account recommends products to the followers. Therefore, an official account

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may rely on informational cues in non-product-related posts (e.g., similarity) to
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stimulate trust and develop affective bonds with its followers. The role of signals
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conveyed by non–product-related posts can reflect the trustworthiness of the

recommender. In contrast, signals conveyed by product recommendation posts (e.g.,

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product description) help consumers evaluate the quality of the recommended

products [46]. Therefore, we propose that signals conveyed by non-product-related

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posts are recommender-related signals and those conveyed by product

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recommendation posts are product-related signals.

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3.2.1 Recommender-related signals conveyed by non–product-related posts

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Signals conveyed by non-product-related posts are independent from the

recommended products and mainly serve the purpose of increasing positive

perceptions such as trust in the recommender [57]. Previous research has shown that

signals can enhance a customer’s trust in transacting with the other party, thereby

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promoting purchase behavior [5, 65]. For example, Benlian and Hess [5] used the

signaling theory to conceptualize the signaling role of IT features and their effects on

trust toward other members and participation in online communities. Similarly, trust

can develop through signals conveyed by non-product-related posts, thus we consider

information quality and similarity as recommender-related signals.

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First, participants follow the account mainly for valuable information [11].

Therefore, the quality of information provided by the official account is important for

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the success of these accounts [72]. The information quality of the non-product-related

posts may signal the unobservable trustworthiness of the recommender because trust

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arises from knowledge accumulated based on the observed information quality of
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these posts [39]. Second, similarity is an important cue upon which people build trust
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[58]. Non-product-related posts usually focus on specific topics such as travel, baby,

and beauty, which will leave the followers with the impression that they share the
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same interest as the official account owner [90]. Users usually follow an account

because of common interests or experience with the account owner. For example, new
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parents follow WeChat accounts that discuss how to raise a baby because the account
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owners may also have babies and are interested in infant-related issues. In addition,
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these original non-product-related posts are often presented as personal stories or

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experiences [69]. The operators of official accounts may reveal information about

themselves in non-product-related posts and their followers may further determine

their degree of similarity with the account owners by reading the published articles.

Previous studies suggest that trust is important in users’ processing of product

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recommendations because of the high uncertainty and lack of face-to-face interactions

in social media [26, 74]. According to Smith et al. [74], consumers must trust the

recommender for recommendations to be effective. Individuals who read product

recommendations from credible persons can be easily persuaded to buy the product.

In addition, the online impulse buying literature, however limited, shows that trust is

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more important than risk. For example, Vonkeman et al. [80] examined the effects of

perceived product risk and product affection on online impulse buying and found that

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product risk does not substantially decrease the urge to buy impulsively. By contrast,

Wu et al. [86] investigated the influences of the flow experience, technology use

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features, and trust belief on online impulse buying and found that trust has a positive
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impact on online impulse buying. Based on these literatures, we only consider trust in
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this study.

In WeChat social commerce, because trust in the recommender is mainly

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interpersonal, we focus on two types of trust based on the interpersonal trust literature:

cognitive-based trust and affective-based trust [58]. Cognitive-based trust is based on

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a cognitive evaluation of an individual, group, or organization. It is “grounded in

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individual beliefs about peer reliability and dependability, as well as competence”

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[83]. This form of trust is rational and relies on objective information such as external
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information and experience to determine whether the other party in the relationship

can be trusted [39]. Cognitive trust can capture one’s confidence in another’s

attributes under specific circumstances [58], and it similarly depends on beliefs in the

reliability and dependence of others. In contrast, affective-based trust is “grounded in

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reciprocal interpersonal care and concern or emotional bonds” [83]. This type of

trust is emotionally based and is characterized by affective attachments from the basis

for caring and benevolent actions [39]. Both cognitive trust and affective trust have

received scholarly attention but they have not been extensively investigated in social

media. It is likely that both cognitive trust and affective trust exist in the relationship

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between a WeChat official account and its followers [7].

3.2.2 Product-related signals conveyed by product recommendation posts

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Product recommendation posts reveal direct information about the recommended

product and mainly focus on conveying positive attributes of the product. According

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to the signaling theory, sellers can use signals to convey information about
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unobservable product quality to buyers [15]. These signals or cues may be the brand
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name, price, product description, or warranty [56, 57, 85]. In WeChat, the

recommendation content is typically presented as a narrative or story featuring the

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recommender’s own life experiences and attitudes and often includes pictures and

videos [69]. The use of storytelling and multimedia posts enables the recommender to
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directly reveal more vivid and visual information about the product and convey
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product quality information. Thus, in this study, we examine the presentation style of
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the recommendation content (vicarious expression and aesthetic appeal) as the signals
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that convey product and service quality information to the recipients. Vicarious

expression refers to the degree to which recommendation contents convey vivid

experiences of a product that can be felt by the readers through stories and narratives

[6, 45]. Aesthetic appeal is the use of fonts, colors, layout, and graphics to present

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products in the product recommendation posts to attract consumers [37]. These two

variables have proven to be effective elements to present product information [6].

Moreover, these two variables are mood-relevant cues that can influence consumers'

emotions [6, 66], which is expected to play a crucial role in emotional and unplanned

buying situations.

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We believe that presentation style sends a strong signal to consumers about

product quality and that this informational cue will positively influence consumers’

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attitudes toward the product [17]. For example, Wells et al. [85] identified the visual

appeal of a website as a potential signal with a strong effect on perceived product

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quality. Previous studies have suggested that there are three components of product
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attitudes: cognitive, affective, and conation [64, 87]. The cognitive component is
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based on the product information available to the customer (e.g., perceived product

quality) [85], whereas the affective component represents the emotion or affective
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reaction of the consumer toward a product. According to the impulse buying literature,

consumers’ impulse buying behavior is often characterized by high emotional

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activation and this behavior mainly occurs when individuals experience strong
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positive emotions. Therefore, we choose product affection as representing consumers'

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attitudes toward the recommended product. Product affection here is defined as the
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extent to which the product recommendation posts have the potential to trigger

consumers’ positive affection toward the product [80, 87].

4. Research Model and Hypothesis Development

Based on the above discussion, Figure 1 summarizes our research model on the

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impact of product recommendations on impulse buying behavior in social commerce.

Drawing on the signaling theory, we examine how recommender-related signals (i.e.,

information quality and similarity) and product-related signals (i.e., vicarious

expression and aesthetic appeal) affect a follower’s trust in recommender, affective

attitude toward the recommended product, and ultimately the urge to buy impulsively.

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Recommender-related signals

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Information H1 Cognitive trust
quality in recommender

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H2a
H5

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Affective trust H7 Urge to
H2b
Similarity in recommender buy
impulsively

Product-related signals
H6
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H8
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Control variable:
Vicarious Gender
H3 Age
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expression Product
Impulsiveness
affection
Income
H4
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Aesthetic Occupation
appeal
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Figure 1. The Research Model

4.1 Recommender-related Signals and Trust in Recommender

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4.1.1 Information Quality and Cognitive Trust in Recommender

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Information quality refers to up-to-date, accurate, relevant, and original

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information provided by an official account to its followers [10, 43, 90]. Kim et al.

[42] pointed out that a website’s information quality is a signal that affects customers’
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trust in the online store. When followers perceive that a WeChat official account

presents accurate and timely information, they will think that the account will

continue to provide high-quality information and are more likely to have confidence

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that the account is reliable and trustworthy [33, 41]. Because cognitive trust arises

from accumulated knowledge and is based on performance-relevant attributes, an

official account that keeps pushing high-quality articles can build strong cognitive

trust among its readers. For example, Nicolaou and Mcknight [62] proposed that

information traits of accuracy, reliability, and correctness influence trusting beliefs of

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integrity and competence in a data exchange provider. Nicolaou et al. [60] found that

accurate and up-to-date information provided by a partner increases perceptions of

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competence trust. Thus, we have:

Hypothesis 1: Information quality is positively associated with cognitive trust in

recommender. U
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4.1.2 Similarity and Cognitive Trust, Affective Trust in Recommender
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Similarity arises from shared attributes such as demographic characteristics,

background, experience, and interests [2, 80]. In this research, we focus on the
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perceived similarity between an official account and its followers. Consistent with

Zhang et al. [90], we define similarity as the extent to which followers find a match
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with the interests or experiences of the official account. Individuals tend to trust
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others who are similar to them and have more confidence in a similar trustee. Prior
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empirical studies show that similarity between individuals influences trust

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development. For example, Mcallister [58] revealed that cultural or ethnical similarity

between individuals affects interpersonal cognitive trust among managers and

professionals in organizations. Therefore, similar interests or experiences may serve

as social-based cues that followers use to reduce uncertainty and facilitate cognitive

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trust building with a WeChat official account. Therefore, we have:

Hypothesis 2a: Similarity is positively associated with cognitive trust in

recommender.

Similarity could result in reduced psychological distance [18]. Research has

shown that people with shared topics and similar interests may feel a closer bond with

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one another [2], which affects users’ perceptions of benevolence [53]. Therefore,

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similarity will in turn lead to enhanced affective trust [92]. Alnatour et al. [2]

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proposed that perceived personality similarity affects users’ perceptions of the

assistant’s benevolence. Johnson and Grayson [39] showed that a customer will have

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an affective trust toward a service provider when s/he detects elements of similarity
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with the provider. Therefore, we hypothesize:
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Hypothesis 2b: Similarity is positively associated with affective trust in recommender.

4.2 Product-related signals and Product Affection

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4.2.1 Vicarious Expression and Product Affection

Deighton et al. [16] pointed out that stories have an ability to generate empathy
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among users, thus creating a vicarious expression. According to the social learning
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theory, readers can learn an author’s vivid feelings by reading a high level of vicarious
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expression, which ultimately influences his or her perception of pleasure through

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direct emotional “contagion” [6, 45].

Prior research suggests that an author’s vivid expression of his/her experiences

can stimulate affective responses and facilitate a consumer’s decision-making process

[45]. Higher perceived vicarious expression makes it easier for readers to imagine

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what it will be like to use the product and generate similar feelings in their minds,

subsequently leading to positive emotional effects [6]. Thus, given that product

recommendations made by an official account often comprise stories and examples,

recommendations become specific, personal, and vivid [30], which could provide the

followers with greater pleasure and elicit positive emotions of the product. Based on

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the above, we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 3: Vicarious expression of the product recommendations is positively

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associated with product affection.

4.2.2 Aesthetic Appeal and Product Affection

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Aesthetic appeal refers to the presentation of product information through
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multiple visual elements and hedonic features [38], which jointly form a vivid and
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attractive information presentation, thereby enhancing users’ affective responses to

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the product [91]. Much research has shown that attractive and pleasurable
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presentation of product information can enhance positive consumer responses toward

the product [1]. For example, images in print advertisement [12] and visual
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presentations of a product [67] can generate an affective response toward the product.
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Multimedia elements such as images, audio, videos, and graphics presented in product
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recommendations are entertaining to interested buyers and can provoke their internal
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excitement, stimulation, or inspiration [12]. Thus, product recommendations

displaying charming visual cues (e.g., voice and graphics) are likely to enhance

affective responses toward the recommended product.

Hypothesis 4: Aesthetic appeal of the product recommendations is positively

21
associated with product affection.

4.3 Cognitive Trust, Affective Trust, and Product Affection

Previous research indicates that cognitive trust is the foundation of affective trust

because the latter is more likely to develop when a partner is seen to be reliable [39,

44, 58, 92]. As cognitive reactions form the basis for affective reactions, cognitive

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trust may influence affective trust [33]. A higher level of cognitive trust in the

recommender will serve to reduce uncertainty and in turn encourage the readers to

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develop emotional attachments to the recommender, thus leading to affective trust.

This leads to the following hypothesis:

U
Hypothesis 5: Cognitive trust is positively associated with affective trust.
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The signaling theory suggests that trust in recommender has a significant
A
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influence on consumers' attitudes when limited information about the recommended

product is available [75]. When readers develop affective trust, they tend to build
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emotional bonds with the official account and perceive it as being concerned about

their best interest [33]. Thus, when they read the recommendations from the official
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account, they tend to consider the recommendations as acts of benevolence and the
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product recommended as important and relevant [59]. Therefore, they may form
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positive affective responses toward the recommended product. Further, if a credible

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recommender strongly recommends a product, receivers may substitute their own

feelings with the credible person's recommendation. From this perspective, receivers

who trust the recommender will emotionally evaluate messages from the

recommender and develop positive affective responses toward that product. In a study

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of product review blogs, Huang [33] showed that readers with higher affective trust

toward a blog will have a positive attitude toward the products described in the blog.

Therefore, we propose that:

Hypothesis 6: Affective trust in recommender is positively associated with product

affection.

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4.4 Affective Trust, Product Affection, and Urge to Buy Impulsively

Previous research has considered positive affective reactions as a vital predictor

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of impulse buying [1, 4]. For example, Parboteeah et al. [66] confirmed that affective

reactions (e.g., perceived enjoyment) to the environment determine an individual’s

U
urge to buy impulsively online. Affective trust includes subjective affections such as
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interpersonal concern and care. It is a positive affective relationship and emotional
A
M

bond, and it results from positive emotions [26]. Thus, affective trust in recommender

can stimulate consumers’ willingness to buy impulsively.

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Further, Stern [76] suggested that if the buying decision process is simpler,

consumers are more likely to buy on impulse. The cognitive information processing
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that occurs in impulse buying is often simple, involves low effort, and requires less
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deliberation [9], which is analogous to the concept of heuristics. According to the

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theory of heuristic information processing, heuristic information can simplify a

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consumer's decision-making process by drawing upon simple decision cues [8].

Following this logic, impulse buying is driven by a heuristic form of information

processing [10]. For example, Gwee and Chang [24] used heuristic information

processing to explain online impulse buying. They found that scarcity and popularity

23
claims foster heuristic information processing and stimulate consumers’ desire for a

product, which eventually lead to impulse buying behaviors. Similarly, Chen et al. [10]

investigated information quality of advertisements in Facebook

consumer-to-consumer (C2C) “buy and sell” groups and revealed that information

quality as a heuristic cue can decrease time and effort in decision-making, thereby

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leading to more impulse buying behavior.

Given the heuristic nature of impulse buying and the relevant literature, we argue

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that how interpersonal trust influences impulse buying can be better explained by

heuristic information processing. McEvily et al. [59] pointed out that trust plays the

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role of a heuristic cue that reduces cognitive effort in decision-making. Trust in others
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makes decision-making more efficient by simplifying the acquisition and
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interpretation of information. When information is received from a trusted source, the

receiver is less likely to screen the information for validity [59]. Hence, trust in
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recommender can be seen as a heuristic cue when followers read the recommendation

posts [22, 59]. When a recommendation recipient perceives the source to be

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trustworthy, s/he may relinquish the thoughtful process of scrutinizing the message
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and instead unthinkingly accept the message. Thus, trust in the recommender can
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reduce the amount of cognitive effort required and simplify the decision-making
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process, thus leading to increased impulse buying.

The current study proposes that, for receivers of the recommendation contents,

cognitive trust in recommender will exert an indirect influence on their urge to buy

impulsively. As Parboteeah et al. [66] pointed out, affective response is more

24
important than cognitive response in influencing the urge to buy impulsively. Users’

motivations for following a WeChat official account are primarily hedonic in nature,

thus followers may rely more on affective trust [74]. Further, cognitive trust is mainly

built upon previously published non-product-related posts not directly related to the

recommended product. Therefore, the effects of cognitive trust in recommender on the

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urge to buy impulsively will be fully mediated by affective trust in recommender.

Based on the above discussion, we hypothesize:

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Hypothesis 7: Affective trust in recommender is positively associated with the urge to

buy impulsively.

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Consumers in positive emotional states tend to reach a decision faster and more
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efficiently, which may lead to impulse buying [35]. Accordingly, when a consumer
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experiences a positive emotional response toward a product, s/he would be more

likely to buy the product impulsively [80]. This leads to the following hypothesis:
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Hypothesis 8: Product affection is positively associated with the urge to buy

impulsively.
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4.5 Control Variables

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To examine the effectiveness of the research model, we included control

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variables that might affect impulse buying. Previous literature indicates that female
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impulsive buyers tend to buy products such as jewelry and clothes that express their

emotional and appearance feelings. By contrast, men are more impulsive when buying

items related to technology and sports equipment [14]. Age also influences impulsive

buying, with younger consumers between the ages of 18 and 39 being more likely to

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buy impulsively [40]. Moreover, the inherent impulsiveness of a consumer, defined as

“both the tendencies (1) to experience spontaneous and sudden urges to make

on-the-spot purchases and (2) to act on these felt urges with little deliberation or

evaluation of consequence” [4], can influence a consumer’s propensity to engage in

impulse buying [84]. Individuals with high impulsiveness are more likely to

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experience a stronger urge to buy impulsively. In addition, income and occupation

were also included as control variables.

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5. Research Methodology

5.1 Measurement Development

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The survey questionnaire included two sections: the first section comprised the
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respondent’s demographic information including gender, age, occupation, daily time
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spent on WeChat, the number of official accounts subscribed to, and the number of

articles read every day; and the second section consisted of all constructs in the
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research model. Most of the items for the constructs were adapted from previous

research to make them appropriate for this study (see Appendix B). A seven-point
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Likert scale ranging from “1-strongly disagree” to “7-strongly agree” was used to
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measure the items.

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To confirm and ensure the validity of the measurement instrument, back

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translation was done. We first translated the English version to Chinese and then the

Chinese questionnaire was back translated to English by another individual. The two

English versions of the questionnaire were compared to ensure their equivalence. We

then conducted a pretest of the questionnaire to evaluate the face and content

26
validities. The participants in the pretest included two Internet marketing experts and

five experienced users who regularly read articles from WeChat official accounts.

Except for a few minor modifications to the wording, content, and structure of the

questionnaire, they confirmed that all items were appropriate and relevant to the

corresponding constructs, which ensures content validity.

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5.2 Data Collection and Sample

We chose WeChat users in Mainland China as the research subjects. As

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mentioned earlier, WeChat is the most popular social media platform in China and

approximately 80% of WeChat users follow official accounts [77]. According to

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McKinsey [60], 31% of Chinese WeChat users initiated purchases on WeChat in 2016,
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doubling the percentage from the previous year. Impulse-driven categories such as
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apparel and personal care are the most popular on WeChat. These data show that

WeChat social commerce evolved quickly and became vitally important in China,
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thus making China an ideal setting for investigating consumer online impulse buying

in social commerce. There are two types of WeChat official accounts: subscription
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accounts and service accounts (for more details, see https://admin.wechat.com/).

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Service accounts are developed specifically for enterprises, whereas subscription

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accounts are available to all users. We mainly focus on subscription accounts in this
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study.

The sample was randomly collected through the well-known online survey

platform Sojump (www.sojump.com) in China. The survey hyperlink was placed

online, and only those who had WeChat experience were targeted for data gathering.

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We included screening questions to ensure that all respondents were WeChat users

who followed more than one official account. Respondents were asked to recall their

experience with their most frequently read official account. Each respondent had an

opportunity to win monetary rewards such as a red packet after completing the survey.

The data were collected in February 2017. A total of 251 respondents participated in

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this survey, and 18 were excluded owing to incomplete or invalid answers, which

resulted in a valid sample size of 233. Non-response bias was examined by comparing

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the demographics of early respondents (those who responded within the first 2 weeks)

versus late respondents (those who responded within the last 2 weeks). No significant

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differences were observed between the early and late respondents when analyzed
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using t-tests.
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Table 2 shows the demographic information of the subjects. Among them, 58.4%

were male and more than 84.1% were aged below 30 years. The sample profile is
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consistent with findings from previous online surveys [77] that WeChat users are

generally younger and there are more men than women using the platform. More than
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89.7% of the respondents used WeChat for at least 1 hour every day, and 96.1% of the
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respondents subscribed to more than five official accounts. Nearly half of the
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respondents subscribed to 11 to 20 official accounts. Approximately 60% of the

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respondents read more than five articles through official accounts daily.

Table 2. Sample Demographics.

Measure Item Frequency Percentage
Male 136 58.4%
Gender
Female 97 41.6%
Age (years) <18 2 0.9%
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 18-25 114 48.9%
26-30 80 34.3%
31-40 34 14.6%
>40 3 1.3%
Student 84 36.1%
Worker 134 57.5%
Occupation
Unemployed/retired/houseke
15 6.4%
eper
<1 37 10.3%

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1-2 50 21.5%
Hours spent daily on
2-4 74 31.8%

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WeChat
>4 72 30.9%
<5 9 3.9%

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6-10 46 19.7%
Number of official
11-20 113 48.5%

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accounts subscribed to
21-30 31 13.3%
>30 34 14.6%
Number of articles read <5 93 39.9%
per day 6-10
U 98 42.1%
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10-20 33 14.2%
>20 9 3.9%
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5.3 Common Method Bias
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Because our research data were collected from a single survey, Harman’s
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single-factor test [68] was conducted to test common method bias. Unrotated

exploratory factor analysis indicated that the largest factor explained 35.99% of the
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overall variance. No single factor dominated the total variance, thus suggesting that
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common method bias was unlikely to be a significant problem in our study. In

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addition, we further assessed the method factor following the steps recommended by

Liang et al. [47]. A common method factor that was linked to all single-indicator
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constructs was included in the PLS model. The results demonstrated that the loadings

of the principal variables were all significant (p<0.001), and none of the common

method factor loadings was significant. These results further indicated that common

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method bias was unlikely to be a serious concern in this study.

6. Analysis and Results

6.1 Measurement Model Assessment

The measurement model was assessed to ensure item reliability, convergent

validity, and discriminant validity. Item reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s α,

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composite reliability (CR), average variance extracted (AVE), and Dijkstra-Henseler's

rho (ρA) [28]. As shown in Table 3, the Cronbach’s α and CR of each construct were

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higher than the recommended value of 0.7, the AVEs of all the constructs were above

0.6, and the values of ρA were more than 0.7 [28]. Hence, all constructs had good

reliability [20]. U
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Table 3. Construct Reliability
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Construct Item Standardized ρA Cronbach’s α CR AVE
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Loadings*
Information IQ1 0.812 0.813 0.811 0.868 0.637
quality IQ2 0.801
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IQ3 0.774
IQ4 0.806
Similarity SI1 0.857 0.820 0.813 0.885 0.727
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SI2 0.866
SI3 0.835
Vicarious VE1 0.870 0.864 0.860 0.913 0.780
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expression VE2 0.892

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VE3 0.888
Aesthetic AA1 0.815 0.887 0.884 0.918 0.743
appeal AA2 0.883
AA3 0.856
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AA4 0.891
Product PA1 0.926 0.931 0.927 0.948 0.821
affection PA2 0.923
PA3 0.927
PA4 0.847
Cognitive CT1 0.842 0.814 0.812 0.883 0.726
trust CT2 0.865
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 CT3 0.849
Affective AT1 0.747 0.833 0.830 0.878 0.621
trust AT2 0.771
AT3 0.842
Urge to buy UB1 0.900 0.880 0.874 0.923 0.798
impulsively UB2 0.879
UB3 0.902
Impulsiveness IM1 0.881 0.938 0.937 0.953 0.841
IM2 0.925

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IM3 0.934
IM4 0.927

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Note: *All standard loadings were significant at p< 0.001.

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The convergent, discriminant and nomological validities were further examined

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for construct validity. As shown in Table 3, all AVE values were higher than the

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suggested benchmark level of 0.5 [25], the CRs were higher than the threshold of 0.70,
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and the standard loadings of all items were higher than the desired threshold of 0.7
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and significant at 0.001, which indicated a good convergent validity.
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Discriminant validity was evaluated in two steps. As shown in Table 4a, the
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Fornell and Larcker criterion indicates that the square roots of the AVEs (the bold

numbers in the diagonal) were greater than the interconstruct correlations [20]. As
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shown in Table 4b, the values of the heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations

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(HTMT) were below the threshold of 0.90 [28]. These results provided sufficient
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evidence of discriminant validity for these constructs. Finally, nomological validity

assesses whether the correlations between the constructs conform to the theoretical
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framework [23]. The magnitude and significance of path coefficients in Section 6.2

confirmed that the model had nomological validity.

Table 4a. Discriminant validity– Fornell-Larcker criterion

Construct SI VE AA CT AT PA UB IQ IM
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 SI 0.853
VE 0.198 0.883
AA 0.134 0.293 0.862
CT 0.280 0.305 0.242 0.852
AT 0.291 0.281 0.479 0.509 0.788
PA 0.235 0.284 0.365 0.183 0.284 0.906
UB 0.126 0.144 0.227 0.142 0.162 0.268 0.893
IQ 0.270 0.253 0.255 0.413 0.526 0.159 0.032 0.798
IM 0.154 0.023 0.028 0.021 0.013 0.140 0.258 0.001 0.917

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Notes: SI, similarity: VE, vicarious expression; AA, aesthetic appeal; CT, cognitive
trust; AT, affective trust; PA, product affection; UB, urge to buy impulsively; IQ,

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information quality; IM, impulsiveness

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Table 4b. Discriminant Validity– heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations

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Construct SI VE AA CT AT PA UB IQ
VE 0.534
AA 0.428 0.621
CT
AT
0.648
0.592
0.665
0.571
0.579
0.739 0.788 U
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PA 0.561 0.594 0.665 0.492 0.550
UB 0.425 0.433 0.541 0.449 0.430 0.570
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IQ 0.627 0.604 0.600 0.787 0.708 0.460 0.213
IM 0.458 0.168 0.182 0.166 0.116 0.400 0.556 0.033
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Notes: SI, similarity; VE, vicarious expression; AA, aesthetic appeal; CT, cognitive
trust; AT, affective trust; PA, product affection; UB, urge to buy impulsively; IQ,
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information quality; IM, impulsiveness

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6.2 Structural Model Assessment

We used ADANCO 2.0.1 with bootstrapping to assess the structural model [27].
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The results of the structural model testing are shown in Figure 2. Most of the

hypotheses were supported except for H6, which was represented as a dotted line. In
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addition, two control variables (age and impulsiveness) had significant positive

effects on consumers' urge to buy impulsively. R2 indicates the proportion of variance

in a dependent variable explained by the exogenous variables, and R2 values higher

than 0.20 indicate good explanatory power of the endogenous variables. The R2’s for
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cognitive trust, affective trust, product affection, and urge to buy impulsively were

0.465, 0.546, 0.435, and 0.439, respectively. These results show that the model has a

good explanatory power on the dependent variables.

Recommender-related signals

Information 0.504*** Cognitive trust

quality in recommender

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R2=0.465
0.595***

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0.218** Urge to
0.225*** Affective trust buy
Similarity
in recommender impulsively

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R2=0.546 R2=0.439

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Product-related signals
0.143 ns

Vicarious Control variable:

expression Product Gender (0.09ns)

Aesthetic
affection

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R2=0.435
Age (0.139**)
Impulsiveness (0.388***)
Income (0.075ns)
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appeal Occupation (-0.04 ns )
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Figure 2. Research model testing results (*p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001; ns:
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non-significant at the 0.05 level).

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6.3 Overall Model Fit Evaluation

We evaluated the goodness of fit of the research model by examining the

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standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), unweighted least squares

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discrepancy (dULS), and geodesic discrepancy dG values [28]. The lower the SRMR,
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dULS, and dG, the better the fit of the theoretical model [28]. Table 6 shows the results

of the model fit. The SRMR value was below the recommended threshold of 0.08, and
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all discrepancies were below 95% of bootstrap quantile (HI95) [28], which suggested

a good fit between the research model and the data.

Table 6. Model fit evaluation

Discrepancy Value HI95 Conclusion
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SRMR 0.053 0.096 Supported
dULS 5.276 27.203 Supported
dG 1.067 29.457 Supported

6.4 Mediation Analysis

To assess whether the indirect effects involved in the proposed model were

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significant, we tested for mediation effects by applying the steps recommended in

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Zhao et al. [91] using 5000 bootstrap samples at the 95% confidence level. As shown

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in Table 7, all indirect effects were significant at the 0.05 level, whereas the direct

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effects of cognitive trust on urge to buy impulsively was not significant, which

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suggested a full mediation of affective trust in the relationship between cognitive trust
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and urge to buy impulsively. These analysis results supported H7.
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Table 7. Mediation analysis
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Relationship Direct effect Indirect effect

Cognitive trust → Urge to buy impulsively −0.244 0.189*
Information quality → Affective trust 0.422** 0.228*
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Similarity → Affective trust 0.171*** 0.226*

Vicarious expression → Urge to buy impulsively 0.064 0.164*
Aesthetic appeal → Urge to buy impulsively 0.277** 0.348*
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Similarity → Urge to buy impulsively 0.276*** 0.138*

Notes: *p<0.05,**p<0.01,***p<0.001.
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6.5 Effect Size

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Effect size is used to identify the impact of an exogenous variable on an

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endogenous variable. According to Cohen [13], 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 can be regarded

as small, medium, and large, respectively, for the effect size f2. The results in Table 8

show that the lowest value of the effect size all exceeded the criterion of 0.02 except

that affective trust in recommender had a small effect with f2=0.018 on product
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affection.

Table 8. Effect size analysis

Cohen's Effect size
Path
f2
Hypothesized relationships
Information quality → Cognitive trust in recommender Medium
0.347
(H1)

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Similarity → Cognitive trust in recommender (H2a) 0.098 Weak-medium
Similarity → Affective trust in recommender (H2b) 0.080 Weak-medium

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Cognitive trust → Affective trust (H5) 0.560 Large
Vicarious expression → Product affection (H3) 0.079 Weak-medium

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Aesthetic appeal → Product affection (H4) 0.113 Weak-medium
Affective trust in recommender → Product affection Very weak

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0.018
(H6)
Affective trust in recommender → Urge to buy Weak-medium
0.056
impulsively (H7)
Product affection → Urge to buy impulsively (H8)
U 0.086 Weak-medium
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Control variables
Impulsiveness → Urge to buy impulsively 0.227 Medium
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Gender → Urge to buy impulsively 0.012 Very weak
Age → Urge to buy impulsively 0.027 Weak
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Occupation → Urge to buy impulsively 0.002 Very weak

Income → Urge to buy impulsively 0.007 Very weak
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7. Discussion and Implications

7.1 Discussion of Findings

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The current research examines how product recommendations affects impulse

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buying in social commerce. Our empirical research based on a questionnaire survey of

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WeChat official account subscribers has the following results.

First, our results show that signals conveyed by non-product-related posts such
A

as information quality and similarity can evoke readers’ cognitive trust and in turn

affect their affective trust toward the official account. That is, if the official account

provides up-to-date, accurate, relevant, and original information, followers will

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cognitively trust the official account. In addition, when followers detect elements of

similarity with the operator of the official account, they will not only consider the

operator of the official account to be reliable but also feel an emotional attachment to

the account owner, which induces affective trust.

Second, signals conveyed by product recommendation posts such as vicarious

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expression and aesthetic appeal have significant impacts on product affection. The

storytelling and visual elements presented in the recommendation contents can

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influence a consumer’s emotional response to the product. Moreover, as expected,

product affection significantly influences the urge to buy impulsively. The result is

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consistent with those from previous impulse buying studies which showed that a
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consumer’s positive affective response influences their impulse buying behavior [49].
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Therefore, the results indicate that providing recommendations with vivid stories and

visual cues will increase followers' positive emotional responses and ultimately lead
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to the urge to buy impulsively.

Third, in support of H7, affective trust has a direct effect on the urge to buy
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impulsively. This suggests that, as followers form affective trust in the official account,
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they may be more likely to be affected by the recommendation posts and develop an
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urge to buy the product recommended by the official account. Past research has
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recognized that trust is one important determinant of online purchase behavior [21, 29,

41]. The result of this study sheds light on trust as a direct determinant of unplanned,

and even impulsive buying behavior.

Fourth, affective trust has no significant effect on positive affective reactions

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toward the product (p=0.226), thus providing no support for H6. As noted previously,

there are three components of product attitude: cognitive, affective, and conation [64,

87]. Although followers have affective trust in an official account, they may consider

the product's value and usefulness when reading product information in the

recommendation articles. That is, consumers may undergo cognitive responses instead

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of affective responses [67]. However, product affection in our study only measures the

affective reaction. It is worth noting that a recent work by Hsu et al. [31] indicated

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that trust affects consumers' attitudes toward products in blogs, but the effect is

mediated by the perceived usefulness of the recommendations. This may suggest that,

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although they have affective trust in the recommender, readers may first evaluate the
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recommendation and the product cognitively when they see the product
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recommendation articles. For a better understanding of the relationship between

affective trust and attitude toward a product, future research can provide a
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comprehensive evaluation of consumers’ attitudes toward a product including both

cognitive and affective components.

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7.2 Implications
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7.2.1 Implications for theoretical research

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The current research enriches the existing literature on online impulse buying in
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several ways. First, the current study applies the signaling theory to understand how

extrinsic cues trigger impulse buying in social commerce. Based on the empirical

evidence offered in this study, we conclude that recommender-related signals

(information quality and similarity) are helpful in influencing trust in the

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recommender, and product-related signals (vicarious expression and aesthetic appeal)

affect a reader’s positive attitude toward the recommended products, which in turn

leads to impulse buying.

Second, this study extends the previous research on impulsive buying by

examining this behavior in WeChat social commerce. Through building relationships

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with followers, WeChat official accounts provide product recommendations to their

followers. Our results show that social-based recommendations have the ability to

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promote impulse buying. Previous research examining impulse buying in social

commerce has been limited, and our study contributes to the understanding of impulse

buying in social commerce. U

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Additionally, few studies have examined the effect of trust on impulse buying
A
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[86]. Trust has been shown to be a crucial issue in consumer buying behavior [26, 43],

but there has been little research on the effect of trust in online impulse buying. Our
ED

empirical results show a direct influence of affective trust on impulse buying.

Moreover, our research employs a more comprehensive view to distinguish between

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cognitive and affective trust based on the research context. The results highlight the
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role of trust in impulse buying and provide insights for researchers in understanding
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impulse buying from the perspective of interpersonal trust.

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7.2.2 Practical implications

The results from this study provide some valuable insights to businesses engaged

in social commerce, especially WeChat official account operators. First, our results

highlight the importance of trust dimensions in increasing consumers' urge to buy

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impulsively. Once consumers trust the recommender, their intention to purchase the

socially recommended product is stimulated and they may buy the product

impulsively [19]. Therefore, WeChat official account operators should focus on

improving their followers' trust. Moreover, this study offers insights into how to

strengthen consumers’ trust in the recommender. The official account operators can

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signal their trustworthiness by increasing information quality and similarity with the

followers. First, the official account operators should continuously publish

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high-quality and informative articles. High-quality information is critical to attracting

and maintaining trust relationships with followers. Further, the operators can post

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short biographical sketches on their background and interests as well as topical
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contents with messages that resonate with their followers to highlight common
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interests. The posts can also include more personal information such as daily activities

to increase followers’ perceived similarity.

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Second, this study emphasizes the importance of storytelling and aesthetic appeal

when posting product recommendations. Personal and vivid storytelling articles can
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enhance the reader’s positive attitude toward the products. Storytelling articles can
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generate empathy and attract the reader’s attention more easily. Moreover, the
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findings highlight the importance of aesthetic appeal in creating affective response.

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That is, when pushing product recommendations through an official account, the

owner should focus on how the product information is delivered to create a vicarious

expression and overall visual effect that appeal to the readers. Our research provides

guidelines for writing an effective message for product recommendations to stimulate

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readers to buy the recommended products.

Social commerce can be summarized in terms of two central activities: putting

e-commerce on social media platforms and/or adding and linking social media tools to

e-commerce websites [81, 89]. WeChat social commerce falls under the former

category. Therefore, although our study only focuses on WeChat social commerce in

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China, our findings may be generalizable to social commerce in other countries. Our

results suggest that social commerce providers should focus more on “relational”

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rather than “transactional” elements, as these “relational” elements (e.g., social trust)

are likely to increase sales through consumers' impulse buying behavior. In addition,

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the advent of WeChat social commerce has fostered content-driven social commerce
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[72] and made it into something more accessible for both businesses and brands.
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Based on the results of our study, content-driven social commerce through social

media can start with high-quality contents and end in an impulse purchase. Thus,
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social commerce providers can communicate with customers through content

marketing in social media (e.g., microblog or WeChat) to enhance brand exposure,

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attract customers, and increase sales.

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7.3 Limitations and future research

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This study has the following limitations and directions for future studies. The
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first limitation lies in the external validity. Our research context is limited to WeChat,

the best-known social media platform in China. Therefore, future studies can test our

research model on other social media platforms such as Weibo or Facebook to

cross-validate our results. In addition, our research results might not be generalizable

40
to other countries. Future studies may test our model in different cultures. Moreover,

our research did not compare the product or service type in the research model, future

studies may consider different product/service scenario. Second, our research focuses

on information quality and similarity revealed through non-product-related posts

because followers subscribe to WeChat official accounts mainly to receive useful

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information contained in these posts. Product recommendation posts can also carry

signals of information quality and similarity. Future research can examine how

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information quality and similarity revealed through product-related posts affect the

followers’ impulse buying behavior. Third, although the explanatory power of our

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research model is acceptable, the explained variance of the urge to buy impulsively
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was only 43.9%, thus suggesting a need for future studies to identify more factors that
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help explain online impulse purchase activities. Factors related to market stimuli such

as group buying, limited time offers [24], consumer characteristics such as product
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involvement [49], and other factors such as social influence may also affect impulse

buying. In this research, we only considered observable cues conveyed by the official
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account's posts that indirectly affect impulse buying through the lens of the signaling
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theory. Future studies can incorporate other theoretical perspectives to examine

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whether other factors may affect impulse buying. Finally, our questionnaire survey
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used a self-reported scale to measure the variables, and this survey was conducted

online. Therefore, some bias might exist. Although common-method bias is not a

serious issue in this study, future studies can use multiple methods or collect data

from multiple sources to cross-validate our findings.

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Appendix A. Sample product recommendation articles published by a WeChat official

account

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Non-product-related Non-product-related
posts posts
From six months to two years old, eight
skill points in an infant’s diet. Every step

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is very important!

My favorite picture book

was made by my mother.

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Calcium, iron and protein
are very important

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Group buying started: It is already
Product recommendation 30°C, and have you bought a Product recommendation
post sunhat for your child? United post
States FDA certified iPlay Sunhat.

Appendix B. Measurement items U

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Information quality (adapted from Nicolaou and Mcknight [62] and Kim and Park
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[43])

IQ1: The non-product-related information pushed by the official account is accurate.

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IQ2: The non-product-related information pushed by the official account is relevant to

my needs.
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IQ3: The non-product-related information pushed by the official account is the latest.
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IQ4: The non-product-related information pushed by the official account is original.

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Similarity (adapted from Johnson and Grayson [39])

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SI1. The operator of the official account is similar to me.

SI2.The operator of the official account has values similar to mine.

SI3. The operator of the official account has experience similar to mine.

Vicarious expression (adapted from Li et al. [45])

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VE1: By reading product recommendation posts, I can feel what the author is trying

to say about the recommended products and his/her usage experience.

VE2: By reading product recommendation posts, I can imagine what the author is

trying to say about the recommended products and his/her usage experience.

VE3: By reading product recommendation posts, I can envision what the author is

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trying to say about the recommended products and his/her usage experience.

Aesthetic appeal (adapted fromWatson et al. [82])

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AA1: The graphics provided by the recommendation posts are attractive.

AA2: The product recommendation posts are visually pleasing.

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AA3: The product recommendation posts are visually cheerful.
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AA4: The product recommendation posts are visually interesting.
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Affective trust in recommender (adapted from Johnson and Grayson [39] and Huang

[33])
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AT1: I enjoy reading articles in this official account.

AT2: I feel comfortable reading articles in this official account.

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AT3: I feel articles in this official account are sincere.

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Cognitive trust in recommender (adapted from Mcallister [58])

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CT1: I think the operator of this official account is reliable.

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CT2: This official account’s operator is very knowledgeable about his/her topics.

CT3: In general, I have confidence in the operator of this official account.

Product affection (adapted from Watson et al. [82])

PA1: I felt enthusiastic toward the recommended product.

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PA2: I felt inspired by the recommended products.

PA3: I felt excited about the recommended products.

PA4: I felt interested in the recommended products.

Urge to buy impulsively (adapted from Wells et al. [84])

UB1: As I read the product recommendations in this official account, I had the urge to

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purchase items other than in addition to my specific shopping goal.

UB2: As I read the product recommendations in this official account, I had a desire to

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buy items that did not pertain to my specific shopping goal.

UB3: As I read the product recommendations in this official account, I had the

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inclination to purchase items outside of my specific shopping goal.
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Impulsiveness (adapted from Rook and Fisher [71])
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IM1: “Just do it” describes the way I buy things.

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IM2: I often buy things without thinking.

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IM3: “I see it, I buy it” describes me.

IM4: “Buy now, think about it later” describes me.

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Yanhong Chen is a PhD student in Management Science & Information Systems at

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School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.

Her research focuses on electronic commerce, information management and social

media.

Yaobin Lu is a specially appointed Professor in Management Science & Information

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Systems at School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

in China. His research interests include social commerce, mobile commerce, business

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mode, electronic commerce, and related topics. He is the author of more than 50

publications in leading international journals such as Journal of Management

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Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems Journal,
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Information & Management, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, and
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Journal of Information Technology.

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Bin Wang is a Professor of Information Systems at the University of Texas Rio

Grande Valley. Her research interests include IT adoption, the performance of IT firms,
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electronic commerce, mobile commerce, and social commerce. Her research has
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appeared in journals such as Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of

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Business Research, Information Systems Journal, Industrial Management & Data

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Systems, Information Technology and Management, Electronic Commerce Research

and Applications, and Computers in Human Behavior.

Zhao Pan is an associate professor of Management Science & Information Systems at

49
the School of Management at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in

China. He obtained his Ph.D. there in 2015. His research focuses on social commerce,

social networks, and social computing. His work has been published in Journal of

Management Information Systems, Computers in Human Behavior and other journals.

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