CONSUMER IMPULSE BUYING BEHAVIOR: THE MODERATING ROLE OF CONFIDENCE

Abstract

This study analyzed young consumers in Pakistan to probe into the relationships between social comparison, materialism, negative affect, impulse buying, and confidence. Based on a quantitative approach, questionnaires with a Likert scale were used and presented to 150 online consumers aged 18 to 30 years. The analysis show that majority participants were from Islamabad (29.9%), Rawalpindi (21.6%) and Gujrat (9.3%) while a few participants were from other cities. Analysis show that participants at age of 23 were highest in number (16.5%), participants at age of 25 were second highest in numbers (12.9%), and participants at age of 22 were third highest in numbers (11.9%). Critical dimensions studied are social comparison and materialism, emotional states characterized by anxiety, impulsive buys, and confidence in buying decisions. Convenience sampling was employed, and descriptive statistics, correlation, regression analyses, and Structural Equation Modeling were used for data analysis. The findings reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between Social comparison and materialism. The results indicate that social comparison and negative affect has significant positive relationship. Negative affect has significant positive relationship with impulse buying. The findings indicate that materialism is significant predictor of impulse buying but social comparison is not a significant predictor of Impulse buying. SEM tested the proposed relationships and the moderating role of confidence in the link between social comparison and impulse buying. Moderation analysis showed that confidence does not act as a mediator between social comparison, materialism and impulse buying. Ethical protocols followed included informed consent and data confidentiality. The findings reveal the mechanism about how social comparison is driving materialism and impulsive purchase in e-commerce, while being driven by negative affect and moderated by consumer confidence. This study provides practical implications for understanding consumer behavior in Pakistan's e-commerce landscape.