Exploring the influence of "keeping consumers in suspense" in live streaming on consumer impulse buying behavior: A test of the mediating effects of consumer inner states.

Background: Live-streaming e-commerce has emerged as a dynamic shopping medium, engaging consumers through interactive and immersive experiences. "Keeping Consumers in Suspense" (KCIS), encompassing preview fuzziness, suspense setting, and delight creation, is widely used to drive engagement and impulse buying. Still, its impact on consumer inner states and behaviors remains underexplored.

Objective: This study examines the influence of KCIS on consumer impulse buying behavior, focusing on the mediating roles of value perception and expectation perception.

Methods: Data were collected from 352 active users of Chinese live-streaming platforms using a structured survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) tested the relationships among KCIS dimensions, inner states, and impulse buying. A bootstrapping analysis with 5000 iterations assessed the stability and significance of mediating effects, supported by validity and reliability tests of newly developed KCIS constructs.

Results: Preview fuzziness (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) and suspense setting (β = 0.48, p < 0.01) significantly influenced value and expectation perception, while delight creation primarily affected expectation perception (β = 0.34, p < 0.01). Expectation perception mediated the relationship between KCIS and impulse buying more strongly (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) than value perception (β = 0.15, p < 0.05). Bootstrapping confirmed the robustness of these mediation effects.

Conclusion: KCIS strategies play a pivotal role in shaping consumer behavior in live-streaming e-commerce by influencing impulse buying through mechanisms such as value and expectation perception. The results highlight the effectiveness of preview fuzziness, suspense setting, and delight creation in enhancing consumer engagement and driving sales. These findings provide practical guidance for streamers to design tailored suspense tactics that maximize impact. Future research should extend this framework to diverse cultural contexts to validate its generalizability and explore additional influencing factors.