What prompts consumers to buy impulsively in blind-box live streaming? The effect of emotional contagion

As an innovative and interactive emerging marketing model, blind-box live streaming provides businesses with new sales channels. However, there have been few studies of the drivers of impulse buying in blind-box live streaming scenarios. Thus, we extended stimulus–organism–response theory to explore factors correlated with impulsive buying in the context of blind-box live streaming, analyzing data from 263 live streaming users through structural equation modeling. We found that live streamers’ characteristics, the live streaming servicescape, and the attributes of the blind box each had a positive relationship with consumers’ impulsive buying, while positive affect played a significant mediating role. These findings suggest that industry practitioners should focus on cultivating the unique charm of live streamers, creating an attractive live streaming environment, and using the attributes of blind boxes to create positive consumer emotions and promote impulsive consumption behavior.