ENABLING IMPULSE PURCHASES IN THAI LIVE-STREAMING COMMERCE: AN S-O-R FRAMEWORK EXAMINING THE MEDIATING EFFECTS OF SWIFT TRUST AND FLOW STATE
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Abstract
Live-streaming commerce has reshaped online shopping by embedding purchasing within real-time, socially interactive broadcasts delivered through social media and digital platforms. Yet in Thailand's rapidly expanding digital-retail market, the determinants of live-stream shopping and of impulse buying in particular remain under-examined. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model, this study examines how external environmental cues in live-streaming (visual appeal, real-time interactivity, and limited-time scarcity) shape consumers' internal psychological states and, in turn, their impulse-purchase intention. A structured online survey was administered to 400 Thai consumers who had watched a live-streaming commerce session within the previous 30 days. Data were analysed in Jamovi using confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis, with swift trust and flow state modelled as mediators. All eight hypotheses were statistically significant. Scarcity exerted a particularly strong effect on flow state (β = 0.99, p < .001), and real-time interactivity was strongly associated with swift trust, while both swift trust and flow state significantly linked environmental cues to impulse-purchase intention. TikTok (45.0%) and Shopee (30.5%) were the two most-used platforms among respondents, most of whom were aged 25–34. The findings position swift trust (a cognitive route) and flow state (an affective route) as twin psychological bridges in Thai live-streaming commerce and offer practical guidance for SMEs, platform designers, and educators preparing practitioners for the social-commerce economy.
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