From scrolling to spending: Psychological mechanisms of AI-driven impulse buying in live-stream shopping

This study explores the relationship between perceived intrusiveness of AI recommendation and live-stream impulse buying in AI-enabled live-stream shopping. Based on Stimulus-Organism-Response theory and recent studies on AI recommendation source effects, the model considers perceived AI recommendation intrusiveness as algorithmic stimulus, perceived attentional capture as the internal organismic mechanism and live-stream impulse buying as a behavioral response. AI skepticism and trait self-control are further proposed as boundary conditions of the model. A survey was conducted with 417 active Chinese live-stream shoppers, and the data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate that perceived intrusiveness of the AI recommendations is directly related to live-stream impulse buying, and indirectly related to live-stream impulse buying through the mediator of perceived attentional capture. AI skepticism attenuates the relationship between perceived AI intrusiveness and perceived attentional capture and trait self-control attenuates the relationship between perceived attentional capture and live-stream impulse buying. The study contributes to the development of the nascent literature on AI recommendations by examining intrusive recommendation experiences in live-stream commerce and by providing a greater understanding of how attention, skepticism, and self-regulatory capacity influence consumers' reactions to the algorithmically personalized shopping cues. Given that the study relies on self-report cross-sectional data, the results are regarded as theoretically-based associations rather than causal effects.