Flow experience: online impulsive purchase behavior based on the S-O-R paradigm

The purchasing decision process of consumers emerges under the influence of demographic, social, cultural, personal, psychological factors or factors shaped by marketing tools. In this sense, such factors, which can be considered as external and internal factors, create some responses (reactions) by affecting the evaluation realized in the mind of consumers. This research aimed to examine the relationships between the virtual store atmosphere, sales promotions, flow experience and impulsive purchasing variables within the scope of the S-O-R paradigm. In this direction, virtual store atmosphere and sales promotions are considered as external stimuli, flow experience as organism (mental process) and impulsive purchasing as a consumer reaction and the theoretical model of the research was evaluated within the scope of a quantitative research. The data of the research was formed by the responses of 407 consumers accessed via an online survey and the data were analyzed in SPSS 24 and AMOS 24 statistical softwares. As a result of the analysis, the findings obtained within the scope of a structural equation model showing good fit revealed that there were statistically significant relationships between the virtual store atmosphere, sales promotions, flow experience and impulsive purchasing behavior. According to the results, flow experience plays a mediating role both between virtual store atmosphere and impulsive purchasing, and between sales promotions and impulsive buying. In addition, some socio-demographic characteristics and some shopping habits showed statistically significant differences between groups.