--

15(6)2025 (IN PRESS)

FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and social media influencers: Exploring their impact on impulsive buying behavior among young TikTok users in Tra Vinh City


Author - Affiliation:
Trinh Tu Pham - Tra Vinh University, Tra Vinh City , Vietnam
Loan Thi Thuy Nguyen - Tra Vinh University, Tra Vinh City , Vietnam
Ngan My To - Tra Vinh University, Tra Vinh City , Vietnam
Corresponding author: Trinh Tu Pham - phamtutrinh226@gmail.com
Submitted: 13-01-2025
Accepted: 24-02-2025
Published: 29-04-2025

Abstract
The rapid evolution of social media platforms, particularly TikTok, has transformed consumer behavior, driving impulsive purchasing trends among young users. TikTok Shop’s innovative “shoppertainment” model seamlessly blends entertainment with shopping, fostering unplanned purchases. This study integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the black box model of consumer behavior to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing impulsive buying behavior among young people in Tra Vinh City. By focusing on Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), social media influencers, perceived enjoyment, trust, price, and discounts, and impulsiveness, the study reveals significant psychological and environmental drivers of consumer behavior in social commerce. Based on 320 valid responses, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) reveals that FOMO and influencers enhance perceived enjoyment by 21.7% and 17.7%, respectively, significantly contributing to impulsive buying behavior. The urgency to avoid missing out and the credibility of influencers create engaging shopping experiences that encourage spontaneous purchases. Additionally, price and discounts positively impact impulsive buying, while trust strengthens consumer confidence. These insights suggest that businesses on TikTok Shop can boost customer engagement and drive sales by implementing FOMO-driven campaigns, partnering with credible influencers, and maintaining transparency in product information and customer support.

JEL codes
M31; D91; L81

Keywords
FOMO; impulsive buying behavior; shoppertainment; social media influencers; TikTok

Full Text:
PDF

References

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211.


Alam, A. A., & Usman, O. (2021). The effect of customer trust, satisfaction and easy on buying interest in E-commerce. SSRN Electronic Journal.


Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88(3), 588–606.


DataReportal. (2024). Digital 2024: Vietnam. Retrieved February 23, 2024, from https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-vietnam


Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems, 13(3), 319.


Đinh, P.H. (2020). Phương pháp định lượng trong nghiên cứu Quản trị kinh doanh & Quản lý kinh tế. Nhà xuất bản Tài chính Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.


Floh, A., & Madlberger, M. (2013). The role of atmospheric cues in online impulse-buying behavior. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 12(6), 425–439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2013.06.001


Garver, F. M., & Mentzer, J. L. (1999). Do good measures always generate good results? An investigation of the effects of construct and measurement quality on model fit indices. Journal of Marketing Research, 36(4), 307–320.


Ha, N.H.N. (2019). Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến hành vi mua hàng ngẫu hứng trực tuyến trong thương mại di động. Luận văn thạc sĩ kinh tế, Trường Đại học Kinh tế Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.


Häubl, G., & Trifts, V. (2000). Consumer decision making in online shopping environments: The effects of interactive decision aids. Marketing Science, 19(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.19.1.4.15178


Haws, K. L., McFerran, B., & Redden, J. P. (2017). The satiating effect of pricing: The influence of price on enjoyment over time. Journal of Consumer Psychology: The Official Journal of the Society for Consumer Psychology, 27(3), 341–346. https://doi.org/10.32924/ijbs.v7i3.293


Herlina, L. (2023). The effect of Tiktok live streaming shopping and perceived enjoyment toward online impulsive buying behavior with the moderating variable of trust. International Journal of Business Studies, 7(3), 182–195. https://doi.org/10.32924/ijbs.v7i3.293


Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1995). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in structural equation model confirmation. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2(1), 1–24.


Huang, W., & Chien, C. Y. (2011). Consumer behavior analysis with fruit group-buying. International Journal of Intelligent Technologies and Applied Statistics, 4, 95–107.


Ingham, J., Cadieux, J., & Mekki Berrada, A. (2015). e-Shopping acceptance: A qualitative and meta-analytic review. Information & Management, 52(1), 44–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2014.10.002


Kim, B., & Han, I. (2009). The role of trust belief and its antecedents in a community‐driven knowledge environment. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(5), 1012–1026. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21041


Komiak, S. X., & Benbasat, I. (2004). Understanding customer trust in agent-mediated electronic commerce, web-mediated electronic commerce, and traditional commerce. Information Technology and Management, 5(1/2), 181–207. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:item.0000008081.55563.d4


Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of Marketing: Global Edition (13th ed.). Pearson Education.


Lan, T. T. N., & Trung, T. T. (2023). Yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến hành vi mua hàng ngẫu hứng qua thương mại điện tử của giới trẻ tại Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/j43c9


Lee, C.-H., Chen, C.-W. D., Huang, S.-F., Chang, Y.-T., & Demirci, S. (2021). Exploring consumers’ impulse buying behavior on online apparel websites: An empirical investigation on consumer perceptions. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.7903/ijecs.1971


Liu, Y., Li, H., & Hu, F. (2013). Website attributes in urging online impulse purchase: An empirical investigation on consumer perceptions. Decision Support Systems, 55(3), 829–837.


Luo, X., & Yuan, J. (2019). Influencer marketing: The role of influencers in the consumer decision-making process. Journal of Marketing, 83(3), 66–84.


Lutviari, H. W., Widodo, A., Silvianita, A., & Rubiyanti, N. (2024). Analysis of factors affecting impulse buying on Shopee and TikTok Live shopping platforms: A conceptual paper. International Journal of Integrative Sciences, 3, 403–414. https://doi.org/10.55927/ijis.v3i5.9346


Mahliza, F. (2020). Exploring trust in purchase intention: An empirical research on agricultural application. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Management, Economics and Business (ICMEB 2019). https://doi.org/10.2991/aebmr.k.200205.015


Metric. (2022). Báo cáo tổng quan thị trường TMĐT 2022 - Metric. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://metric.vn/blog/bao-cao-tong-quan-thi-truong-tmdt-2022metric


Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam. (2024). Cơ hội lớn nhưng cũng nhiều thách thức cho thương mại điện tử năm 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024, from https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/chuyen-doi-so/co-hoi-lon-nhung-cung-nhieu-thach-thuc-cho-thuong-mai-dien-tu-nam-2024.html


Ninh, N.H., Duong, P.T., & Thang. T.V. (2020). Hành vi mua hàng ngẫu hứng của giới trẻ trên các trang thương mại điện tử. Tạp chí Quản lý và Kinh tế Quốc tế, Số 121.


Nunnally, J. C. (1978). An Overview of Psychological Measurement. In B. B. Wolman (Ed), Clinical Diagnosis of Mental Disorders: A Handbook (pp. 97-146). Springer.


Saad, M., & Metawie, M. (2015). Store environment, personality factors and impulse buying behavior in Egypt: The mediating roles of shop enjoyment and impulse buying tendencies. Journal of Business and Management Sciences, 3(2), 69–77.


TikTok. (2021). TikTok dự đoán Shoppertainment (hình thức mua sắm kết hợp giải trí) sẽ là xu hướng trong Mùa Siêu Mua Sắm tại Việt Nam. Retrieved July 15, 2021, from https://newsroom.tiktok.com/vi-vn/tiktokmegasales


Trung, P.Q., & Hà, N.N.H. (2017). Các yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến sự thôi thúc mua hàng ngẫu hứng trực tuyến của người tiêu dùng TP.HCM. Tạp chí Khoa học Đại học Mở TP.Hồ Chí Minh - Kinh tế và Quản trị kinh doanh, Số 12(3), 3-15.


Verhagen, T., & van Dolen, W. (2011). The influence of online store beliefs on consumer online impulse buying: A model and empirical application. Information & Management, 48(8), 320–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2011.08.001


Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (Tra Vinh). (2024). Vì sao chỉ số thương mại điện tử tỉnh Trà Vinh chưa cao. Retrieved May 31, 2024, from https://lhhkhkt.travinh.gov.vn/nong-lam-ngu-nghiep/vi-sao-chi-so-thuong-mai-dien-tu-tinh-tra-vinh-chua-cao-714733


Wells, John D.; Parboteeah, Veena; and Valacich, Joseph S. (2011) "Online Impulse Buying: Understanding the Interplay between Consumer Impulsiveness and Website Quality," Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00254


Wu, I.-L., Chen, K.-W., & Chiu, M.-L. (2016). Defining key drivers of online impulse purchasing: A perspective of both impulse shoppers and system users. International Journal of Information Management, 36(3), 284–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.11.015


Youn, S., & Faber, M. (2000). Impulse buying: Its relation to personality traits and cues. Advances in Consumer Research, 27, 179–185.


Xiang, L., Zheng, X., Lee, M. K. O., & Zhao, D. (2016). Exploring consumers’ impulse buying behavior on social commerce platform: The role of parasocial interaction. International Journal of Information Management, 36(3), 333–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.11.002


Zhu, D.H., Wang, Y.W. and Chang, Y.P. (2018), "The influence of online cross-recommendation on consumers’ instant cross-buying intention: The moderating role of decision-making difficulty", Internet Research, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 604-622. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-05-2017-0211



DOI: https://doi.org/10.46223/HCMCOUJS.econ.en.15.6.3977.2025
Creative Commons License
© The Author(s) 2025. This is an open access publication under CC BY NC licence.