Negative Emotions and Impulse Buying: Psychological Mechanisms, Social Influences, and Strategic Interventions

Abstract

In the digital marketplace, understanding how emotions shape consumer choices are essential. This study synthesizes evidence from a systematic literature review to clarify the relationship between negative emotions and impulse buying amid rapid e-commerce growth and intensifying competition. Across studies, loneliness, stress, and boredom reliably heighten impulsive purchase intentions and behaviors. We identify two core psychological pathways: affect-regulation via compensatory consumption and ego depletion that weakens self-control. These effects are amplified by digital environments—personalized recommendations, scarcity cues, one-click checkout, gamified rewards, and social-media social proof shorten deliberation windows and normalize unplanned purchases. We integrate these mechanisms into an emotion-oriented consumption framework and outline strategic interventions: precommitment and cooling-off tools, default spending limits, mindful design prompts, and transparency around persuasive architectures. The findings advance consumer psychology by linking emotion-regulation and self-control theories to platform design, and they inform policy and practice in consumer protection and commercial ethics. Guardrails that target emotional triggers and reduce frictionless impulsivity can mitigate harm without unduly constraining choice.