Title: Online impulse buying of organic food: a moderated (website personality) mediation (social appeal) process

Authors: Anum Tariq; Changfeng Wang; Yasir Tanveer; Umair Akram; Muhammad Bilal

Addresses: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100876, China ' School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100876, China ' School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100876, China ' Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, No. 5, Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China ' School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100876, China

Abstract: While existing literature has addressed the antecedents of impulsive buying behaviour, this research study investigates the impulse buying of organic food through mediating effect of social appeal on the relationship between consumer attitude and online impulse buying behaviour and whether this mediated relationship is moderated by website personality. In total, 600 respondents were asked to fill online survey questionnaire, however, 423 valid responses were collected in Beijing, China. Data were collected in a period of three months from October-December 2017 by survey questionnaire placed on frequently used social media platform like Wechat, QQ and Sina Weibo. Results revealed a significant full mediation in a positive relationship. This mediating effect of social appeal is further moderated by website personality. Results instigate online marketing professionals to review their tactics to deal with modern consumers by developing websites with social learning mechanism, user-friendlier and visually appealing to push organic intake.

Keywords: organic food; social appeal; website personality; online impulse buying behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISCM.2019.101646

International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management, 2019 Vol.11 No.1, pp.3 - 24

Received: 27 Sep 2018
Accepted: 06 Mar 2019
Published online: 19 Aug 2019 *

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