Beyond likes and comments: How social proof influences consumer impulse buying on short-form video platforms

Abstract

Short-form video (SFV)-driven e-commerce is emerging as a novel form of social commerce. However, the impact of SFV advertisements on consumer behavior remains unclear. Our study employs the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and social proof theory to explore how social proof in SFV advertisements influences consumers’ impulse buying behavior. We collected numerical data and user interaction text from Douyin and quantified real-time interaction text using grounded theory to assess the quality of social proof. The findings reveal that both the quantity and quality of social proof significantly impact impulse buying, with a moderating effect of product type on this relationship. Our study represents one of the first efforts to examine impulse buying behavior in SFV advertisements, making a significant contribution to the social commerce literature, and enhancing social proof theory. Furthermore, it offers actionable insights for sellers and marketers to effectively engage consumers and make informed, data-driven decisions.