Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics

How website quality affects online impulse buying: moderating effects of sales promotion and credit
card use
UMAIR AKRAM, Peng Hui, MUHAMMAD KALEEM KHAN, YASIR TANVEER, Khalid Mehmood, Wasim Ahmad,
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UMAIR AKRAM, Peng Hui, MUHAMMAD KALEEM KHAN, YASIR TANVEER, Khalid Mehmood, Wasim Ahmad, "How
website quality affects online impulse buying: moderating effects of sales promotion and credit card use", Asia Pacific
Journal of Marketing and Logistics, https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-04-2017-0073
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 HOW WEBSITE QUALITY AFFECTS ONLINE IMPULSE BUYING: MODERATING
EFFECTS OF SALES PROMOTION AND CREDIT CARD USE

Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to investigate the impact of website quality on online impulse buying
behavior (OIBB) in China, and assess the moderating roles of sales promotion and credit card
use.
Design/methodology/approach – An online and personal survey from 1161 online shoppers
belonging to three big cities of China—Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing—was conducted. A
random sampling technique was utilized for data collection. Data were analyzed using validity
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and reliability tests, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.
Findings – First, the website quality positively affects the OIBB; second, the sales promotion
significantly influences OIBB and acts as a strong moderator in the relationship between website
quality and online impulse buying; and third, online impulse purchases are positively influenced
by credit card use. Moreover, credit card use enhances the relationship between website quality
and online impulse buying.
Research limitations/implications – The scope of this study remains limited to the Chinese
market and a sample set of 1161 online consumers. However, the findings propose that in order
to stimulate OIBB among consumers, online retailers should improve their website quality,
develop promotional strategies, and promote the use of credit cards. The study results have
theoretical and practical implications for managers and academic practitioners.
Originality/value - This research is the first to investigate the relationship between website
quality and OIBB in China, with sales promotion and credit card use as moderators.
Keywords: Online Impulse Buying Behavior, Website Quality, Credit Card Use, Sales
Promotion, China
Article Classification: Research Paper
 1. Introduction
The Internet plays a vital role in our daily life. In China, majority of the population makes
purchases online to conserve time and efforts, and to espouse the individuality culture.
According to the 2016 China online shopping report published by the National Bureau of
Statistics, China’s GMV (Gross merchandise volume) amounted to 4.8 trillion Yuan in 2015,
jumping up by 64.4% on a YoY (year-over-year) basis. This growth was more than four times
faster than the total retail sales of consumer goods. Moreover, the Internet penetration rate in
total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 10% for the first time in the Chinese history, which
serves a healthy opportunity for online retailers to focus on online shoppers. A recent study by
Floh and Madlberger (2013) indicates that a huge sum of shoppers purchased products
spontaneously in the modern world. This portrays the growing significance of online shopping,
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and thereby highlighting the necessity of in-depth understanding of online impulse buying. As
cited by Liu et al. (2013), User Interface Engineering, a leading research company specializing
in website and product quality, reports that almost 40% of online shopping transactions are
considered as impulse purchases (Verhagen and van Dolen, 2011). Hausman (2000) argues that
30–50% of all retail sales are triggered by impulse purchases, while 90% consumers buy goods
impulsively on occasions. Recently, Wu et al. (2016) have shown that 82% respondents engaged
in impulse shopping. A growing number of online retailers are implementing impulse buying
strategies to attract and retain consumers.
The China Internet Network Information Center’s (CNNIC) December 2016 report discloses that
with an annual increase of 42.99 million Internet users China’s Internet user population has
reacched 731 million, with a penetration rate of 53.2%, up 2.9 percentage points from the end of
2015. China has now become the largest Internet market in the world. Millions of netizens are
surfing the Internet to acquire information about products and services, and are often even
spending more time on online purchases than their genuine requirements.
Impulse buying behavior is very common among consumers worldwide. Dawson and Kim (2010)
argue that 50 percent consumers buy goods impulsively. To boost impulse buying, retailers
readily focus on product displays, store designs, and package designs to attract and hold
shoppers’ attention (Lee and Kacen, 2008). Existing research shows that almost any items might
be purchased on impulse (Rook and Fisher, 1995; Kacen and Lee, 2002). Although the impulse
buying phenomenon is most likely to hold for inexpensive items, it may be observed for
expensive items as well (Rook and Fisher, 1995).
In principle, impulse shoppers may usually not control their inherent behaviors to visit online
stores (Wells et al., 2011). Online shoppers are rather involved in discrete psychological states of
unplanned and sudden behaviors toward a buying-decision process, which makes it difficult to
for retailers to predict (Floh and Madlberger 2013). From the Internet user perspective, online
shoppers/consumers are website users who execute all functions of purchase decision making,
from searching for the information of a related product to tracking product delivery and complete
payment system. Therefore, the usage of website technology and belief/trust on e-stores are two
significant factors for online impulse buying shoppers (Wu et al., 2011; Wu, 2013).
 To date, the existing research on impulse buying has focused on different factors (Stern, 1962;
Piron, 1991), such as external factors (Karbasivar and Yarahmadi, 2011; Mehta and Chugan,
2013), store atmosphere (Akram et al., 2016), intrinsic factors (Badgaiyan and Verma, 2014;
Foroughi et al., 2013; Flight et al., 2012), in-store lighting (Summers and Hebert, 2001), in-store
music (Dube´ and Morin, 2001), in-store fragrance (Mattila and Wirtz, 2001), the mood and
emotions of buyers (Foroughi et al., 2013; Solomon et al., 2012), website design, web skills,
trust and flow experience (Wu et al., 2016), hedonic and utilitarian motivations (Akram et al.,
2017a), and situational factors such as scarcity and serendipity (Chung et al., 2017), among
others.
The growth of online shopping has motivated the need to study online impulse buying behavior
(OIBB) under recent trends (Floh and Madlberger 2013). Previous researches have
recommended several perspectives to better understand OIBB. Some studies suggest the
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shopping enjoyment effect as a mediator to direct the OIBB from websites’ interaction
experience (affective) and websites’ usefulness for shopping task (cognitive) (Koufaris, 2002;
Parboteeah et al., 2009). Other studies focus on the importance of electronic store characteristics
(design, content, and navigation) as the antecedents of repelling OIBB through the mediation of
shopping enjoyment and effective perception (Floh and Madlberger 2013).
A number of studies have been conducted to examine the factors affecting the impulse purchase
decision-making process of consumers in online environments. For instance, a few studies utilize
environmental psychology to investigate how website attributes, such as ease of use, visual
appeal, and information fit-to-task, affect consumers’ personality and emotions causing online
impulse shopping decisions (Parboteeah et al., 2009; Verhagen and van Dolen 2011; Wells et al.,
2011). These studies recommend that information systems (IS), wisdom, and integration of
marketing would increase the knowledge on online impulse buying (Verhagen and van Dolen
2011; Wells et al., 2011). Earlier IS studies have investigated how three perceived website
attributes, namely, product availability, ease of use, and visual appeal, interact with consumers’
personalities to motivate impulse buying. From a technical perspective, previous studies have
mainly emphasized website attributes such as the navigation ability, pleasantness, visual
attraction, and security (Luo et al., 2012; Floh and Madlberger 2013). Shen and Khalifa (2012)
argue that a website’s perceived usefulness shows the degree to which online consumers believe
that shopping productivity can be increased by using a specific website.
The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of factors of website quality with
two moderators, namely, sales promotion and credit card use, which determine B2C online
impulse buying behavior adoption in China. Traditional Chinese retailers are paying increasing
attention to online transactions. Many traditional retailers are developing e-commerce platforms
that are driving B2C online retailing market growth and attracting more consumer interest in
purchasing products online (Su, 2009). Given the rapid trends of e-commerce in China, retailers
need recommendations to cater to future endeavors and business expansion. This very need is
expected to be met by the current study, which analyzes the relationship between OIBB and
website quality by incorporating the moderating effects of sales promotion and credit card use.
Specifically, researchers who wish to conduct research on China’s B2C Internet market from the
 perspective of online impulse buying by analyzing website attributes may be the direct
beneficiaries of this study.
There is a growing body of research exploring consumers’ online shopping behavior in the
Western context; far less is known in other parts of the world (Stafford et al., 2004). Therefore,
whether these researches and associated theories are generalizable to other cultural contexts,
such as China, remains largely unknown. To date, relatively few empirical studies have been
conducted in the Chinese context. Considering the fact that China has currently become the
largest Internet market worldwide, an in-depth understanding of the primary motivations,
attitudes, and behaviors of Chinese online shoppers is needed if online marketers, brand
strategists, advertising managers, and website developers are to influence consumers’ online
buying decisions. The current seminal work of Clemes et al., 2014 is unique in this aspect
because it addressed the online shopping trend in China. However, the findings of the study are
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debatable because it gathered data from only one city, Beijing, which is the largest metropolitan
city of China. Thus, this may raise concerns over the generalizability of the findings. In addition,
this study has led to an urge to discover the pivotal factors in the adoption of online shopping.
The present study attempts to fill this gap by empirically investigating the OIBB of Chinese
consumers, and to extend the existing research on online impulse buying, specifically in the
Chinese context.
Numerous Chinese consumers buy online products from popular sites, including Jd.com,
taobao.com, amazon.com, tmal.com, vip.com, bj.jumei.com, dangdang.com, gome.com, and
suning.com. Therefore, the findings of this study are also relevant to these as well as other
Chinese online retailers. Although voluminous research can be found on impulse buying
behavior, these studies do not embrace the emerging face of impulse buying, that is, OIBB.
Moreover, all of these studies have been conducted on developed economies, leaving behind the
need to investigate this issue in an emerging economy like China, which houses the largest
number of netizens ever. Accordingly, this study is poised to examine the following research
questions: (1) Does website quality ignite Chinese consumers’ OIBB? (2) How does sales
promotion influence consumers’ OIBB? (3) How does credit card use impact consumers’ OIBB?
(4) Does sales promotion moderate the relationship between website quality and OIBB? (5) Does
credit card use moderate the relationship between website quality and OIBB?
In accordance with the aforementioned objectives, the remainder of this paper is structured as
follows. Section 2 presents a literature review on OIBB. Section 3 discusses hypotheses
development. Section 4 presents the research methodology adopted for this study. Section 5
presents the key findings of the study. Finally, Section 6 concludes the study and provides
important implications and future research directions.
2. Background and Literature Review
2.1 Online Impulse Buying Behavior
Impulse purchase occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, habitually powerful, and
insistent urge to buy something (Liu et al., 2013; Akram et al., 2017a). Online impulse buying,
as an unplanned purchasing decision, is influenced by several factors such as hedonic
 motivations, utilitarian motivations, social shopping, adventure shopping, idea shopping,
perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, visual appeal information fit-to-task, and urge to buy
impulsively (Ozen and Engizek 2013; Xian et al., 2016; Akram et al., 2017a). Sharma et al.
(2010) argue that online shopping is driven by consumers’ emotions, spontaneous behavior, or
low cognitive control, and that impulsive behavior is driven by appealing objects, which trigger
impulse buying among shoppers without considering financial and other aspects of online
shopping. From this perspective, few scholars argue that online buyers are more impulsive
compared to offline store buyers (Park et al., 2012; Verhagen and van Dolan, 2011). Wu et al.
(2015) argue that online marketing stimuli permit online buyers to be less risk averse toward
their initial search and make it easy to buy impulsively (Madhavaram and Laverie, 2004).
Impulse buying occurs during shopping from a particular stimulus (Floh and Madlberger, 2013).
The stimulus can be an extrinsic characteristic of the product or the actual product itself, such as
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searching for information about the product. Yu and Bastin (2010) mentioned that several factors,
including personality, time pressure, location, cultural factors, and variety of economic positions,
influence impulse buying behavior. From a psychological perspective, consumers’ impulse
buying behavior is occasionally irresistible because the inception of impulse buying often occurs
not just spontaneously but also suddenly (Sharma et al., 2010) Usually, a high tendency among
impulse consumers to probably exhibit spontaneous buying behavior and their shopping lists
have space for unexpected buying intention (Park et al., 2012).

When consumers make a decision to buy online, they often act impulsively and are triggered by
easy purchase and access to product in the form of click ordering, painless delivery, and absence
of social pressures (Jeffrey and Hodge, 2007). In particular, few researches have focused on the
role of impulsive buying in online shopping (Floh and Madlberger, 2013; Liu et al., 2013). Liu et
al. (2013) investigated how website characteristics (ease of use, product availability, and visual
appeal, among others) affect consumers’ individual traits, including instant gratification,
normative evaluation, and impulsiveness as a mediator to fulfil the urge for online impulse
buying. According to Floh and Madlberger (2013), e-store attributes (navigation, design, and
content) affect online impulse shopping through the mediation of impulsiveness and shopping
enjoyment.
Madhavaram and Laverie (2004) differentiate between four kinds of impulse buying behavior.
First, pure impulse buying is a unique or escape buying behavior that breaks a routine purchase
pattern. Second in line is the reminder impulse buying, which occurs when a consumer sees a
product and recalls that there is little of it at home, or is introduced with enhanced information
about the product, or recalls an advertisement relating to a product in view. Third, suggestive
impulse buying frequently occurs when any consumer sees a product for the first time and
envisions a need for it. The fourth and final type of impulse buying is observed when a consumer
makes a particular buying decision about a product or service driven by a discounted price; such
kind of conduct is called planned impulse buying behavior.
In the online context, innovations and improvements in the field of e-commerce are causing a
surge in online shopping. According to Dittmar et al. (2004), the reason why many shoppers tend
to overspend in online transactions is that the virtual procedure does not demonstrate high
 spending. Online transactions are vital for online retailers as well as organizations because they
build strategies to motivate consumers to buy more products. (Jeffrey and Hodge, 2007). Park et
al. (2012) typically investigate impulse purchase for clothing products in the Internet context.
Verhagen and Van Dolen (2011) examine the influence of online store beliefs on consumer’s
online impulse buying behavior. Bressolles et al. (2007) analyze the effects of e-service quality
dimensions on impulse purchases and customer satisfaction. Parboteeah et al. (2009) study the
importance of organic variables and perceived visual appeals in urging shoppers to purchase
impulsively. Adelaar et al. (2003) examine the impact of media format of music CD on online
impulse buying behavior. Verhagen and van Dolen (2011) study the effects of representational
delight and website functional convenience on online impulse purchase accomplishments. Some
other studies have examined other factors influencing OIBB (Jeffrey and Hodge, 2007) and
effects of website attributes on personality traits (Liu et al., 2013), among others.
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3. Determinants of OIBB and Hypotheses Development

Many scholars worked on the primary determinants, including visual appeal, quantity and quality
of information, interactivity, and personalization (Wells et al., 2011), as well as secondary
determinants, including task relevant cue, mood relevant cue (Parboteeah et al., 2009), of OIBB.
However, this study specifically focuses on three comprehensive determinants of OIBB: Website
quality, sales promotion, and credit card use. These determinants and their subsequent
hypotheses are discussed as follows:
3.1 Website quality
Websites are primary store houses of information that can help consumers when they explore for
information. B2C websites are sites that enable consumers to make shopping through the World
Wide Web (Ranganathan and Ganapathy, 2002). The design characteristics of a web page may
also affect consumers’ online buying decision (Shergill and Chen, 2005).

The existing literature suggests various attributes of a website, which may enhance its quality.
For example, Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) highlight the significance of website design and
contents that may enhance a website’s quality to attract more online customers. Contents present
the services offered and design demonstrates how to present that content in an attractive way to
customers (Huizingh, 2000). A website’s characteristics such as visual appeal, transaction safety,
and navigation are all special signs that can directly influence consumers’ impulse purchases
(Wells et al., 2011). Childers et al. (2001) suggest a term called “web atmospherics” in online
setting, which includes website design features as graphics, frames, pop-up windows, search
engine configuration, text, hypertext links, “one click” purchase procedures or check-out, site
layout dimensions and media dimensions. These attributes of web design may trigger online
impulse buying at a different level. Loiacono et al. (2007) present four distinct features of
website quality: usefulness, ease of use, entertainment, and complementary relationship.
Ranganathan and Ganapathy (2002) contemplated design, privacy, information content, and
security of website as four important dimensions of B2C website. Likewise, Elliott and Speck
(2005) show that consumer’s attitudes toward retail website is significantly affected by five
website elements: product information, ease of use, currency, trust, and entertainment.
 Several studies demonstrate that website quality attributes affect consumers’ OIBB significantly.
For instance, Turkyilmaz et al. (2015) reveal that the three dimensions of website quality,
including entertainment, ease of use, and usefulness, have positive effects on consumers’ online
impulse purchase, whereas complementary relations have no significant impact. A well-designed
interface enhances the probability of consumers’ impulse buying (Hoffman and Novak, 1996;
Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003; Shergill and Chen, 2005). Turkyilmaz et al., (2015) suggest that
online retailers willing to strengthen and retain their customer base must emphasize and improve
the quality of website, failure of which may lead to loss of customers. Clemes et al. (2014)
investigate the behavior of Chinese consumers’ and find that well-designed website features
significantly influence online shopping adoption.
The aforementioned discussion leads us to formulate the following hypothesis:
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H1. Website quality positively affects online impulse buying behavior

3.2 Sales Promotion
Sales promotion, as a collection of various motivational tools, is designed to stimulate consumers
to purchase numerous products or services within short periods of time (Kotler, 2012). The aim
is to exert direct and immediate effects on consumers’ buying behavior (Blattberg and Neslin,
1990). Sales promotion intends to stimulate consumers’ needs and urge customers to buy a
product immediately of a specific brand. Battberg and Neslin (1990) emphasized the following
four significant promotion objectives: (1) enhancing store image; (2) generating store traffic; (3)
creating price image; and (4) moving excess inventory. Sales promotion plays a very important
role in an online shopping environment and in advertising strategy. The immediate reward
implied in sales promotions is alike to the idea of impulsive buying when “only an immediate
buying could complete the marketplace exorcism (Rook and Hoch, 1985; p. 25). The consumer
benefits of sales promotions can be divided into hedonic benefits (e.g., entertainment, value, and
exploration) and utilitarian benefits (e.g., convenience and money saving). These benefits trigger
consumers’ impulse buying (Chandon et al., 2000). Thus, an impulsive buying situation should
involve a sales promotion stimulus that can create maximum utility (Chandon et al., 2000).

Many studies have identified sales promotion as a means to increase customer base gradually.
For instance, in the US, the number of homes that use online coupons for shopping online has
been increasing abruptly (Forrester, 2014). Additionally, studies have recommended that Internet
connectivity has provided a means for mass customization of sales promotion by targeting
individual buyers on sellers’ website (Kannan and Kopalle 2001). Sales promotion stimuli and
online store design features are very important antecedents of consumers’ online impulse
purchase. Sales promotion stimuli such as sales (e.g., markdown, clearance), promotions (e.g.,
cash rebates, buy-one get-one free, gift certificates), suggestions (e.g., bundling), and purchase
ideas (e.g., purchase of newly arrived products and one-stop shopping) can persuade consumers
to buy impulsively (Dawson and Kim, 2010). Dawson and Kim (2010) also suggest that
consumers’ online impulse buying is related with e-retailers’ sales promotion stimuli. Sales
promotion can thus influence consumers’ OIBB positively (Badgaiyan et al., 2015, Etzel et al.,
2001).
 According to Palazon and Ballester (2011), well-planned and effective sales promotion also
provoke consumers’ buying intentions. Badgaiyan et al. (2015) also suggest that sales promotion
remains one of the oldest and most preferred mode of increasing sales. Numerous study results
have confirmed that consumers are more likely to be impulsive when they see discount on
products or sale (Liao et al., 2009; Tinne, 2011; Virvilaite et al., 2009). Lo et al. (2016)
summarize 38 design features or sales promotion stimuli that are frequently employed by online
stores to motivate impulse buying.
Contrary to the well-established positive relationship of OIBB with sales promotion, Blattberg et
al. (1981) find that sales promotion, particularly price discount, has a negative effect on sales due
to purchase acceleration and stockpiling, as well as a negative impact on brand image and
reference price (Grewal et al., 1998). Nevertheless, if customers of the product under sales
promotion are resellers instead of end consumers, such negative effect could be slightly
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decreased.

Studies that analyze the impact of sales promotion on impulse buying in an online setting have
been scarce. Therefore, the present study extends the literature by analyzing this impact in an
online setting. All of the existing studies suggest the direct effect of website quality and sales
promotion on online impulse buying. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has
attempted to explore the use of sales promotion as a moderator variable between website quality
and online impulse buying. Filling this gap, this study formulates an additional hypothesis (H3).
According to the above studies, we proposed two hypotheses considering sales promotion as
having a direct effect and a moderation effect between website quality and online impulse buying
behavior.
H2. Sales promotion positively affects online impulse buying behavior
H3. Sales promotion positively moderates the relationship between website quality and
online impulse buying behavior. The higher (lower) the sales promotion, the stronger
(weaker) the relationship.
3.3 Credit Card Use

There are many features of online shopping that make it favorable and pleasant from consumers’
point of view. Among others, the most prominent feature is the comfort that makes the consumer
free from visiting a brick-and-mortar store. Second is the pleasant feeling of being free from
keeping paper currency in one’s pocket (Chakraborty et al., 2016). The emergence of plastic
money like credit cards and digital currency has made online shopping more attractive. Since
impulsive behavior may be accelerated by credit card use, a need arises to examine the
association between credit card use and impulse buying behavior. Shoppers feel more convenient
and relatively painless when spending by credit cards. Furthermore, the use of credit card lowers
the perceived cost and and payment through credit cards is expected to increase in the future
(Roberts and Jones, 2001).
 Credit card is a kind of plastic money which is rapidly used among consumers. From a
psychological perspective, credit card is a trigger of spending behavior. Feinberg (1986) provides
evidence that college students who use credit cards, purchase more compared to those who use
cash. The use of credit card stimulates consumer spending compared to cash transactions. For
instance, credit cards increase the sales of fast-food restaurants, and the transactions are 50 to
100% larger than cash dealings in the US. Hayhoe et al. (2005), focusing on college students in
the southern states of the US, concludes that credit card is very important for young shoppers;
they prefer to buy through this medium than their non-user counterparts and accord more
importance to money as a symbol of power. Extensive use of credit cards reflects the shoppers'
preferences for pre-arranged lines of credit. Furthermore, technological advancement make it
easier for creditors to offer revolving credit (Durkin, 2000). Soman (2001) argues that consumers
who usually use credit card always spend extra on purchase. Credit card possession is associated
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with such kind of consumers who purchase high-priced products (Deshpande and Krishnan,
1980). From this perspective, Schor (1998) reports that easy access to credit cards reduces the
immediate urge to buy something, cause shoppers to overspend, and is likely to increase
impulsive buying.
Credit card use is also one of the major contributors in online shopping; however, only sparse
studies have taken it into their consideration. Furthermore, there is a need to analyze its role in
OIBB. Credit card use plays a vital role in impulsive buying. Badgaiyan (2015) asserts that credit
card use has a positive influence on impulsive purchase. Importantly, credit card use results in
impulsive online buying (Roberts and Jones, 2001; Kim, 2006). Karbasivar and Yarahmadi
(2011) find that credit card use positively relates with consumers’ impulse buying in the setting
of apparel products. Easily accessible credits cards eradicate the abrupt need for money to
purchase something, leading to overspending by consumers (George, 1998), and enhance the
advancement of impulse purchase (Robert and Jones, 2001).
A number of studies have been conducted on the determinants of online shopping in the Chinese
context (Clemes et al., 2014; Zheng et al., 2016; Akram et al., 2017b), but no study has analyzed
the effect of credit card use on online impulse buying. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this
gap by deeply examining the relationship between credit card use and online impulse buying.
First, the study analyzes the direct effect of credit card use on OIBB; thereafter, it explores the
moderating behavior of credit card use, to analyze whether or not the presence of credit card also
influences the OIBB along with website quality. As Tokunaga (1993) has mentioned, credit
cards lead to greater imprudence. For this reason, less price conscious consumers are always
heavy users of credit card.
In the light of the above arguments, we propose two hypotheses on the effect of credit card use
on OIBB. H4 checks the direct effect, whereas H5 tests the moderating role of credit card use.
H4. Credit card use positively affects online impulse buying behavior
H5. Credit card use positively moderates the relationship between website quality and
online impulse buying behavior. The higher(lower) the use of credit card, the stronger
(weaker) the relationship.
 INSERT FIGURE ONE HERE
Value on path: standardized coefficients (β) “R2: Coefficient of determination, *p 0.05 **p <0.01 ***p<0.000.”

Mathematical Model
OIBB = β0+β1 (WQ) + β2 (USFN) + β3 (EOU) + β4 (ENT) + β5 (CR) + β6 (SP) + β7 (UCC) + ε
4. Research Design and Methodology
4.1 Procedure
This study intends to investigate how website quality affects consumers’ OIBB with moderator
variables such as sales promotion and credit card use. To identify the qualified respondents in
this environment, we used a questionnaire that was originally developed in English, but
converted into Chinese and then back-translated into English to cross check the validity of
translation; subsequently, ICTC, BUPT (International Chinese Training Center, Beijing
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University of Posts and Telecommunications) compared it with the original questionnaire. The
ICTC selected 10 students at the master’s and PhD levels, for pretesting and to ensure the
accuracy of the translation. Thereafter, these students discussed the interpretation and clarity
with two Chinese teachers (who taught Chinese language to international students) and with the
research team to discuss and suggest improvement.

Since this study aims to assess consumer behavior with respect to online impulse buying, an
experienced sample would be preferable in this situation. Therefore, respondents were asked to
reflect on a recent online impulse shopping in an online store within the last four months. The
main aim for this manipulation is to explain a memory or clear picture for the participants to
serve as the basis for completion of the survey. This manipulation would assure that all
participants are consistent in reflecting their perceived experience across the defined constructs
in the study model. Without this manipulation, participants might be mislaid their focus for
trying to reflect perceived experience from various distinct implsive buying environment in a
mixed approach. This effort could minimize the bias in the process of data collection.
Questionnaires are filled by individuals who used one or more of the online shopping web portal
operating in China (jd.com, taobao.com, amazon.com, tmal.com, vip.com, bj.jumei.com, and so
on) in the last four months.

Data were collected using two methods; first, online survey, and second, paper questionnaire.
Online survey is the appropriate method to collect the experience of online impulse buyers.
However, in an online survey, problems related to random sampling survey always exist, because
many studies have used the self-selected sampling procedure for non-probability sampling, e.g.,
the convenience-sampling technique. This study tries to mitigate this problem by selecting the
participants randomly from many online community sources and selecting different time slots for
every community. Online survey was conducted for various bigger online communities at the
same time, including Wechat, facebook, linkedin, Sina Weibo, and QQ, as all Chinese
consumers use one or more of these social network applications. Twelve distinct time slots were
used in this study in terms of a two hours’ interval on daily basis for each community. We
haphazardly selected time slots on daily basis from each community for the sample. The online
survey was conducted between November and December 2016. The process covers a larger and
wider range of data sources to make the sample truly representative of its population. In order to
 motivate the online shoppers to participate in the survey, a reward system was offered. We
randomly selected 60 participants from the sample size and gave a reward of 10 RMB to each
participant after the survey. The participants were paid in terms of the identification of their
Wechat ID, which was obtained during the survey. Red envelope (红包) was used as a medium
to transfer money.
Online survey has some drawbacks, including data errors, questions complexity issues, limited
respondents, and technical issues. Considering all these issues, we also collected data through
paper questionnaire. Three metropolitan and demographically diversified cities of China—
Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing—were targeted for data collection. Most of the respondents of
this study comprised university students. In order to motivate the online shoppers to participate
in the survey, after collecting the data from each respondent, we gave one packet of chocolate
costing 10 RMB as a reward.
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In total, 1500 questionnaires were distributed among shoppers; we received 1350 back from
both online and offline sources, out of which 189 were not valid, which further reduced our
sample size to 1161. We tested the difference of respondents’ features including age, gender, and
online shopping experience for paper and online questionnaires to eliminate the sample problem
of assuring average web users. χ2 statistic was used for testing their difference. Test statistics
reported that there is no significant difference between the online and paper questionnaire
samples at the 0.05 level (χ2 = 1.80, 196, and 2.04), and this problem does not occur in the online
samples.
4.2 Measurement of Variables
The scale used in this study first finds out the demographic trends of respondents. Demographic
information includes the basic information about the shoppers’ personal features in online
impulse buying, such as age, gender, education, and impulse experience. This study used existing
authenticated scales; a survey method was used to collect the data and test the hypotheses. This
study’s instrumentation comprised two scales: (1) nominal scale; and (2) five-point Likert scale
(1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). All items were adopted from previous studies:
Impulse buying behavior (Rood and Fisher, 1995) contains 9 items; Website quality comprises
36 items (Loiacono et al., 2007); and four major parts, including usefulness, ease of use,
entertainment, and complementary relation. Sales promotion (Badgaiyan, 2015; Karbasivar and
Yarahmadi, 2011; Youn and Faber, 2000) contains three items. Finally, credit card use
(Badgaiyan, 2015; Karbasivar and Yarahmadi, 2011) contains three items. A total number of 51
items were yielded.

5 Data Analysis and Results

The current study obtained significant results analyzed by different tools to explore how website
quality affects OIBB with two moderators: sales promotion and credit card use. First, a pretest
was piloted for the validation of scale. The study scale was carefully assessed by elected
academicians and practitioners, and included wording, contents, translation, and structure.
Unrotated factor analysis was used to identify the common method bias, convergent validity,
discriminant validity. The reliability was measured by Cronbach’s alpha. Furthermore, minimum
 to maximum item loading, Average Variance Extracted and minimum item to total correlations
were examined before employing CFA analysis for authenticating the measurement values
(Tables II. and III.). Moderation hypotheses were tested using a three-step moderation regression
analysis (Tables IV. & V).
Demographic characteristics include gender, age, education, occupation, and online impulse
buying experiences. All participants contributed voluntarily in the survey. Results demonstrated
that majority of respondents were female (78%), and most of the respondents are younger
consumers aged 20–25 (40.9%). Almost all participants were students (79.7%) belonging to
bachelors and masters level. Approximately 93% respondents declared that they have
experienced online impulse buying.
Table I showed the common method bias from unrotated factor analysis. In a data set, which may
encounter the issue of common method bias, we do identify a single factor that explains majority
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of the variance (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The current study used subjective measures for many
structural relationships, such as antecedents of website quality (exogenous variables) and OIBB
(endogenous variable). Several scholars have addressed the common method variance issue by
using Harman’s single factor test technique (Podsakoff et al., 2003). We included all items from
all of the constructs in the relationship structure for an unrotated factor analysis to determine
whether the majority of the variance cannot be accounted for by one general factor (i.e., more
than 50% variance accounted for). The unrotated factor analysis can extract many factors
(variables) from all measured items and suggest the variance explained by each of these factors.
The results of unrotated factors analysis show that the dependent and independent variables
extracted dissimilar factors from the results of this analysis. Table I showed no single factor
having variance more than 50%. The first factor is impulse buying behavior with 29.2% of
variance explained. Therefore, the results showed that there is no issue regarding common
method bias. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to assess the measurement model. The
findings show outstanding model fit indices: CMIN/df: 2.323, p = 0.001, CFI = 0.987, GFI =
0.991, AGFI = 0.982, NFI = .0962, RMSEA = 0.031, RMR = 0.04. All values of the CFA
analysis meet the threshold value and show satisfactory properties (see Table VI).
Table I.

Outcomes of common methods bias from unrotated factor analysis.

% of
Factor Eigenvalue Variance Cumulative %
IBB 2.42 29.2 29.2
SP 2.1 19.5 48.7
UCC 1.81 15.8 64.5
USFN 1.67 12.3 76.8
EOU 1.19 9.2 86.0
ENT 1.11 8.4 94.4
CR 0.70 5.6 100
 Multicollinearities were examined in this study by using Variance Inflation Factor (VIF)
analyzed by an SPSS. The values of VIFs are 3.40 (impulse buying behavior), 2.34 (sales
promotion), 2.12 (credit card use), 3.35, 2.54, 4.53, and 3.60 (usefulness, ease of use,
entertainment, and complementary relation for website quality, respectively); all values are
below the threshold value of 10 (Diamantopoulos and Siguaw, 2006). Another way to verify the
model fit is to assess the difference between the estimated and observed correlation/covariance
matrix with χ2 statistics (Hair et al., 2010). The implied null hypotheses are that the estimated
and the observed covariance matrices are equal, which means the model fits the data absolutely.
Further, validity and reliability were calculated in the measurement model. Cronbach’s alpha and
composite reliability were used for examining the reliability. According to Chin (1998), the
acceptable values for both should be > 0.80. Convergent validity and discriminant validity were
used to assess the validity of scales. Convergent validity is evaluated using three criteria: (1) item
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loading (λ) higher than 0.70 and it should be significant; (2) composite reliability for every
construct and it should be higher than 0.80 and explain the same as Cronbach’α reliability; and (3)
average variance extracted (AVE) should be larger than .50 (Hair et al., 2010). Finally,
discriminant validity is evaluated by using the comparison between square root of average (AVE)
for each construct and its squared correlations with all constructs. The value of AVE should be
larger than its correlations (Hair et al., 2010).

Table II shows the values of reliability (α) and convergent validity. The values of item loadings
of all constructs are higher than 0.70, the value of composite reliability is higher than 0.8 and it
ranges from 0.81 to 0.9, the value of Cronbach’s α is larger than 0.80 and it ranges from 0.80 to
0.90, and all values of AVE are larger than 0.50 and ranges from 0.72 to 0.88. Overall, the
results of Table II report high level of reliability and outstanding convergent validity AVE >.05,
CR >0.80, α >0.80. For the assessment of sampling adequacy, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test
was utilized. The value of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) ranges from 0.689 to 0.871; thus, it is
valid with threshold value >0.5 for KMO test (Hair et al., 2010). For discriminant validity, Table
III reports that the square root of AVE for construct is greater than its cross constructs’ square
correlations.
Table II.
Descriptive Statistics, Reliability and Convergent Validity, (n= 1161)
Item Composite
Constructs Items Mean S.D. AVE Cronbach'α
Loading Reliability
Impulse Buying Behavior (IBB) 9 3.7282 .62760 0.80-0.91 0.80 0.88 0.90
Store Promotion (SP) 3 3.5446 1.03508 0.81-0.94 0.91 0.83 0.86
Use of Credit Card (UCC) 3 3.5487 .86688 0.78-0.88 0.81 0.81 0.84
Usefulness (USFN) 12 3.5136 .92397 0.78-0.91 0.87 0.80 0.81
Ease of Use (EOU) 6 3.4301 1.00340 0.81-0.91 0.88 0.72 0.88
Entertainment (ENT) 9 3.5675 .83409 0.88-0.95 0.92 0.72 0.80
Complimentary Relation (CR) 9 3.6270 .79801 0.76-0.88 0.92 0.69 0.89

Table III.
Discriminant validity, (n= 1161)
 Constructs KMO IBB SP UCC UFLN EOU ENT CR
IBB 0.789 (0.93)
SP 0.871 0.511 (0.91)
UCC 0.689 0.481 0.590 (0.90)
USFN 0.811 0.427 0.486 0.314 (0.89)
EOU 0.743 0.569 0.522 0.552 0.499 (0.84)
ENT 0.719 0.322 0.403 0.611 0.362 0.507 (0.84)
CR 0.819 0.431 0.505 0.535 0.464 0.421 0.583 (0.83)
Note: The brackets () scores diagonal are the square root of AVEs of the individual constructs. Non-diagonal values are cross
construct squared correlations.

5.1 Hypotheses Testing Results

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A structural relationship model was built to assess the associative relationships among all the
constructs in the current study model. CFA and structure equation modeling (SEM) were used to
evaluate the structure model. The estimated coefficient of determination collected from the SEM
analysis was similar to that found in the regression analysis. Figure 1 depicts the results of the
structural model.
This study demonstrates some interesting results while testing the hypotheses. Usefulness
(β=0.165, p <0.000), Ease of Use (β=0.214, p <0.000), Entertainment (β=0.153, p <0.05), and
Complementary Relations (β=0.360, p <.0.05) were indicated as important antecedents of website
quality. H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 were all substantiated. First, we elucidate the hypotheses testing
the direct effects with OIBB. Website quality with the four combined antecedents has a
significant positive impact on online impulse buying (R2 = .490 with β =.718, p<0.001; t-value =
13.221), which means 49% of variance in the dependent variable OIBB is explained by website
quality, Hypothesis 1 is thus supported. Before using sales promotion and credit card use as
moderators, the study checked their direct effect on OIBB. Sales promotion showed a significant
effect on online impulse buying R2 = 0.510 (β=0.316; p <0.05; t-value = 4.568). Hypothesis 2 is also
supported. H4 was also supported as credit card use was found to have positive and significant
impact on OIBB (R2 = .525 (β=.119; p <0.000; t-value = 7.870)).

Table IV. The Moderation Analysis of Sales Promotion

β t-value F R2 Adjusted R2 ∆R2
WQ 0.718*** 13.221 1114.38** 0.490 0.490 0.490***
SP 0.316** 4.568 603.72*** 0.510 0.514 0.020***
WQ✕SP 0.430*** 2.261 405.61*** 0.513 0.522 0.003***
Notes: F- statistics are for overall models. WQ = website quality, SP = sales promotion, Dependent
variable = Online impulse buying behavior. Control variables are age, gender, education and occupation.
*p<0.05, **p<0.001, ***p<0.0001

Table V. The Moderation of Analysis Use of Credit Card

β t-value F R2 Adjusted R2 ∆R2

WQ 0.718*** 13.221 1114.38** 0.490 0.490 0.490***
 UCC 0.119*** 7.870 642.94** 0.526 0.525 0.036**
WQ✕UCC 0.566*** 3.894 438.69*** 0.532 0.531 0.006***
Notes: F- statistics are for overall models. WQ = website quality, UCC = use of credit card, Dependent
variable = Online impulse buying. Control variables are age, gender, education and occupation. *p<0.05,
**p<0.001, ***p<0.0001

The results of the moderation effect are showed in Tables IV & V. Three steps were utilized
during the hierarchical moderation analysis. In the first step, the endogenous variable OIBB is
regressed on the website quality as the exogenous variable. This is followed by the second
regression step of OIBB with the moderator variable, sales promotion. In the last step, an
interaction term obtained by multiplying exogenous variable with moderator variable is also
entered. In order to avoid the issue of multicollinearity stemming from correlation, these
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variables have their data mean centered (Aiken et al., 1991). The value of R2 of website quality
was .490. The coefficient value of sales promotion is .316, which means sales promotion has a
significant and positive relationship with OIBB. In third step, ∆R2 identified from the integration
term (website quality ✕ sales promotion) was .003. This implies website quality and sales
promotion explained additional 3% of variance in OIBB. The total effect of the interaction term
was R2=.513, which means both variables jointly explained 51.3% variance in OIBB (β=.430; p
2
<0.000, t-value = 2.261). The increase in R value from 0.510 to 0.513 depicts that there is a direct
and significant moderating effect of sales promotion (F = 405.61, p <0.000). Hypothesis 3 is
accepted (see table IV). Table V reports the moderation effects of credit card use. Credit card use
is an important variable that affects OIBB (β = .119). A significant interaction effect between
website quality and credit card use (β = 0.566; p <0.000, t-value = 3.894) on OIBB was found. The
interaction term, (website quality ✕ credit card use) ∆R2 = 0.006, was found which means
website quality and credit card use both explained additional 6% of variance in OIBB; thus, the
total effects of the interaction term and website quality jointly explained 53.2% of variance in the
dependent variable OIBB (R2 = 0.532 and β = 0.566). Similarly, the improved R2 from 0.526 to
0.532 also shows that there is a significant and direct moderation effect of credit card use (F =
438.69, p <0.000). Hypothesis 5 is also supported (see Table V). The above discussion and
statistics indicate the strong moderating roles of sales promotion and credit card use in the
relationship between website quality and OIBB.
Table VI. Fit indices for structure model
Fit indices χ2/df p-Value RMSEA RMR CFI GFI AGFI NFI
Recommend value <3 <0.05 <0.08 <0.08 > 0.90 > 0.90 > 0.80 > 0.90
Value in this study 2.323 0.001 0.031 0.04 0.98 0.99 0.98 0.96

5.2 Robustness Check Using Respondents’ Demographics as Control Variables

A common exercise in empirical studies is a “robustness check,” where the researcher examines
how certain “core” regression coefficient estimates behave when the regression specification is
modified by adding or removing regressors (Lu et al., 2014). We used respondents’
demographics to check the robustness of our results. For this analysis, all variables are regressed
in the model on age, gender, education, and online impulse buying experience. The inclusion of
 demographics as control variables confirms the previous results. All hypotheses of this study
remain significant.

6 Discussions, Implications, and Limitations

6.1 Major Findings
This section discusses the findings obtained by empirically analyzing the data along with their
alignment with previously conducted studies in other countries. This study intended to examine
the effect of website quality on OIBB along with the moderating effect of sales promotion and
credit card use on the relationship between website quality and OIBB. The results of our study
found that website quality positively and significantly influenced OIBB. The results of this study
are in line with the previous literature (Wells et al., 2011; Turkyilmaz et al., 2015; Verhagen and
Van Dolen, 2011; Liu et al., 2013; Wu et al., 2016, among others). The findings suggest that
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website quality is an important and critical element for determining OIBB, in addition to the
conventional shopping setting.

This study also revealed that sales promotion is an important factor to enhance OIBB as
consumers buy goods spontaneously ad immediately owing to sales promotion. The results
disclose that sales promotion has a positive and significant relationship with OIBB. Similar
findings were demonstrated by Badgaiyan et al., 2015; Hultén and Vanyushyn, 2014; Lo Yi-shih,
2016, among others. Sales promotion was examined to analyze the moderating effect. The
interaction term between sales promotion and website quality was significant. Furthermore, sales
promotion, as an active moderator, strongly influenced the relationship between website quality
and OIBB. The coefficient value of interaction term between website quality and OIBB was
positive. This result demonstrated that sales promotion strengthened the positive effect of
website quality on online impulse buying (see Figure 2). Developing influential online sales
promotion is highly advisable for e-retailers in China.
INSERT FIGURE 2 HERE
INSERT FIGURE 3 HERE
On the other hand, credit card use facilitates immediate purchase for consumers. This study
reported that credit card use positively and significantly influences online impulse buying. Our
findings are also supported by previously conducted studies (e.g., Badgaiyan et al., 2015;
Roberts and Jones, 2001; Karbasivar and Yarahmadi, 2011, among others). In China, customers
are encouraged to buy products through credit card and third-party payments over cash. The
interaction term between credit card use and website quality is also significant, resulting in a
significant and positive moderating role of credit card use in the relationship between website
quality and OIBB. The coefficient value of the interaction term is positive. This result indicates
that credit card use increases the positive effect of website quality on OIBB (see Figure 3).
6.2 Implications
The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, the
study has strengthened the existing knowledge in the fields of e-commerce, e-marketing, e-
retailing and related literature, by identifying and covering the gap between previous studies.
 Moreover, the study has used an integrated approach by considering many related factors like
sales promotion, website quality, and credit card use simultaneously. The study reveals that these
factors positively and significantly influence online impulse buying in the Chinese online retail
market. Specifically, the finding that credit card use and sales promotion play a critical and
moderating role in the relationship between website quality and online impulse shopping is
unique. Although some previously established studies have analyzed the direct effect of sales
promotion and credit card use in offline impulse buying settings, none of them have identified
their role as moderators.

Some practical implications are also found from the results. First, the current study states that
quality of website is positively and strongly linked to online impulse buying. Online shoppers
possess the dual nature of consumers and the users of website; thus, the design and quality of
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website should consider the characteristics of navigational structure, product information, and
user interface for shoppers to discover appropriate and suitable products for their needs. These
characteristics present an understandable logic of usefulness by shoppers with regard to
efficiency and effectiveness of their online buying process. As website quality is a major
determinant of online impulse shopping, online retailers should consider it vigorously. They
should focus more in improving the quality and design more effective web stores (e.g., designing
user friendly, ease-of-use, and visually appealing website and enhancing product category with
attractive, rich information about products, minimum response time, and trust) in order to
enhance impulse buying. Furthermore, flexible and traceable navigational structure along with
highly productive search engine is recommended. This will also help to enhance customers’ self-
efficacy of using or surfing shopping websites.

Last but not the least, webstores should present rich content of products needed by customers,
including product category, product specifications and information, substitutes, upcoming
products of the same brands, upcoming new brands for the same product, technical and
descriptive comparison of products, and users’ reviews. This will help retailers in triggering
impuse buying as well as help customers in their purchase decisions. A huge responsibility also
lies on the shoulders of web developers. Website developers could improve and add visual
appeals, emotional appeal, and innovative features for online web users to feel pleasing, creative,
and cheerful to stimulate online impulse shopping.
Moreover, sales promotion helps online retailers in devising marketing strategies accordingly
and influencing consumers’ purchase decision-making process. Specifically, while designing
online promotional strategy aimed at creating online sales, e-marketers should analyze the
potential shoppers’ behavior and devise strategies with respect to the frequency with which they
return to the web portal to shop. Chinese online sellers should consider the use of online
monetary sales promotions absolutely for novice users and non-monetary promotions for expert
web users to enhance online impulse shoppers. In order to encourage online impulse buying, e-
marketers may use strategies like cross-selling (stimulate online shoppers to purchase
 complementary and related products) and up-selling (motivating online shoppers to buy a
comparable higher-end product).
In the same vein, the moderating effect of credit card use influences the relation between website
quality and OIBB. Major obstacles in promoting credit card use for online shopping are privacy
and security concerns. E-retailers should be considerate in ensuring the safety of users. E-
retailers may introduce new schemes such as discounts on buying through credit card or on large
shopping. In this regard, the role of financial institutions is crucial to develop the habit of credit
card use widely. This will be a win-win situation for banks and e-retailers. Adopting most of the
recommendations suggested by this study, may help online businesses to get competitive
advantages. A point to be noted is that the findings of this study are not limited to Chinese e-
retailers only. These are equally beneficial to all online businesses operating worldwide. The
crux is to increase the catchability of websites, developing ease of use websites for e-shoppers,
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and facilitating easy mode of payment. Search engine optimization is also important. From the
perspective of search engine optimization, web developers may include the cross links. For
instance, it provides the visibility of maximum links of important pages, which may motivate the
online shopper to indulge in online impulse buying. Moreover, the writing content of keywords
and phrases that are frequently searched also play a vital role in stimulating online purchase.

6.3 Limitations and Opportunities

This study has identified some significant understanding about online impulse buying;
nevertheless, there are some limitations. Random sampling was used for this study; other
sampling techniques like quota and convenient sampling may produce some more valuable
insights. The current study focused on three big cities of China; future research may be
conducted in smaller cities and may include more cities to facilitate comparison of results.
Respondents of our study were mainly females (78%). This may raise concerns about evenly
gender distribution bias in the study’s finding. However, women are more likely to shop online
and this fact validates our findings.

This research can be extended using situational factors such as scarcity, serendipity, and personal
traits, cultural factors, and motivational and emotional factors to understand OIBB. Some
technology-based conceptions, such as a success model and flow experience (Wu et al., 2016),
can be used as alternatives to extend the present study. Finally, different results can be obtained
if the study is conducted exclusively on large-scale online shopping during Chinese festivals (e.g.,
6.18 mean 6 June, Double Eleven and Double Twelve). Social commerce platforms can also be
targeted for future research because they have different features compared to shopping websites
(Xiang et al., 2016; Victor Chen et al., 2016).

7 Concluding Remarks
Realizing the steep increase in online buying trend, the present study has explored the role of
website quality in triggering OIBB. The main aim was to analyze the above-stated relationship
after augmenting the roles of sales promotion and credit card use as moderators in the model.
 The study was conducted in China, the world’s leading emerging economy, having largest
number of netizens and online shoppers. Previously conducted studies on this topic have not
examined the roles of sales promotion and credit card use as moderators for OIBB from the
defined drivers. The current research has employed a well-established SEM after conducting
reliability and validity tests to validate the scale.

The proposed theoretical model was well supported empirically in terms of the major driver,
website quality, and the role of the moderators, sales promotion and credit card use. First, the
study presented a higher proportion (more than 90%) of online impulse shoppers from this
survey in China. The major findings of this study are as follows: OIBB is influenced by website
quality at large; sales promotions and credit card use are found to be efficient triggering elements
to enhance OIBB. The empirical analysis lead us to conclude that the effect of website quality
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becomes robust when it is supplemented with sales promotion and credit card use as moderators.
Further, the present study clearly concludes that online shopping portals can influence credit card
holders’ consciousness to buy impulsively when websites exhibit higher quality features
accompanied by sales promotion strategies.
Importantly, the integration approach of these issues in the current study provides a useful and
complete guide for impulsive shopping in Chinese online retailing. From a theoretical
perspective, this is the major contribution of the study. For practically triggering the stimuli of
OIBB among consumers, e-retailers should focus on three major issues: website quality, sales
promotion, and credit card use. Attributes of website designing would motivate OIBB of
shoppers in both affective and cognitive manner, or in both the external operational environment
and individuals’ internal psychological state, as discussed earlier.
Acknowledgments
The authors want to extend their gratitude towards the editor and the anonymous reviewers for
their indispensable and valuable suggestions and comments that improved the quality of the
paper significantly. Furthermore, they thank Prof. Song Qing Qing for helping in translation of
the survey questionnaire and Dr. Hassan Rasool, for his valuable suggestions.

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 .316**
Usefullness Sales Promotions H2
.165***

.430***

Ease of Use .214*** H3

.718***
Website Quality H1
Online Impulse
.153**
Buying Behavior
Entertainement H5
.360** .566***
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Model fit indices: CMIN/df: 2.323,

p = 0.001, CFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.99, .119***
Complementary
AGFI = 0.98, NFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.031, Use of Credit Card H4
Relationship RMR = 0.04

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework with results

Figure II. Moderation Plot of Sales Promotion

4.5 4.464
Online Impulse Buying

3.5
Low SP
3 2.972

2.5
2.396 High SP
2.168
2

1.5

1
Low Website Quality High Website Quality

Figure III. Moderation Plot of Credit Card Use

 5

4.5
4.403
Online Impulse Buying

3.5
Low
3 3.033 UCC
2.729
2.5 High
UCC
2
1.835
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1.5

1
Low Website Quality High Website Quality