电商直播信息密度与“冲动购买”：信息过载的倒U型检验

Information Density in Live-Streaming E-Commerce and Impulse Buying: A Test of the Inverted U-Shaped Information Overload Hypothesis

摘要: 随着电商直播的快速兴起，消费者在观看过程中展现出强烈的冲动购买行为。然而，现有研究多关注主播特征、促销手段等显性刺激因素，较少探讨信息环境本身的影响机制。本文以“信息密度”为核心变量，结合信息过载理论与S-O-R模型，构建了“电商直播信息密度–冲动购买”之间的倒U型理论模型。研究认为：适度的信息密度有助于激发消费者的情绪唤起和感知信任，从而提升冲动购买倾向；而当信息密度超过个体认知处理阈值时，将引发信息过载，抑制消费者的即时购买行为。该模型揭示了信息刺激在行为转化中的非线性路径，丰富了冲动购买与信息处理领域的理论建构，并为平台与商家优化直播信息设计提供了理论依据。最后，文章讨论了模型的边界条件及未来研究方向。

Abstract: With the rapid rise of livestreaming commerce, consumers are increasingly exhibiting impulsive buying behavior during live broadcasts. However, existing research has mainly focused on explicit stimuli such as streamer characteristics and promotional tactics, while paying insufficient attention to the influence of the information environment itself. This study introduces “information density” as a core contextual variable and draws upon information overload theory and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework to construct a theoretical inverted U-shaped model between information density and impulsive buying in livestream shopping. The model suggests that moderate information density enhances emotional arousal and perceived trust, thereby stimulating impulsive buying tendencies. In contrast, excessive information density exceeds consumers’ cognitive processing capacity, triggers information overload, and ultimately suppresses impulsive behavior. This study reveals a nonlinear pathway by which information stimuli affect consumer behavior, contributes to the literature on impulsive buying and information processing, and offers theoretical implications for optimizing information presentation strategies in livestream commerce. Finally, the paper discusses boundary conditions and directions for future research.