From Click to Regret: how Influencer Cues Drive Impulse Buying and Return Intention in Apparel Social Commerce

Abstract Book of the 11th International Conference on Research in Business, Management and Economics

Year: 2026

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From Click to Regret: how Influencer Cues Drive Impulse Buying and Return Intention in Apparel Social Commerce

Prof. Dr. Chien-Wen Chen

ABSTRACT:

Although influencer marketing in apparel social commerce can shorten the path from content exposure to purchase, it can also have a costly emotional and operational aftermath when consumers later reconsider their purchase and decide to return the item. This study explains the ‘click-to-regret’ pattern by developing and testing an extended Stimulus-Organism-Response framework that connects influencer and content cues to purchase-stage emotions and post-purchase appraisal processes. The model considers visual appeal and characteristics of the influencer, such as similarity, expertise, and physical attractiveness, as stimuli that influence organismic states such as parasocial interaction, pleasure, arousal, and the tendency to make impulse purchases. It also links these states to responses ranging from impulse buying to product and emotional dissonance, as well as the intention to return the product. The Mehrabian Russell model is used to theorize pleasure and arousal as the key emotional pathways through which influencer stimuli translate into impulsive action. Meanwhile, Appraisal Theory of Emotion is employed to explain why the meaning of the same purchase can shift after delivery, generating dissonance and motivating return intentions. An online survey of 493 social media users who had purchased apparel based on digital influencer recommendations was used to analyze the proposed relationships using PLS-SEM and mediation tests. The results show that visual appeal increases arousal and pleasure, and that similarity, expertise, and the influencer’s physical attractiveness strengthen parasocial interaction. While parasocial interaction heightens arousal and the tendency to impulse buy, it does not directly predict impulse buying. Instead, impulse buying is primarily driven by pleasure and the tendency to impulse buy, with arousal exerting its influence mainly through pleasure. Post-purchase outcomes follow a sequential mechanism consistent with appraisal-based coping: impulse buying increases product dissonance; product dissonance increases emotional dissonance; and emotional dissonance is the key predictor of return intention. Several effects operate as full mediation chains rather than direct paths.
Shifting the theoretical lens from conversion to the full customer journey, including the returns stage, clarifies how influencer-induced excitement can transform into regret-related emotions and return intentions. It also highlights levers for fashion managers to balance stimulating content with expectation management and post-purchase support to reduce dissonance.

Keywords: Influencer Marketing; Apparel Social Commerce; Impulse Buying; Pleasure And Arousal; Post-Purchase Dissonance; Return Intention