Is ‘she’ more impulsive (to pleasure) than ‘him’ during livestream e-commerce shopping?

Retailers are increasingly looking at leveraging new digital platforms like livestream commerce to generate quick or impulsive purchases in order to survive the intense competition and discover effective alternative ways to boost their profits. Impulsive purchases by consumers make up a significant portion of the overall consumer market and are a key source of income for retailers. In response to particular consumer actions, genders exhibit various attitudes and behaviors, which require businesses to adapt their strategies to engage the audience better. This study aims (1) to have a holistic understanding of the determinants of perceived hedonic value resulting in impulsive buying behavior in the livestream e-commerce context, and (2) to determine whether gender moderates the relationship between hedonic value, impulsive buying behavior, and user stickiness. An online survey was conducted to collect data using a structured questionnaire. The survey resulted in 335 valid responses from active livestream e-commerce users. The data were analyzed to test hypotheses using SMART-PLS software. The findings indicate (1) all selected livestream e-commerce factors result in the generation of perceived hedonic value, (2) the perceived hedonic value consequently results in impulsive buying behavior and user stickiness, (3) gender moderates the relationship between perceived hedonic value and impulsive buying behavior but not user stickiness, and (4) female consumers are more susceptible to the perceived hedonic value resulting in impulsive buying behavior. The study advances past efforts in investigating antecedents of impulsive buying behavior in livestream commerce. The originality of this study also relates to revealing the moderating effect of gender in perceived hedonic value-based impulsive buying.