Short Attention or Smart Persuasion: Influencer-Led D2C Marketing and the Transformation of Consumer Choice

This study examines the influence of reduced attention span on purchase intention in the digital marketing environment. With the rapid growth of social media, mobile applications, and short-form content platforms, consumers increasingly exhibit fragmented and limited attention, raising questions about how persuasion operates under such conditions. Drawing on Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) theory and heuristic processing theory, this research proposes that reduced attention span influences purchase intention both directly and indirectly through engagement and impulse buying. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analysed using SPSS and Hayes’ PROCESS Model 4 with a sample size of 250 respondents. Reliability and validity of the constructs were established using Cronbach’s alpha and correlation analysis. Regression and mediation analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses. The results show that reduced attention span significantly predicts engagement, impulse buying and purchase intention. More importantly, both engagement and impulse buying significantly mediate the relationship between reduced attention span and purchase intention. The findings demonstrate that in digital environments, low attention does not weaken marketing effectiveness but shifts decision-making toward emotional and impulsive pathways. This study contributes to digital consumer behaviour theory and provides practical guidance for marketers, platform designers, and policy makers.