When influencers feel like friends: parasocial relationships and impulse buying tendency in live shopping

Purpose This study aims to examine susceptibility to impulse buying among Generation Z consumers in live shopping. It focuses on perceived value, serendipity and perceived scarcity and assesses whether their associations with impulse buying tendency vary across parasocial relationships and self-esteem. Design/methodology/approach Survey data from 1,489 Portuguese Generation Z consumers were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to estimate prediction-oriented associations among marketplace cues, parasocial relationships, self-esteem and impulse buying tendency. Findings Perceived value, serendipity and perceived scarcity were positively associated with impulse buying tendency. Parasocial relationships strengthened the associations involving perceived value and serendipity, but not perceived scarcity. Self-esteem weakened the associations between all three cues and impulse buying tendency. This pattern suggests that relational attachment and self-evaluation condition consumer susceptibility in live shopping. Practical implications Live shopping strategies should emphasise credible value communication, discovery-oriented presentation and transparent scarcity claims. Influencer relationships may increase responsiveness to value and discovery cues, making authenticity, disclosure and consumer autonomy important design considerations. Social implications The study positions live shopping as a social environment in which commercial persuasion is shaped by relational attachment and self-evaluation. This raises concerns for young consumers’ autonomy and wellbeing when value, discovery and scarcity cues are reinforced by influencer intimacy. Ethical live commerce should support transparency, credible host conduct and reflective consumption. Originality/value The study advances impulse buying research by moving beyond an additive account of marketplace cues to an account of consumer susceptibility in live shopping. It shows that similar live shopping cues are associated with different levels of impulse buying tendency depending on consumers’ parasocial attachment and self-esteem. Using Identity-Based Motivation as a conceptual lens, the article offers an identity-oriented interpretation of why marketplace cues may become more salient for some consumers than for others.