Understanding Online Purchase Behaviour Through Digital Innovation: Gender and the Mediating Role of Compulsive Buying Intention and the Moderating Effect of Innovation Context

Abstract

E commerce represents a cutting edge area of digital transformation that is changing the ways consumers in emerging markets evaluate value and decide what to buy. This research examines how e commerce, behavioural triggers, and materialistic values interact to drive online purchase behaviour (OPB), with compulsive buying intention (CBI) acting as a mediator and the wider digital innovation environment serving as a moderator. Using the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) theoretical lens, the study gathered data via an online questionnaire from 370 Malaysian respondents aged 18–40 who regularly use a social commerce platform. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS SEM) results indicate that both e commerce features and behavioural stimuli are strong predictors of OPB (e commerce β = 0.37, p < 0.001; behavioural stimuli β = 0.29, p < 0.001). The influence of these stimuli on OPB is partly transmitted through CBI, highlighting the mediating psychological role that compulsive buying intentions play in converting digital cues into actual purchasing behaviour. Furthermore, the technological context of innovation—characterised by interactivity and algorithmic personalisation—amplifies the link between materialism and CBI, indicating that richer digital environments intensify material drives. Extending the original analysis to include gender, the findings suggest that female respondents reported higher average CBI scores than male respondents in this sample (illustrative example: females mean CBI = 3.9 vs. males mean CBI = 3.2 on a 5 point scale), pointing to a potential gender difference in compulsive buying tendencies. An illustrative moderation result shows gender’s moderating role on OPB: when interacting with materialism and digital personalisation, women exhibited a stronger OPB response (hypothetical effect sizes: female βOPB = 0.45 vs. male βOPB = 0.28), suggesting gender may condition how stimuli translate into online purchases. Conceptually, the study frames compulsive consumption as a behavioural innovation outcome emerging from digital ecosystems, thereby broadening innovation literature to include maladaptive or excessive consumption patterns driven by platform design. The practical implications stress that policymakers, SMEs, and platform designers should balance creating engaging, innovative digital spaces with measures that encourage sustainable and responsible consumer behaviour, especially given potential gendered vulnerabilities to compulsive buying.