From emotional arousal to diminished cognitive control: How configurations of beauty streamer characteristics shape consumer impulse buying

In live streaming e-commerce, streamer characteristics represent a key external stimulus that shapes consumers’ impulse buying. Prior research has predominantly examined the effects of isolated streamer characteristics on impulse buying. However, limited attention has been paid to how configurations of streamer characteristics jointly stimulate the psychological mechanisms that underlie impulse buying. To address this gap, this study develops an integrated framework grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model and dual-system theory. Drawing on survey data from 325 consumers, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is employed to identify configurations of beauty streamer characteristics that elicit consumer emotional arousal and diminished cognitive control. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is subsequently employed to examine the relationships between these configurations, emotional arousal, diminished cognitive control, and impulse buying. The results indicate that no single streamer characteristic constitutes a necessary condition for high emotional arousal or diminished cognitive control. Instead, three distinct configurations lead to high emotional arousal (Expert type, Entertainment type, and Basic type), and three configurations lead to high diminished cognitive control (Expert type, Comprehensive type, and Basic type). Emotional arousal and diminished cognitive control are key factors influencing impulse buying. Higher emotional arousal is also associated with greater diminution of cognitive control. Furthermore, beauty streamers of the Expert, Entertainment, and Basic types are crucial in eliciting consumer emotional arousal. These findings provide useful managerial guidance for beauty streamers, beauty brands and merchants, as well as for platform operations.