Effects of Kol Ewom and Social Media Marketing on Consumer Impulse Purchasing and Flow Experience

With the rapid growth of social media and influencer marketing, KOLs have become central actors in shaping consumers’ online purchasing behavior. Building on the literature on eWOM, social media marketing, impulse buying, flow experience, behavioral intention, and customer satisfaction, this study develops and empirically tests a research framework examining how KOL-related communication and consumer psychological states jointly influence e-commerce outcomes. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire using multi-item Likert scales to measure KOL eWOM, KOL social media marketing, impulse buying, flow experience, behavioral intention, and customer satisfaction. The results show that all the proposed hypotheses are supported. KOL eWOM has a significant positive effect on KOL social media marketing, which significantly influences impulse buying, flow experience, and behavioral intention. Flow experience exerts significant positive effects on impulse buying and behavioral intention, whereas impulse buying further strengthens behavioral intention. These findings indicate that credible and persuasive KOL eWOM enhances the effectiveness of social media marketing and that engaging, interactive, and entertaining KOL content can simultaneously trigger impulsive purchase tendencies and immersive flow states. In addition, flow experience functions as a key psychological mechanism linking KOL social media activities to both immediate and future consumer behaviors. Overall, the study highlights the interactive roles of KOL eWOM, social media marketing strategies, and flow experience in shaping online purchase behavior and customer satisfaction. It also offers managerial implications for e-commerce firms seeking to leverage KOLs to build long-term, value-generating customer relationships