When Social Cues Ease the Pain of Paying: The Role of Self-Construal in Online Shopping

This study examines the effects of social cues in online shopping environments on consumer purchases, investigates the underlying psychological mechanisms, and examines the role of consumers’ self-construal. To this end, we conducted one field study in an actual online shopping environment and two experimental studies. The field study revealed increases in actual product purchases and sales revenue following the introduction of a purchase-count social cue. Study 1 (n = 83) supported a sequential indirect effect whereby additional social cues were associated with reduced perceived uncertainty, lower pain of paying, and higher purchase intention. Study 2 (n = 146), which examined the role of temporarily activated self-construal, revealed that these effects were stronger in the interdependent self-construal condition than in the independent self-construal condition. This study provides field evidence of changes in actual purchase behavior following the introduction of social cues and identifies perceived uncertainty and the pain of paying as underlying psychological mechanisms, alongside the role of self-construal, thereby offering both theoretical and practical implications for research on online consumer behavior.