The Impact of Short-video Platforms on Teenagers' Impulsive Consumption Decisions from the Perspective of Behavioral Economics

With the rapid growth of short-video platforms such as TikTok, which had 1.5 billion users by 2023 and an average daily usage time of 95 minutes among teenagers, public concerns are growing that these platforms use cognitive biases (scarcity, hedonic motives, social identity) to drive teenagers' impulsive consumption. From the perspective of behavioral economics, this study investigated how those platforms amplify impulsive purchases among teenagers. Using a comprehensive dataset from Vietnam, Nigeria and Ghana, the following four hypotheses were tested: 1. Ordinary least square regression versus heteroscedasticity-consistent standard errors (H1: usage intensity), 2. hierarchical analysis of variance (H2: exposure to scarce content), 3. bootstrapped mediation (H3: hedonic motivation), and 4. robust regression /Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test (H4: Social identity). The results proved all the hypotheses: the intensity of platform usage has a significant predictive effect on the frequency of impulse purchases; deprivation exposure significantly increased impulsivity; hedonic motivation mediated 29% of the use intensity effect; and social identity increased the advantage of group consumption by 7.53 times. Most importantly, platform characteristics (usage intensity, scarcity exposure, hedonic motivation, and social proof) could explain 52% of the variance and outweighed demographic factors (income and gender). The conclusion is that algorithm design that utilizes cognitive biases, compared with traditional marketing, greatly stimulates the impulse consumption behavior of teenagers. In the future, shopping content with age restrictions, bias awareness prompts, and regulatory requirements for algorithmic transparency need to be included to mitigate the risk of overconsumption.