DETERMINANTS OF ONLINE IMPULSE BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF GENERATION Z

- THE CASE OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Marina Mijoska
Professor at Faculty of Economics - Skopje
[email protected]

Kalina Trenevska Blagoeva

Professor at Faculty of Economics - Skopje
[email protected]

Marija Trpkova-Nestorovska
Professor at Faculty of Economics - Skopje
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of impulse buying has been attracting the attention of researchers and
practitioners worldwide for decades and it continues to attract attention in e-commerce domain
in recent years. However, there are few studies on the determinants of online impulse buying
behavior of young consumers especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study research
aims to fill this gap and explore the influencing factors on young consumers' impulsive behaviour
while online in North Macedonia. Followed by the accelerated growth of e-commerce in North
Macedonia especially during and after pandemic, the interest on impulse buying behaviour of
online consumers has increased from marketing and business perspective. This study examines
the crucial factors impacting consumers online impulse buying behaviour based on the extended
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A survey was conducted via an online questionnaire,
among 151 young respondents from March to May 2023. Demographic data was collected as
well as data considering shopping online habits and structure of goods/services shopped online.
The basic constructs of the initial model, such as perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness,
attitude towards use, were examined. Specific new constructs of interest were added in the
research such as individual characteristics (impulsiveness) and environment mainly including
website quality measured by several features in relation to impulse buying. The data analysis
supports the presumption that personal tendency to buy on impulse is the most significant
predictor of impulse buying intention online. The model developed in this study provides relevant
theoretical and practical implications by confirming that some of the tested factors are critical in
online impulsive buying behaviour of generation Z consumers in a developing country context.
Findings can be instrumental in the context of web design and choice of products and/or services
to be offered as items for impulse buyers in North Macedonia.

Key words: Consumer Behavior, E-commerce, Generation Z, Impulse Buying, North Macedonia

JEL classification: D12, D91, L81, O33

1. INTRODUCTION
Impulse buying behaviour as a specific type of shopping behaviour cannot be defined by one
single widely accepted definition. However, most of the definitions are similar and contain the
same focal point – buying action (offline and online) that is not well considered. A very
comprehensive review of the concepts and definitions of impulse buying can be found in the
paper of Muruganantham and Bhakat (2013) and Iyer et al. (2020). In the earlier studies, the
consumer and her personality qualities were not considered as a factor influencing spontaneous
purchases. The classification of a purchase as planned or impulse began with the Stern’s (1962)
study where he provided the basics by dividing impulse buying behaviour as pure impulse
buying, reminder impulse buying, suggestion impulse buying and planned impulse buying (the
so-called impulse mix). Planned action involve time-consuming information-searching with
rational decision making, whereas unplanned buying refers to all shopping decisions made
without any advance planning. However, impulse buying is different from the unplanned buying
in terms of very sudden decision making, a sudden, strong, and irresistible urge to buy.
Researchers in the last 2-3 decades were focused on individual impulsivity by looking into the
numerous behavioural characteristics of impulse purchase, as well. Prior to Rook's (1987)
groundbreaking work, descriptions of impulse buying were mostly concerned with the product
characteristics when predicting a purchase. According to Rook (1987), when buyers make an
impulse purchase, they are overcome by an immediate, intense, and enduring desire. He defined
the act of impulse buying as an unintentional, non-reflective reaction that happens quickly after
being exposed to retail stimuli. He points out that “impulse buying occurs when consumers
experience sudden, generally powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately” (Rock,
1987). Authors Rook and Gardner (1993) state that impulse buying is an unexpected action
characterized by hasty decision-making and a propensity for fast product acquisition.
Impulse buying has been studied from two key perspectives: the state of mind created by the
shopping environment (Rook, 1987) or a specific personality trait inherent to the individual
consumer (Rook and Fisher, 1995). Most of the researchers agree that impulse buying of the
shopper is influenced by number of factors which could be either related to the shopping
environment (web site quality in our research), shopper’s personal traits, product itself and the
diverse demographic and socio-cultural aspects. Various factors include advertising, product
placement, peer pressure, limited time offers, and the consumer's mood or emotional state at the
time of the purchase. The interaction effect of the factors is also important. The marketing and
retail environments are tied to external stimuli. While the marketing environment consists of
numerous sales and advertising activities, the retail environments comprise store size,
atmosphere, design, and format. Internal stimuli are related to the various personality-related
variables that define an individual. The internal cues and traits that an individual has that cause
him or her to make impulse purchases are known as internal factors of impulse buying. Rook
(1987) suggested that consumer impulsivity is a lifestyle which can be linked to materialism,
sensation seeking, and recreational aspects of shopping. Hausman (2000) wrote that impulse
buying is a hedonic need mainly influenced by achievement of higher order needs loosely
grouped around Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Products that relate to an experience and have
symbolic meanings are purchased impulsively because of emotional preferences of shoppers.
Demographics (gender, age) and socio-cultural (income, education, religion) factors are studied
as well and proven to be important.
It is expected that e-commerce will reach 25% of the total retail sales worldwide by 2026 (Atkins,
2023). Online impulse buying is the practice of making impulsive purchases through digital
channels without much thought or care. Consumers are exposed to a wide range of goods and
services because to the accessibility and ease of internet shopping, which might result in
impulsive purchases. When a person is surfing websites, social media platforms, or online
marketplaces, they may experience alluring product adverts, unique discounts, or persuasive
marketing strategies, which might lead to online impulsive buying. Impulsive buying is made
easier by the simplicity of internet transactions, one-click purchases, and saved payment
information. Additionally, internet merchants frequently use a variety of strategies like flash
deals, limited time offers, or personalized recommendations based on browsing history. The
emotional condition of the consumer, the need for rapid gratification, the joy of finding a great
deal, the effect of online peer recommendations or influencers’ advice and suggestions, and the
simplicity of online pricing and product comparison are all factors pro-online impulsive buying.
It's important to remember that internet shopping's convenience and the ability to research
products beforehand by comparing costs and reading reviews can help consumers make better
judgments, which lowers the probability of making impulsive purchases.
The Chan et al. (2017) paper provides a very thorough survey of the literature examining online
impulse purchase. Existing studies of online impulse buying have consistently examined the
connections between environmental cues, consumers' cognitive and affective reactions, and the
resulting behaviour. They have largely referred to the environmental psychology paradigm,
which is compatible with the S (which is a trigger that arouses consumers)-O (which is an
internal evaluation of consumers)-R (which is an outcome of consumers’ reaction) framework.
The Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm and a comprehensive analysis of studies on online
impulse buying are used by the authors to pinpoint and categorize the variables influencing this
behaviour. Elements of online convenience serve as stimuli, influencing consumers' cognitive
and affective attitudes (organism) and resulting customers' online impulsive purchasing
behaviour (response). The literature divides stimuli into two categories: object stimuli or external
and social psychological stimuli, or internal. The external stimuli were website stimuli, marketing
stimuli, and situational stimuli. The internal stimuli were inherent consumer characteristics.
There are two types of organisms (O): cognitive and affective (emotional). Affective reactions
are the emotional responses that arise when consumers interact with an environment (Wu and Ye,
2013). Cognitive reactions are the mental processes that occur when consumers interact with
stimuli; they take place when consumers become aware of potential constraints during the online
IB process (Parboteeah et al., 2009).
Based on this, the goal of this research is focused on the determinants of online impulse buying
behaviour of generation Z in the country. More specifically this study examines the effect of
perceived ease of use and convenience, perceived usefulness and added value, impulse buying
tendency as internal factors and website quality as external factor on online impulse buying. The
structure of the paper is as follows: after introduction, in Section 2 relevant literature review on
the discussed topic is provided. Section 3 elaborates the model specification with detailed
constructs description, hypothesis development and data. The detailed data analysis, and
discussion of the results are presented in Section 4. The final remarks and conclusions, originality
of the study, limitations of the research as well as future for research are presented in Section 5.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The review of the literature revealed that online impulse purchasing stimuli have both direct and
indirect impacts on the response to online impulse buying. Online impulsive buying is the result
of both customers' internal and responses to external stimuli (i.e., an indirect relationship).
There are two main streams of research in the online impulse buying literature. The first stream
of research focuses on the effect of website cues on online impulse buying such as value-added
search mechanism, website characteristics etc. The second stream of research examines how
offline impulse buying factors explain impulse buying behaviour in the online context. A
comprehensive bibliometric review of scientific literature on online IBB can be found in Bashar
et al. (2022). Accordingly, online IBB is one of the most rapidly growing areas of research in
online consumer behaviour study. Three major research streams were found and reviewed i.e.: a)
online store characteristics; b) modelling of online impulse buying behaviour; c) factors
influencing impulsive buying in online setup. In addition, it has been noted that social commerce
as branch of e-commerce is growing which incorporates the use of social media in all kinds of
commercial activities (Xiang et al., 2016). Systematic literature review for online impulse
buying behaviour via social media can be found in Abdelsalam et al (2020). As S-commerce is a
novel phenomenon, its understanding is still limited and scattered. Therefore practitioners,
information systems communities, and users of S-commerce need to understand the factors that
can affect online IBB in S-commerce. Furthermore, to date, effort has not been made to
consolidate IBB knowledge into the field of S-commerce.
How important in monetary terms is online impulse buying? According to a survey conducted in
2022, consumers in the United States spent an average of over 300 US dollars on impulse
purchases each month, and approximately 84% of Americans have indulged in impulse buying at
least once per three months (Saleh, 2022). Impulse purchases account for 40% of all the money
spent on e-commerce and women (58%) are more likely to impulse buy than men (48%).
Additionally, 64% of impulse shoppers purchase additional items along with their intended
purchase. As published on statista.com, leading products that consumers bought on impulse in the
United States in 2022, by product category are food/groceries (30 % of respondents), household
items (29% of respondents), shoes (28% of respondents), technology (27% of respondents).
When asked what the typical reasons to buy on impulse, the most mentioned reasons were:
eenjoyment, loss aversion or thinking you've spotted a bargain, the need to stockpile, biased
evaluation of use (Gitnuxblog, 2023).
What characteristics on impulse buyer has, how does a typical impulse buying persona look like?
The statistics suggests that women are more likely to make impulsive purchases which could
have implications for marketing strategies and consumer behaviour. 20% of all impulse purchases
are made with a credit card, which can have serious financial implications if not managed
responsibly. Stress may lead to an increase in impulse buying, with 67% of respondents admitting
to making purchases when stressed. Impulse buying triggered by promotional messages generates
an estimated $4.2 billion in annual revenue for retailers. It is important that 33% of impulse
shopping occurs online and this statistic is important for businesses to consider when creating
marketing strategies and understanding consumer behaviour (Gitnuxblog, 2023).
Several investigations have shown that over 50% of internet purchases are done on impulse
(Zheng et al., 2019). Online impulse buyers are more likely to abandon their cart if checkout
takes too long (74%). This statistic emphasizes the need of expediting the checkout process for
online impulse purchasers. If the checkout procedure is overly lengthy, this can be a severe
disincentive for these customers, resulting in a large loss of prospective purchases. 77% of
impulse purchases are physical goods, with clothing, shoes, and accessories being the top
categories. 20-30% of impulse buying is influenced by social media. It demonstrates that a
sizable number of impulsive purchases are motivated by what users view on social media.
Shipping charges contribute to 23% of cart abandonment for online impulse buyers, the cost of
shipping can be a major factor in whether they complete their purchase. This is an important
insight for businesses to consider when setting their shipping policies, as it could mean the
difference between a successful sale and a lost customer (Gitnuxblog, 2023).
3. RESEARCH BACKGROUND
3.1. Research model and hypothesis development
There are many determinants that impact consumers’ impulse buying behaviour. A variety of
studies focus on these determinants in traditional retailing and fewer studies examine the
determinants effective on online impulse buying (Wu et.al., 2016). These factors can be internal
or external in nature (Dwita, 2019). This study examines the effect of perceived ease of use and
convenience, perceived usefulness and added value, impulse buying tendency as internal factors
and website quality as external factor on online impulse buying.
Perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness - Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
introduced by Davis in 1986 aims to explain the general determinants of computer acceptance
that lead to explaining users’ behaviour across a broad range of end-user computing technologies
and user populations. The basic TAM model included and tested two specific beliefs that
Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) of the technology as two key
factors that influence the individual’s attitude toward using the technology. Perceived Usefulness
is defined as the potential user’s subjective likelihood that the use of a certain system (e.g: e-
commerce systems – platforms, apps, websites, social media etc.) will improve his/her
action/performance, while perceived ease of use refers to the belief that using the technology will
not take too much effort (Davis, 1989). The final version of TAM was formed by Venkatesh
and Davis (1996), after the main finding of both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use
were found to have a direct influence on behaviour intention, thus eliminating the need for the
attitude construct. Perceived ease of use of a system is considered to influence perceived
usefulness of technology. Both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have effects on the
use of technology.
Online Convenience - More and more consumers are turning to internet shopping for its
convenience since they have less time to devote to shopping and more time to pursue other
interests (Shaqman et al., 2022). One of the primary motivators driving impulsive consumer
buying is online convenience (Gulfraz et al., 2022). Convenience creates competitive advantage
for online retailers and consumers are willing to pay for it (Jones, 2020). Online shopping
convenience refers to customers' perceived expenditure of time and effort in conducting online
shopping and has been one of the principal promoters of customer's predisposition to adopt online
purchasing (Jiang et al., 2013) The convenience of shopping apps can trigger the impulse
buying intention by promoting the arousal emotions of consumers (Uddin, 2022). Therefore, it is
necessary to understand the relationship between online convenience and impulsive buying to
understand the consumer base and the e-commerce business. Academic research on online
convenience as a stimulus for impulsive online shopping is rare, despite its expanding importance
in consumer behaviour. Some of the recent and relevant studies exploring the importance of
online convenience in impulse buying are Jiang et al., 2013; Duarte et al., 2018; Shankar, 2021.
Perceived Added value - Perceived value is widely used to predict users’ adoption behaviour
(Zhang et.al., 2022). E-consumer tends to have the intention to consume products and services in
which he or she perceives added value in the exchange process (de Souza and Baldanza, 2018).
The adoption of perceived value is determined by a ratio between the perceived benefits and the
sacrifices required when using some technology or innovation (Dodds et al., 1991). The
perceived value theory was first proposed by Zeithaml in 1988. Zeithaml (1988) argued that some
consumers perceive value when there is a low price, others perceive value when there is a balance
between quality and price. Thus, for different consumers, the components of perceived value
might be differentially weighted. From the perspective of customers, other scholars believe that
perceived value is a decision made by customers comprehensively in many aspects, thus
perceived value includes five dimensions of social, emotional, functional, knowledge and
situation, among which functional dimension is the most important in customers' purchasing
behaviour (Yang et al., 2021). The improvement of perceived value can lead to higher impulsive
purchase intention (Wang, 2022). The higher the perceived value, the higher the impulse buying
intention was also confirmed in the research of Liang, 2011.
Impulse buying tendency - Conceptualized as buying impulsiveness, impulsive buying tendency
is defined as a consumer's tendency to buy spontaneously, unreflectively, immediately, and
kinetically. Though sometimes used synonymously, impulsive buying tendency, a precursor
variable, is different from impulsive buying behaviour, as the former captures a relatively
enduring consumer trait that produces urges or motivations for the latter (Zhang et al, 2007). This
manifestation of general impulsiveness called impulsive buying tendency (Sharma et al, 2010)
has been found to have a definite positive relationship with impulsive buying behaviour (Flight et
al, 2012, Foroughi et al, 2013) in online shopping as well (Zhang and Shi,2022). It means that the
higher the impulse buying tendency of an individual is, the (positive) impact on impulse buying
behaviour is stronger. Impulsive buying behaviour is better understood by examining the
impulsive buying tendency that shapes such behaviour (Badgaiyan et al., 2016).
Web site quality - Website quality refers to the overall excellence, effectiveness, and usability of
a website. Website quality influence consumers’ perceptions of product quality, and affect online
purchase intentions (Sun, Chen, and Huang, 2014) and even continuation intentions (Chawla et
al., 2015). A website can be viewed as an information technology (Gefen et al. 2003), thus online
purchase intentions can be explained in part by the TAM. The website quality as well positively
affects the online impulse buying behaviour (Akram et.al., 2018).
Based on the discussion above, the theoretical framework used in this research is a combination
of the existing information available in the literature on impulse buying behaviour and new
insights regarding the impulse buying behaviour in online context explained in previous sections.
With this study, we contribute literature by testing the basic TAM constructs and extending the
research on the positive and negative effects of perceived convenience, perceived added value,
impulse buying tendency and website quality on online impulse buying of young people (z-gen)
with four hypothetical relationships on behavioural intention. The proposed model is presented in
Figure 1.

3.2. Data
This study employs a quantitative research design, and a questionnaire was developed to be the
instrument for data collection. The questionnaire was distributed by using electronic survey via
Google Form (during March to May 2023). The population of interest in this research are
generation Z consumers recognised as very representative sample of today’s online population in
the country. According to State Statistics Office (2023), in North Macedonia almost all 98.8 per
cent of youth 15-24 years use the internet every day. Generation Z are true digital natives, they
have been exposed to the internet, social networks, and mobile systems from earliest youth. They
can be described as generation very eager and comfortable with different digital technologies and
with “almost natural” online experiences. Younger consumers are more prone to making impulse
purchases for different reasons including personalised recommendations from their online
community, flexible payment methods. The fast desire of new items especially technology and
fashion products is also recognised as important factor for any activities which generation Z
undertakes both online and offline. Available statistics show that 41% of Generation Z consumers
are impulse buyers, followed by Millennials at 34%, and Generation X at 32%, since they desire
newest items at a greater speed (Lina, 2022, Djafarova, 2021). Generation Z consumers are more
persuasive while making purchases (Lee et al., 2022) and they want new products faster
(Agrawal, 2022). Djafarova and Bowes. (2021) also argue that impulsive shopping behaviour
indeed can be triggered in people belonging to the Generation Z. Generation Z are highly
cognizant when they make purchases online (Tiwari and Joshi, 2020) and have superior
characteristics regarding intuitively navigation online (Tiwari and Joshi, 2020).
Regarding the structure of the questionnaire, it consists of six parts. The questions in the first part
refer to the demographic characteristics of the sample. All other parts comprise questions
regarding the factors that define our research model; for which we assume influence the impulse
buying behaviour of e-shoppers. A five-point Likert scale was included with level of agreement.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

To reach a better understanding of the respondents, the first part of the analysis was to examine
their demographic data and shopping preferences. Total number of respondents was 151, which
are predominantly female (66.9%) that reside in Skopje (61.4%), with mobile phone as primary
device for internet access (86.6%), that mostly shop online once a month (38.9%) and spend
more than 1000 denars (50.4%). When asked how often they purchase impulsively in a physical
store, the results were distributed as follows: once a month (26%.0), once a week (25.2%), and
several times a week (21.3%), while other options (every day, rarely or never) were included with
lesser percentages.
The next step was to define the model with its constructs and hypotheses. Its graphical
representation is shown in Figure 1. There are five constructs included in the model.

Figure 1. Model for online impulse buying.

Source: Authors representation

All constructs are tested for their reliability using Cronbach’s alpha as a measure of internal
consistency of a set of test items. Cronbach’s alpha can be defined as:

Where refers to the number of scale items, refers to the average of all covariances between
items and refers to the average variance of each item. Cronbach is a function of the number
of items, average covariance between pairs, and the variance of the total score (Goforth, 2015).
The calculated Cronbach’s alpha coefficients are presented in Table 1. Behavioral intention is a
construct with the highest value of Cronbach’s alpha of 0.908, meaning that the included four
items have high covariances, where most of them share their covariances and probably measure
the same underlying concept. This is a good result since this construct refers to the dependent
variable. Other constructs including Perceived ease of use and convenience (0.659), Perceived
added value (0.652) and Impulse buying tendency (0.857) have satisfactory values of Cronbach’s
alpha (presented in brackets). Many methodologists recommend a minimum value between 0.65
and 0.8 (or higher) to have strong construct validity. Web site quality remains the only construct
with Cronbach’s alpha less than 0.6 (0.527), which may question the consistency of the construct,
even though the standards of what makes a “good” measure of reliability are entirely arbitrary
and depend on the theoretical knowledge of the scale in question (Goforth, 2015). Authors decide
to test Web site quality on the Behavioral intention and interpret the given results with caution.
After the constructs are defined and tested for their reliability, the next step is to define the
hypotheses. The model has four hypotheses that are defined as follows:
 - There is a positive and significant relationship between Perceived Ease of Use and
Convenience and Behavioral intention/attitude.
 - There is a positive and significant relationship between Perceived Added Value and
Behavioral intention/attitude.

Table 1. Scale reliabilities for defined variables

CONSTRUCT (VARIABLE) - CRONBACH’S
PERCEIVED EASE OF USE AND CONVENIENCE 0.659
PERCEIVED ADDED VALUE 0.652
IMPULSE BUYING TENDENCY 0.857
WEB SITE QUALITY 0.527
BEHAVIOURAL INTENTION/ATTITUDE 0.908
Source: Authors calculations based on survey data

 - There is a positive and significant relationship between Impulse Buying Tendency

and Behavioral intention/attitude (individuals with high impulsiveness will experience a
stronger urge to buy impulsively compared to individuals with low impulsiveness).
 - There is a positive and significant relationship between Website Quality and
Behavioral intention/attitude (perceptions of high website quality will stimulate a stronger
urge to buy impulsively compared to perceptions of low website quality).

Single linear regression analysis is used for testing the hypotheses. Estimated coefficients and
other regression results are presented in Table 2:

Table 2. Single regression models for analysed variables.

Std. Durbin-
Predictor Coef. t-stat. Sign. R
Error Watson
Perceived ease of use and convenience -0.075 0.180 -0.418 0.677 0.037 2.115
Perceived added value 0.153 0.165 0.925 0.357 0.082 2.092
Impulse buying tendency 0.913 0.089 10.248 0.000*** 0.676 2.025
Web site quality 0.369 0.142 2.596 0.011** 0.226 2.029
***Coefficient is significant at 0.01 level; **Coefficient is significant at 0.05 level
Source: Authors calculations based on survey data
According to the given results Impulse buying tendency has a positive and statistically significant
relationship with impulsive buying behavior. This relationship has been established is similar
previous research (Flight et al, 2012, Foroughi et al, 2013). Some people, more than other, seem
to be more inclined to the impulse buying – they are strongly stimulated by the design of the site,
do not tend to care about the price, or plan the purchase ahead. Usually, they tend to regret the
decision, or ignore the consequences of buying. One interesting notion that can explain this type
of behaviour is the well-established connection between the impulsive buying and dopamine
(neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in the brain's reward and pleasure system). Research on
this topic can be found in Knutson et al. (2007), Sescousse et al. (2013), Breiter et al. (2001).
When a person makes an impulsive purchase the brain’s reward circuitry is activated and starts to
release dopamine which creates a sense of pleasure and reinforces the behavior. This explains, to
some extent, why some people are more prone to impulsive buying. Of course, there are other
factors, sociological, psychological, or environmental, that contribute to this behavior.
Web site quality is the second factor that influences and stimulates impulsive buying. Pleasing
design, easy interaction, user-friendly and safe web site can stimulate the customer’s IBB.
Constructs defined as Perceived ease of use and convenience and Perceived added value do not
have a statistically significant influence on the impulsive buying. The descriptive statistics
presented in Table 3 show that these two constructs have high mean value.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for the created constructs

Standard
Variable Mean Skewness Kurtosis
deviation
Perceived ease of use and convenience 4.081 0.566 -0.698 1.323
Perceived added value 3.663 0.615 0.270 -0.305
Impulse buying tendency 2.859 0.843 0.458 0.125
Web site quality 3.731 0.70 -0.107 -0.548
Behavioural intention 2.450 1.139 0.417 -0.794
Source: Authors calculations based on survey data

After analyzing the questions, responses and mean values of the constructs, the respondents seem
to have positive attitude towards online shopping in general, thus the high average values for
Perceived ease of use and convenience and Perceived added value. On the other hand, average
values for constructs such as Impulse buying tendency and Behavioral intention are below 3, that
reflect certain aversion towards impulsive purchases. This may lead to a conclusion that the
young consumers, also known as generation Z, which are predominantly adolescents or younger,
do not have the luxury of impulsive purchases since they are financially dependent, and they have
yet to start earning their income. This can be considered in further research where economic
factors should be part of the general model.

5. CONCLUSION
Impulse buying behaviour is specific and very complex phenomenon and can be analysed from
different perspectives due to various factors that are affecting it. To better understand consumer
behaviour in online impulse buying, this study proposes a theoretical model with several
determinants of online IBB. More specifically this study examines the effect of perceived ease of
use and convenience, perceived added value and usefulness, impulse buying tendency as internal
factors and website quality as external factor on online impulse buying of generation Z.
Generation Z are highly cognizant when they make purchases online and have superior
characteristics regarding intuitively navigation in the online environment. They are also
recognised to be more prone to online purchases in comparison to millennials, generation X and
older population. This analysis examines the effects of potential determinants in online impulse
buying by application of several statistical techniques: survey, descriptive statistics, reliability
analysis and linear regression model. Constructs defined as Perceived ease of use and
convenience and Perceived added value and usefulness, do not have a statistically significant
influence on the impulsive buying. This can be explained since generation Z are true digital
natives and they have been exposed to the internet, social networks, and mobile systems from
earliest youth. They can be described as generation very eager and comfortable with different
digital technologies and with “almost natural” online experiences. Due to this, factors like
perceived ease of use and convenience and perceived added value and usefulness of a new
technology can be considered as negligible factors for young people. Personal characteristics of
generation Z and their tendency to buy on impulse as well as website quality are important
predictors to online IBB. Generation Z customers have different motivations that leads to impulse
buying behaviour in e-commerce. Research findings suggest that, beside individual
characteristics of e-shoppers, environmental factors like website quality/design and product type
to be offered online (like products that create image or social status, fashion trends etc.) are
important regarding the age and economic (purchasing) power of generation Z consumers in the
country. Study results provide some managerial implications for online sellers to increase
generation Z impulse buying behaviour in virtual stores. The originality of this study is reflected
in the introduction and confirmation of the importance of new constructs like individual
characteristic i.e. impulse buying tendency - impulsiveness as well as website design i.e. website
quality. This paper addressed a smaller set of potential determinants of online impulse buying
behaviour, mostly focusing on impulse buying tendency and website quality. In the future, the
model could be complemented with other determinants that are found to be relevant in the
existing literature, such as personality traits, psychological factors, economic factors etc.
Regarding the results, the authors underline the limitation of generalization of the results of this
research since it uses a smaller sample. With larger samples, it is possible to analyse the
moderating effect of demographic factors i.e. variables related to gender, age, social status,
economic power, cultural differences of the respondents could be some of the possibilities.

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