Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Impulsive Buying Behaviour Among Younger Consumers

Abstract

The proliferation of digital commerce platforms and algorithmically curated social media environments has fundamentally restructured the purchasing landscape for younger consumers, engendering heightened susceptibility to impulsive buying behaviour (IBB). Grounded in Goleman's (1995) fivecomponent model of emotional intelligence (EI) and classical impulse buying theory, this paper investigates the relationship between emotional intelligence, operationalised across dimensions of self-awareness, emotional control, empathy, and motivation, and impulsive buying behaviour among Generation Z and millennial consumers in India. Drawing upon a primary dataset of 120 respondents collected through a structured questionnaire, the study employs Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses. Findings reveal a significant negative relationship between aggregate emotional intelligence and impulsive buying behaviour (r = −0.62, p < .001), indicating that higher emotional intelligence consistently attenuates impulsive purchase tendencies. Emotional control emerges as the strongest predictor (β = −0.41), followed by self-awareness (β = −0.29), motivation (β = −0.18), and empathy (β = −0.12). The study also identifies social media influence, promotional stimuli, and fear of missing out (FOMO) as primary environmental triggers of IBB in the digital context. The findings carry significant implications for consumer education policy, digital marketing ethics, and financial literacy programme design.