Purpose: The present study aims to investigate the effects of two psychological motivations—self-suppression and self-expansion (as the two main dimensions of self-escape)—on online shopping cart usage and cart abandonment, considering the mediating role of visiting deal pages. Despite the remarkable growth of e-commerce, shopping cart abandonment remains a major challenge for online retailers, and understanding the psychological factors that shape this behavior can help reduce incomplete conversions. The study also seeks to clarify whether online cart-related behaviors are driven primarily by emotional and motivational mechanisms rather than by purchase intention alone.
Method: This applied research employed a descriptive-correlational design using a quantitative approach. The statistical population consisted of users with prior experience in online shopping. Convenience sampling was used, and 450 valid questionnaires were collected. Data were gathered through a structured questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale, with items adapted from prior studies. Content validity was assessed by experts, and construct validity was confirmed through convergent and discriminant validity using the Fornell–Larcker criterion. Construct reliability was verified using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability. Data analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS software.
Findings: The results indicated that self-suppression motivation has a positive and significant effect on shopping cart use and visiting deal pages. Similarly, self-expansion motivation showed a positive and significant influence on shopping cart use and deal page visits. Visiting deal pages emerged as the strongest predictor of shopping cart use. However, none of the direct paths from self-suppression, self-expansion, deal page visits, or shopping cart use to cart abandonment were significant. Regarding indirect effects, deal page visits played a significant mediating role in the relationships between self-suppression and shopping cart use, as well as between self-expansion and shopping cart use. Nonetheless, no significant mediation was observed in pathways leading to cart abandonment.
Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that psychological motivations associated with self-escape (both suppression- and expansion-oriented) are influential in increasing user engagement with shopping carts and deal pages, but they do not significantly determine cart abandonment behavior. This aligns with contemporary views that conceptualize the online shopping cart not merely as a tool for immediate purchase but also as an instrument for planning, comparison, emotional regulation, and entertainment. From a managerial perspective, designing engaging deal pages can enhance shopping cart usage, but reducing abandonment rates requires improving technical and perceptual factors such as transparency of final costs, simplifying the checkout process, reducing cognitive load, and increasing user trust. Furthermore, tailoring marketing strategies to users’ specific psychological motivations is recommended. By distinguishing between “cart use” and “cart abandonment,” this study contributes to a deeper understanding of consumer behavior in digital environments and outlines future research directions focusing on situational and technical factors. It also highlights the need for future studies to integrate psychological, contextual, and interface-related variables in explaining online purchase interruption.