The Impact of Chapter Progress Bars on Purchase Intention in Video-Based Influencer Marketing: Consumer Impatience Perspective.

This article examines the impact of chapter progress bars—interface features that segment videos into labeled chapters—on consumer engagement and purchase intention in video-based influencer marketing. Through five studies combining large-scale behavioral data from over 181,500 user comments on the Chinese platform Bilibili and controlled experiments, the research finds that chapter progress bars increase consumer impatience by heightening time awareness and anticipatory cues, which in turn reduces purchase intention toward promoted products. The effect is moderated by consumers' efficiency goals, with those prioritizing speed and convenience exhibiting greater impatience and lower purchase intention when exposed to chapter progress bars, while leisure-oriented viewers are less affected. The findings highlight the psychological influence of interface design on digital marketing outcomes and suggest that marketers and platform designers should balance navigational aids with maintaining consumer patience to optimize engagement and purchase behavior.