Abstract: So far, the numerous extant literatures about impulsive consumption behavior can not be unified with a thread which indicates the underlying association. Recently, however, by using the promotion focus theory, researchers have gained a breakthrough on the underlying mechanism of impulsive consumption behavior by which the relevant literatures can be unified. In this article, the authors introduce the process of impulsive consumption behavior first, which makes the underlying mechanism understood better. And then, theories involved in the underlying mechanism are introduced and relevant literatures are reviewed and unified by the authors from the underlying mechanism perspective. In the end, the further research directions are suggested in which the mechanism of impulsive consumption behavior can be studied by drawing on theories related to regulatory focus, especially regulatory fit theory

Key words: impulsive consumption behavior, underlying mechanism, promotion focus, regulatory fit