20.500.12556/DKUM-99186 From scarcity cues and social proof to FoMO a dual-mediation model of urgency in consumer decision-making This research examines the psychological mechanisms that drive consumers’ fear of missing out (FoMO) in the context of digital marketing. Consumers are increasingly influenced by market dynamics that affect product availability and vendors’ supply chains, often alongside the widespread impact of suppliers’ marketing messages and social factors. Using the S-O-R (stimulus–organism–response) model, we test a double-mediation model via structural equation modeling on a sample of online customers. The main goal of the study is to examine how the effects of social proof and perceived scarcity create a sense of urgency, thereby influencing FoMO. The results indicate that customers’ perceptions of scarcity have a strong and statistically significant effect on urgency, while social proof exerts a weaker yet notable influence. Moreover, urgency significantly amplifies both the socially related component and the general fear of missed opportunities. Mediation analyses reveal that perceived scarcity affects FoMO indirectly through urgency. Although this supports the proposed mediation pathway, the substantial empirical overlap between perceived scarcity and urgency suggests that this relationship should be interpreted with caution. In contrast, social proof’s indirect effects are not statistically significant. These findings suggest that urgency serves as a crucial psychological mechanism mediating the influence of perceived scarcity on consumers’ emotional responses, while social proof may operate through alternative channels, such as social comparison or normative influence. This paper contributes to the S-O-R model and offers new insights into commodity theory and cognitive dissonance theory. fear of missing out (FoMO) scarcity effect urgency effect social proof stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) model digital marketing online consumer behavior dual mediation true false true Angleški jezik Angleški jezik Znanstveno delo 2026-08-06 15:01:01 2026-08-06 15:01:02 2026-08-07 03:07:35 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 str. 1-27 iss. 7, [article no.] 1250 Vol. 16 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2026-05-06 2026-07-20 2026-07-22 339.138:366.1 287175171 10.3390/bs16071250 2076-328X https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/16/7/1250 1 e0b26456-9196-11f1-ad2c-00155d0001be https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=208996 RAZ_Pal_Severina_2026.pdf RAZ_Pal_Severina_2026.pdf 1 130497897D8C6103E1AB4C049D213FBA fd4aee709fa9d430c5205bc33999b17cdadd293bd1233cd272c198726a9c0e6e 026fcdc7-9197-11f1-ad2c-00155d0001be https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=208997 Ekonomsko-poslovna fakulteta 0 0 0