Omar Nusir, MUST
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services are becoming a dominant force in digital finance, especially among young consumers in Southeast Asia. Fueled by AI-driven personalisation and urgency-based marketing cues, BNPL platforms increasingly leverage psychological triggers, such as countdown timers, limited-time offers, and automated reminders, to prompt rapid purchase decisions. While such tactics enhance conversion rates, they also raise ethical concerns about impulsive consumer behaviour and subsequent postpurchase regret. This conceptual paper examines the intersection of digital urgency cues and AI-powered nudging strategies in buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) environments, providing a theoretical framework that connects algorithmic influence to cognitive dissonance and consumer regret. It synthesises existing literature from marketing psychology, behavioural economics, and AI ethics to develop a model explaining how personalised buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offers may heighten impulsivity while undermining consumer autonomy. The paper concludes by outlining implications for digital marketing governance, ethical design, and consumer protection, offering guidance for more responsible AI integration in fintech ecosystems.