The growth of the digital economy has reshaped Generation Z's consumptive behavior, particularly through virtual currency transactions on gaming platforms such as Roblox. This article aims to conduct a literature review on the effect of fear of missing out (FOMO) on digital impulsive buying, with self-regulation positioned as a mediating variable among Generation Z Roblox users. The review was conducted through a narrative literature review approach, tracing relevant indexed journal articles through Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Frontiers, and Scopus databases using the keywords fear of missing out, impulsive buying, self-regulation, and digital consumption. Thirteen core articles were selected and reviewed in depth based on thematic relevance, methodological clarity, and theoretical contribution to the topic. The review indicates that FOMO is consistently associated with impulsive buying behavior in the digital domain, both directly and through affective pathways such as hedonic motivation, while self-regulation capacity may either strengthen or weaken this relationship depending on the level of cognitive resource depletion (ego depletion). This review concludes that self-regulation is a potentially important mediating variable between FOMO and digital impulsive buying, and formulates theoretical propositions and a future empirical research agenda in the context of Generation Z Roblox users, a population that remains understudied.
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