Combination of streamers' product description and viewers' comments: moderating effect of streamer-viewer relationship strength
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-8-2024
Abstract
PurposeThis study examines the relationship between streamers' product descriptions, customer comments and online sales and focuses on the moderating effect of streamer-viewer relationship strength.Design/methodology/approachBetween June 2021 and April 2022, the structured data of 965 livestreaming and unstructured text data of 42,956,147 characters from two major live-streaming platforms were collected for the study. Text analysis and regression analysis methods were employed for data analysis.FindingsFirst, the authors' analysis reveals an inverted U-shaped relationship between comment length and product sales. Notably, comment volume and comment emotion positively influence product sales. Furthermore, the semantic richness, emotion and readability of streamers' product descriptions also positively influence product sales. Secondly, the authors find that the strength of streamer-viewer relationship weakens the positive effects of comment volume and comment emotion without moderating the inverted U-shaped effect of comment length. Lastly, the strength of streamer-viewer relationship also diminishes the positive effects of emotion, semantics and readability of streamers' product descriptions on product sales.Originality/valueThis study is the first to concurrently examine the direct and interactive effects of user-generated content (UGC) and marketer-generated content (MGC) on consumer purchase behaviors in livestreaming e-commerce, offering a novel perspective on individual decision-making and cue utilization in the social retail context.
Keywords
Livestreaming e-commerce, Marketer-generated content, User-generated content, Streamer-viewer relationship strength, Cue utilization theory
Divisions
MediaStudies
Funders
Jiangsu Provincial Social Science Youth Project [23GLC025],Basic Scientific Research General Project of Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province [23KJB630010],Young Teachers Research and Training Project of Nanjing Audit University [23QNPY010]
Publication Title
Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Volume
42
Issue
1
Publisher
EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD
Publisher Location
Floor 5, Northspring 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds, W YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND