The impact of Danmu technological features on consumer loyalty intention toward recommendation vlogs: a perspective from social presence and immersion

Abstract

PurposeThis study investigates how Danmu (danmaku) technological features (DTFs) of recommendation vlogs (rec-vlogs) impact consumer experiences and decisions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique with a sample of 422 viewers of Danmu-enabled rec-vlogs to examine the proposed model.FindingsThe DTFs positively affect consumer loyalty intentions through the mediation of social presence and immersion. Also, vlogger-product congruency significantly moderates the relationship between social presence and immersion.Originality/valueWith the increasing popularity of vlogs, retailers have adopted the vlog as a new marketing channel to connect with consumers. Although a growing body of studies focuses on this phenomenon, little is known about how DTFs help to increase consumer loyalty toward using rec-vlogs as product information sources. Anchored on the stimulus–organism–response framework, this study investigates how pseudo-synchronicity, Danmu-content congruency and parallelism, three DTFs used in rec-vlogs, impact consumer experiences of social presence and immersion, eventually influence the consumers' loyalty intentions toward rec-vlogs. The authors also examine whether the effect of social presence on immersion is contingent on vlogger-product congruency. These findings have implications for both researchers and practitioners to understand the effect of DTFs in the context of rec-vlogs.

How social presence influences consumer purchase intention in live video commerce: the mediating role of immersive experience and the moderating role of positive emotions

“…Previously, Korzaan and Boswell (2008) explored the positive impact of social presence on immersion experience. Yang et al (2021) confirmed the effect of social presence on immersion in the context of vlogs. When consumers are immersed in a virtual shopping environment, they will experience a pleasant and immersive state (Sun et al, 2019).…”

Research on the Impact of Marketing Strategy on Consumers’ Impulsive Purchase Behavior in Livestreaming E-commerce

“…Previous research has focused mainly on the mediating role of immersion in various activities. For instance, Yang et al (2021) examined the mediating effect of immersion between social presence and customer loyalty intentions toward recommendation vlogs. Their findings confirm the proposed hypothesis and indicate that increased consumer immersion positively influences customer loyalty.…”

The impact of barrage system fluctuation on user interaction in digital video platforms: a perspective from signaling theory and social impact theory

“…Similarly, through a scenario-based experiment conducted with 462 participants, researchers demonstrated that the live streaming strategy with social presence cues induces a more authentic consumer viewing experience than a prerecorded strategy, which further increases consumers' searching and subscribing intention (Ang et al , 2018). As suggested by previous research, video with bullet screens can enhance consumers' perception of social presence (Yang et al , 2021). In our context, we further measure and test the social impact of the barrage system on user interaction.…”

“…While watching a video, viewers receive the cumulative barrage posted by other viewers. The bullet screens displayed synchronously with video content on screen provide a co-viewing experience that may make the viewers perceive the presence of others (Yang et al, 2021) and thus acquire a sense of belonging (Xiang and Chae, 2021). In accordance with social impact theory (Latane and Wolf, 1981), scholars proposed that people were impacted by the social presence of other people, and with the increase in the number of people, the effects of social presence gradually increase and lead to individual behavior convergence.…”

“…While watching a video, viewers receive the cumulative barrage posted by other viewers. The bullet screens displayed synchronously with video content on screen provide a co-viewing experience that may make the viewers perceive the presence of others (Yang et al , 2021) and thus acquire a sense of belonging (Xiang and Chae, 2021).…”