Wang Wei, Huang Minxue, Zheng Shiyong, Lin Liangtong, Wang Lei
School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
School of Business, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China.
Front Psychol. 2022 Feb 3;12:810883. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.810883. eCollection 2021.
As the essence of livestream e-commerce is social commerce, building a livestream brand community and attracting brand followers are the key aspects to achieving sustained revenue. For many companies, inviting celebrities has become a shortcut to attract new followers. Considering the unsustainability and high cost of the celebrity host mode, some companies switched to using their own branded broadcasters to attract followers. However, as branded broadcasters lack a fan base, choosing the suitable broadcaster type has become a challenge in livestream e-commerce. The motivation of consumers to follow brand livestream accounts is mainly to obtain potential value by embedding them in social networks. Therefore, based on motive theory, this research explores how different broadcaster types affect consumer's intention to follow a livestream brand community. Results from the analysis of secondary data from livestream platforms and two laboratory experiments reveal that (1) celebrities contribute more to consumer's intention to follow than branded broadcasters, and utilitarian (vs. hedonic) products can strengthen the effect of branded (vs. celebrity) broadcasters on attracting potential followers. (2) Moreover, branded (vs. celebrity) broadcasters can promote consumer's intention to follow a livestream brand community by satisfying consumer's need for informational (vs. emotional) value during utilitarian (vs. hedonic) product evaluation. This research analyzes the differential effects of different types of broadcasters on livestream brand community building. The findings can deepen the understanding of the consumer's behavior of following brand livestream communities and provide companies with suggestions on broadcaster selection in livestream e-commerce.
由于直播电商的本质是社交商务，建立直播品牌社区并吸引品牌追随者是实现持续收入的关键方面。对许多公司来说，邀请名人已成为吸引新追随者的一条捷径。考虑到名人主播模式的不可持续性和高成本，一些公司转而使用自有品牌主播来吸引追随者。然而，由于品牌主播缺乏粉丝基础，选择合适的主播类型已成为直播电商中的一项挑战。消费者关注品牌直播账号的动机主要是通过将其嵌入社交网络来获取潜在价值。因此，基于动机理论，本研究探讨了不同类型的主播如何影响消费者关注直播品牌社区的意愿。对直播平台二手数据的分析结果以及两项实验室实验表明：（1）名人对消费者关注意愿的贡献大于品牌主播，实用型（相对于享乐型）产品能够强化品牌（相对于名人）主播在吸引潜在追随者方面的效果。（2）此外，在实用型（相对于享乐型）产品评估过程中，品牌（相对于名人）主播能够通过满足消费者对信息性（相对于情感性）价值的需求，来促进消费者关注直播品牌社区的意愿。本研究分析了不同类型主播对直播品牌社区建设的差异化影响。研究结果能够加深对消费者关注品牌直播社区行为的理解，并为公司在直播电商中的主播选择提供建议。
