Li Chunyu, Huang Fei
Seoul Business School, aSSIST University, Seoul 03767, Republic of Korea.
School of Digital Commerce, Heilongjiang Polytechnic, Harbin 150070, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Dec 20;14(12):1228. doi: 10.3390/bs14121228.
As an important tool for brand promotion and marketing, the status of virtual streamers is gradually improving, especially in the Chinese market with a huge Internet user base. Virtual streamer anthropomorphism has gradually become an important research content in the field of consumer behavior. However, the specific mechanism by which the multidimensional anthropomorphic characteristics of virtual streamers affect consumer trust and purchase intention requires further investigation. Therefore, based on the avatar theory, this research explores how the anthropomorphic characteristics of virtual streamers affect consumer purchase intention through cognitive trust. The analysis was performed using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 24.0, establishing a structural equation model. Through the analysis of questionnaire data from 503 Chinese consumers, it was found that behavioral anthropomorphism, cognitive anthropomorphism, and emotional anthropomorphism all exert a notable influence on cognitive trust. Appearance anthropomorphism and emotional anthropomorphism directly affect purchase intention, and cognitive trust has a significant impact on purchase intention. Moreover, cognitive trust fully mediates the effects of behavioral anthropomorphism and cognitive anthropomorphism on purchase intention and partially mediates the effects of emotional anthropomorphism on purchase intention. This study enriches the application of avatar theory in virtual streamers in live e-commerce and provides theoretical backing for virtual streamer development and enterprise marketing strategies. It also offers practical insights to help brands optimize virtual streamers and improve consumer participation and purchase conversion rates.
作为品牌推广和营销的重要工具，虚拟主播的地位正在逐渐提高，尤其是在中国拥有庞大互联网用户群体的市场中。虚拟主播拟人化已逐渐成为消费者行为领域的重要研究内容。然而，虚拟主播的多维拟人化特征影响消费者信任和购买意愿的具体机制仍需进一步研究。因此，基于化身理论，本研究探讨虚拟主播的拟人化特征如何通过认知信任影响消费者的购买意愿。使用SPSS 27.0和AMOS 24.0进行分析，建立结构方程模型。通过对503名中国消费者的问卷数据进行分析，发现行为拟人化、认知拟人化和情感拟人化均对认知信任产生显著影响。外貌拟人化和情感拟人化直接影响购买意愿，认知信任对购买意愿有显著影响。此外，认知信任在行为拟人化和认知拟人化对购买意愿的影响中起完全中介作用，在情感拟人化对购买意愿的影响中起部分中介作用。本研究丰富了化身理论在直播电商虚拟主播中的应用，为虚拟主播发展和企业营销策略提供了理论支持。它还提供了实用见解，以帮助品牌优化虚拟主播，提高消费者参与度和购买转化率。
