Feeling present matters: effects of social presence on live-streaming workout courses’ purchase intention
Journal of Product & Brand Management
ISSN: 1061-0421
Article publication date: 16 May 2023
Issue publication date: 15 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to test the effects of social presence (SP) and other related factors, including trust, self-construal and brand familiarity, in affecting consumers’ purchase intention of live-streaming workout courses.
Design/methodology/approach
Three between-subjects, Web-based experimental studies were conducted. There were separately 108, 208 and 284 valid questionnaires collected in the three studies. Moderation and mediation analyses were performed to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
Users’ sense of SP when watching live-streaming courses positively affects their willingness to purchase courses, and users’ sense of trust plays a mediating role in the influence of users’ SP on their purchase intention. In addition, when users belong to dependent self-construal rather than independent self-construal, their trust in live-streaming courses plays a stronger mediating role in the influence of users’ SP on their purchase intentions. What is more, when users have high brand familiarity rather than low brand familiarity, their trust in online live-streaming plays a stronger mediating role in the influence of users’ SP on their purchase intentions.
Originality/value
This research delineates the effects of SP on the consumption of live-streaming courses, thus further adding to the understanding of the role of real-time interaction in determining consumer behavior. It also highlights the roles of self-construal and brand familiarity as mediating influences on the relationship between SP and consumer trust.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.
Funding: This research was funded by the research fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72004153).
Statement: This manuscript has not been published elsewhere and that it has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.
Citation
Hou, J., Han, B., Chen, L. and Zhang, K. (2023), "Feeling present matters: effects of social presence on live-streaming workout courses’ purchase intention", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 32 No. 7, pp. 1082-1092. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-03-2022-3926
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited