Empathy in action: how product set granularity and streamer type can shape consumer purchase intentions through cognitive and emotional pathways

Purpose This study investigates how product set granularity (fine vs coarse) and streamer type (enterprise vs celebrity) shape consumer purchase intentions through the cognitive and emotional empathy pathways, moderated by consumer mindset (local vs holistic processing). Design/methodology/approach This study employed a pre-test to examine consumers’ perception of product set granularity and streamer type. It also conducted three scenario experiments (n = 818) to examine the interaction effects of product set granularity and streamer type on purchase intentions. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted to explore the roles of cognitive empathy, emotional empathy and consumer mindset. Findings Enterprise (celebrity) streamers enhance purchase intentions for fine-grained (coarse-grained) product sets by stimulating cognitive (emotional) empathy. Local (holistic) processing mindsets amplify emotional (cognitive) empathy for celebrity (enterprise) streamers. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to Chinese consumers and specific product categories. Future research could explore cross-cultural contexts and additional streamer types. Practical implications Businesses should align product set granularity with the streamer type: enterprise streamers for fine-grained products and celebrity streamers for coarse-grained products. Tailoring strategies to consumer mindsets can further optimize marketing effectiveness. Originality/value Drawing on the empathy perspective, this study confirms the existence of an interaction between the granularity of product set granularity and streamer type. This correlation affects consumers’ purchase intentions through cognitive and emotional empathy. This finding fills the research gap in the field of e-commerce live streaming recommendation strategies. It also highlights the importance of consumer mindset and provides new insights for related fields.