Virtual and human streamers: the effect of interaction with product type on consumer purchase intention

Grounded in SOR theory and Persuasion theory, this study examines the interactive effects of streamer type (real vs. virtual) and product type (search vs. experience) on consumer purchase intention in a live marketing context. Through a combination of scenario experiments and questionnaires, this study examined the effects of streamer type and product type on consumers’ purchase intention in Study 1. And study 2 further verified the interactions and investigated the mediating roles of information processing fluency, pleasure and arousal. The results show that: the interactions of streamer type and product type affect consumers’ purchase intention; information processing fluency and arousal play a mediating role; and the mediating role of pleasure on this path is not significant. This study expands the scholarly understanding of e-commerce streamers, while also yielding valuable practical insights to help live e-commerce deploy marketing strategies and drive product sales effectively.