The impact of Danmu technological features on consumer loyalty intention toward recommendation vlogs: a perspective from social presence and immersion

• Published in: Information technology & people (West Linn, Or.) Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 1193 - 1218
• Main Authors: Yang, Tiantian, Yang, Feng, Men, Jinqi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: West Linn Emerald Publishing Limited 06.06.2022; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Brand loyalty; Consumer attitudes; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Information sources; Information technology; Investigations; Loyalty; Marketing; Multivariate statistical analysis; Popularity; Product information; Purchase intention; Social networks; Stimulus; Submerging; Viewers; Virtual communities; China; Social presence; Danmu technological features; Vlogger-product congruency; Recommendation vlog; S–O–R framework; Loyalty intention; Immersion
• ISSN: 0959-3845; 1758-5813
• DOI: 10.1108/ITP-01-2021-0008

PurposeThis study investigates how Danmu (danmaku) technological features (DTFs) of recommendation vlogs (rec-vlogs) impact consumer experiences and decisions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique with a sample of 422 viewers of Danmu-enabled rec-vlogs to examine the proposed model.FindingsThe DTFs positively affect consumer loyalty intentions through the mediation of social presence and immersion. Also, vlogger-product congruency significantly moderates the relationship between social presence and immersion.Originality/valueWith the increasing popularity of vlogs, retailers have adopted the vlog as a new marketing channel to connect with consumers. Although a growing body of studies focuses on this phenomenon, little is known about how DTFs help to increase consumer loyalty toward using rec-vlogs as product information sources. Anchored on the stimulus–organism–response framework, this study investigates how pseudo-synchronicity, Danmu-content congruency and parallelism, three DTFs used in rec-vlogs, impact consumer experiences of social presence and immersion, eventually influence the consumers' loyalty intentions toward rec-vlogs. The authors also examine whether the effect of social presence on immersion is contingent on vlogger-product congruency. These findings have implications for both researchers and practitioners to understand the effect of DTFs in the context of rec-vlogs.