The more engaged, the more generous: Examining the influence of viewers’ engagement on their gifting behavior in live streaming services

Abstract

Social Live Streaming Services (SLSSs) is an emerging form of social media that facilitates real-time interaction between streamers and their viewers through video streaming. With its growing prevalence worldwide, a wealth of literature has investigated its unique features of IT affordances and para-social interactions between streamers and their viewers, leaving viewers’ inner development and adjustment of attitudes and actions during the watching remained largely unknown. This study empirically examined the effects of viewers’ previous active engagement on their subsequent purchase behavior in SLSSs from the perspective of self-perception and perceived sunk costs. Results show that both free gifts and Danmaku (i.e., real-time comments) length significantly induce the purchase of charged gifts and that there are significant gender discrepancies underlying these mental attribution processes.