The Effects of Live Platform Exterior Design on Sustainable Impulse Buying: Exploring the Mechanisms of Self-Efficacy and Psychological Ownership

Abstract

The sensory upgrading facilitated by live platforms, such as YouTube Live, Twitch, and Periscope, can facilitate much better interactions and understanding between a product, its brand, and the user. The question of how to enhance sustainable marketing effects using exterior design is currently a major topic in the live streaming marketing sector. The effect of the exterior design of a live platform on the impulse purchases of its consumers has rarely been discussed by academic research. Accordingly, based on the theory of self-determination, this study explored the direct effects of exterior design, self-efficacy, psychological ownership, and impulse buying by using multiple linear regression, and examined the indirect effects of these variables using the structural equation model. In this study, 534 samples were collected from live consumers, and our hypotheses were verified by employing hierarchical regression. As revealed from the results obtained, the self-efficacy and psychological ownership exhibited by consumers exerted synchronous and chain mediating effects on the relationships between the exterior design of the platform and consumer impulse buying. To enhance this marketing effect, live platforms should focus on designing pleasant exterior clues, creating a better psychological atmosphere, and the enhancement of consumers' self-efficacy.Sustainability 2020, 12, 2406 2 of 16 real-time games, special events, and behind-the-scenes tours [4,5]. The live streamer, acting as the content creator of the streaming platform, is capable of uploading real-time video and audio (e.g., video games, talent shows, and daily life records) to satisfy the diversified needs of users [6]. In other words, flattened, equal, and real-time communication can be achieved between users and the live streamer through the live platform, as well as among users, thereby narrowing the distance between companies and individuals.The growing popularity of live platforms has also had certain effects on the existing marketing methods and user buying behavior of companies [7]. Data show that in 2017, 48 percent of internet users in the USA watched live streaming at least once a week [8]. As suggested by a report from the China Internet Information Center, the number of live streaming users in mainland China reached a total of 433 million in June 2019, making up 50.7% of China's entire internet population. With such a considerable number of users, live platforms have started reshaping marketing channels and enhancing marketing effects. The global live streaming market was predicted to expand from US$30.29 billion in 2016 to US$70.05 billion by 2021 [9]. During the "618" period in 2019, Taobao's live streaming led to commodity sales worth CNY13 billion. Compared with the conventional marketing channels, live platforms have a more thorough impact on consumers' purchasing behavior. Thus, since live streaming is such a novel and powerful marketing tool, the questions of whether consumers engage in impulse buying after being exposed to live streami...

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“…The group of documents or subdomain focused primarily on the streamer employed well-established theories such as self-determination theory [ 53 , 54 ], affordance theory [ 10 ], normative theory of broadcast media [ 55 ], or grounded theory methodological analyses [ 6 , 56 , 57 , 58 ]. The second subdomain, focused on the receiver or the audience, was clearly underpinned by widely-tested theories: uses and gratifications theory [ 7 , 11 , 17 , 18 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ], social identity theory [ 65 ], Lasswell formula [ 18 ], self-determination theory [ 18 , 62 , 66 ], theory of flow [ 18 ], compensation theory [ 67 ], social facilitation theory [ 62 ], social support theory [ 68 ], human information theory model [ 69 ], social identity theory [ 69 ], media richness theory [ 63 ], social cognitive theory of mass communication [ 70 ], and interaction ritual chains theory [ 33 ]. The third group, focused on the channel, relied less on well-established frameworks, mostly drawing on previous studies.…”

“…Research taking a quantitative approach is less common, although it includes studies such as those of Zhao, Chen, Cheng, and Wang [ 53 ] and Torhonen, Sjoblom, Hassan, and Hamari [ 54 ], who applied structural equation modeling and analyzed samples of up to 377 content developers. Conversely, in the subdomain focused on the audience, quantitative research prevails, with many studies using structural equation models [ 7 , 59 , 60 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 70 , 86 ]. Sample sizes ranged from 412 users [ 65 ] to more than 1000 [ 60 , 64 ], even reaching 2227 Twitch users [ 61 ] in a study conducting multiple and ordinal linear regression analyses.…”

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