Understanding the impact of social distance on users’ broadcasting intention on live streaming platforms: A lens of the challenge-hindrance stress perspective

Highlights

• How to motivate users’ of live streaming platforms broadcasting intention was tested.

• The challenge-hindrance stress model was introduced to explain the mediating effect.

• This study considers the moderating effect of material values.

• Our study’s focus is vital for helping motivate content providers’ participation.

Abstract

The present study addresses the popularity of ‘social media influencer’ (SMIs) by examining the effect of users’ perceived social distance from SMIs on their broadcasting intention on social live streaming platforms. Drawing on motivational factors related to social distance and applying Cognitive Transactional Theory as a theoretical lens, our empirical analysis is based on 657 broadcasters on the market-leading social live streaming platforms in China. This study reached the following findings: Users’ social distance from SMIs is positively related to their broadcast intention. Challenge stressors and hindrance stressors have different mediating effects between social distance and broadcast intention. Challenge stressors positively mediate the relationship between social distance and broadcast intention, and hindrance stressors negatively mediate the relationship between these two variables. Users’ material values moderate the relationship between hindrance stressors and broadcast intention. These conclusions extend the understanding of the theoretical motivation behind the booming phenomenon of ‘SMIs’ and can help platform managers to motivate users’ continued participation on these platforms.

Introduction

As a new internet trend, live video streaming with high interactivity to meet the needs of consumers by presenting all current real-time situations to end users through Internet media have gained great popularity (Zhao et al., 2018). Such platforms (Twitch, YouNow and Periscope) allow users to broadcast their screens or to synchronously present videos to viewers (Hamilton et al., 2014). Not only that, the dominant social media such as YouTube and Facebook also incorporated live-streaming services to attract more users’ participation and engagement (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). Live streaming platforms has many advantages, such as high interactivity, strong sense of involvement, satisfaction of snooping on privacy and novelty seeking, etc (Yu et al., 2018). Meanwhile, the live content has entertainment value and high stickiness, such as text-based chatrooms or the ability to display encouragement by sending likes or even virtual gifts (Bründl and Hess, 2016). Due to these incentives and identification, increasing numbers of internet users are immersed in live video watching and broadcasting (Hu et al., 2017).

As a representation of participatory community, live streaming platforms encourage users to engage in shared activities (Chen and Lin, 2018). Ordinary users and ‘micro-celebrities’ are the two main actors on live streaming platforms. Users who broadcast various contents on live streaming platforms and attract enormous numbers of fans are called ‘micro-celebrities’ (Marwick and boyd, 2011). This new type of celebrity either has special skills or really attractive appearance, and it has gained a huge attention of fans on social media (Marwick, 2015). These new type of independent third party endorser who shape audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media are also defined as social media influencers (Freberg et al., 2011, p.90). Chae (2018) contended that the concept of “SMIs” and “micro- celebrities” almost has same meaning to stress on attracting and maintaining many followers on social media. In this research, we consider the concept of “social media influencers” (SMIs) and “micro-celebrities” are different labels to depict the similarity persons, both are refer to whose success depends on self-branding and practices of micro-celebrity, has proven to be both inspirational and seemingly replicable (Khamis et al., 2017). These ‘SMIs’ may include unknown actors/actresses, experts of trivia and wealthy people who want to show off their luxury to attractive young women (Marwick, 2015). Some scholars consider the self-branding of these ‘SMIs’ is the crucial factor that shapes their followers’ interest (Marwick, 2013). Compared with traditional celebrities, SMIs have much smaller number of followers and are not well recognized in real life, but they mostly endorse via social media and have online influence on fans (Senft, 2008, Marwick and boyd, 2011). That is to say, SMIs are individuals who use social media as a mechanism for creating their audience while celebrities pay much less attention on using social media (Marwick and boyd, 2011). However, limited studies have shed light on the formation and behavior of SMIs (Zhao et al., 2018, Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). Because this phenomenon is recent, broadcasts on live streaming platforms have not yet been quantitatively examined. We suggest that the role of ‘SMIs’ is different from that of ordinary users on live streaming platforms and that perceived social distance determines the effect of this difference.

Social distance is a key characteristic of dyadic relationships that captures the distance between people (Dickson and MacLachlan, 1990, Karakayali, 2009). A prevailing theoretical view of social distance focuses on affectivity, which centers on the feelings or emotions of individuals toward one another (Bogardus, 1947). Accordingly, in this study, we conceptualize social distance as affective distance, or the amount of sympathy a person feels for another person in a relationship. The first question of our study tries to answer is that does social distance perception motivate users to become SMIs on social live streaming platforms? This study argued that the perception of social distance from ‘SMIs’ motivates the users of live streaming platforms to accept the broadcasting task and to participate in the activity of live broadcasting.

According to Cavanaugh et al. (2000), job characteristics themselves determinate the extent of engagement of job. LePine et al. (2005) proposed the concept of the challenge-hindrance stress model, which provides a novel perspective to understand the mechanism by which people engage in specific organizational activities. The present research argued that broadcast willingness of users on live video streaming depends on how they view the match degree of task difficulties and their capability (Zhao et al., 2018). Facing the challenge, they could look on the bright side of the task and view challenge stressors as motivation, and they also view hindrance pressure as an excuses (González-Morales and Neves, 2015). In the current study, we aim to close the existing research gap by examining the driving factors behind the intention to broadcast on social live streaming platforms. This leads to our study’s second research questions: What is the role of perceived stressors and material values in users’ participation in the broadcasting process?

This study may have three contributions: First, from the novel perspective of social distance, the present study addresses the question how to motivate users’ to be SMIs on live streaming platforms? Our conclusions suggest that the interpersonal ‘tie strength’ with ‘SMIs’ may be the pivotal antecedent of live streaming platform participation (Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). Second, the present study introduces the challenge-hindrance stress model (Cavanaugh et al., 2000) to explain the mediating effect between social distance and broadcasting intention and extends the explanation of the challenge-hindrance stress model for users’ behavior. Third, this study considers the moderating effect of individual differences on material values, which extends the boundaries of research on users’ challenge-hindrance stress in relation to broadcasting intention.