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This study investigates the impact of virtual influencers (VIs) on impulsive buying behaviour in e-commerce live streaming (ELS), focusing on the roles of expectation confirmation, parasocial relationships, and influencer-product fit. Drawing from expectation-confirmation theory and parasocial relationship theory, data from 820 valid questionnaires were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and multi-group analysis to compare the effects of human-like and anime-like VIs. The findings reveal that expectation confirmation significantly enhances satisfaction, which drives continuous watching intention and impulsive buying behaviour. Parasocial relationships positively influence satisfaction and continuous watching intention but do not moderate the link between confirmation and satisfaction, while influencer-product fit significantly affects satisfaction and continuous watching intention, partially moderating the confirmation-satisfaction relationship. Notably, anime-like VIs demonstrate stronger effects of parasocial relationships and influencer-product fit on satisfaction and continuous watching intention, respectively, compared to human-like VIs. These findings offer novel insights into the role of VIs in ELS and provide practical guidance for marketers to align VI characteristics with product promotion strategies to enhance engagement and spur impulsive purchases.
Yu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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