Experimental study demonstrates increased purchase intention in livestreaming consumers exposed to virtual streamers' positive emotions, highlighting conscious and subconscious contagion pathways.
Purpose This article investigates the effecting paths of virtual streamers' AI-generated positive emotions on consumers' purchase intention in livestreaming commerce. Design/methodology/approach Using a scenario-based experimental approach, this study empirically tested their hypotheses by collecting data (n = 303) from live-streaming consumers who participated in the survey. Findings The results reveal that: (1) At a subconscious level, the AI-generated positive emotions exhibited by virtual streamers can evoke similar positive emotions in consumers, thereby bolstering their purchase intention; (2) At a conscious level, the AI-generated positive emotions expressed by virtual streamers enhance consumers' purchase intention via the mechanism of positive disconfirmation; (3) Consumers' emotion assimilation competency and their sense of power moderate the subconscious and conscious pathways, respectively. Originality/value Based on emotional contagion theory and expectation disconfirmation theory, this study reveals a dual emotional contagion pathway (i.e. subconscious primitive contagion and conscious emotional comparisons) for the effects of virtual streamers' AI-generated positive emotions on consumer purchase intention. The findings also contribute to a more nuanced understanding of emotional contagion in this context by unraveling important boundary conditions.
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Feng et al. (2026) studied this question.
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