From Online Interaction Rituals to Engagement Behavior: Unraveling User Experience and Emotional Energy in Audio Streaming Platforms’ Consumer Community

As a typical representative of China’s audio streaming platforms, Ximalaya FM offer consumers opportunities for relaxing entertainment, social interaction, social identity, and sharing of information, thereby fostering engagement in an online community. The researcher has integrated the Interaction Ritual Chains (IRC) theory with the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this influence. This study employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze data from 458 Ximalaya FM’s audiences. Findings indicate that user experiences, including relaxing entertainment, social interaction, and social identity, significantly influence the interaction rituals of the consumers on this platform. Furthermore, emotional energy was found to play a crucial mediating role in the positive relationship between interaction rituals and communal engagement. Conversely, Audio streaming platforms’ live broadcasts were observed to have a negative moderating effect on the connection between emotional energy and communal engagement. This study offers a foundational framework for developers of online audio platforms to enhance community services for consumers.