“Transformation or not?” the effect of broadcasters' role orientation transformation on their direct income
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-02-2023-0055 |
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| Author | Pengyu Li,Jingbo Shao,Hang Wu |
“Transformation or not?”the effect
of broadcasters’role orientation
transformation on their
direct income
Pengyu Li, Jingbo Shao and Hang Wu
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Abstract
Purpose –In the actual livestreaming background, to obtain more income, some broadcasters will transform
their original single role orientation into mixed one. This research study aims to conduct an empirical study on
the influence of the broadcasters’role orientation transformation on the viewers’tipping behavior.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors collect data from Kuai, a leading online live streaming
service provider in China. The dataset includes 175,701 live streaming data from 971 broadcasters in 7months.
To avoid unobservable factors, the authors adopt two difference-in-differences (DID) models to estimate the
effect of two kinds of broadcaster’s role orientation transformation on the broadcaster’s direct income
separately. And the authors use the Heckman-type correction to solve broadcasters’self-selected problem.
Findings –The authors evaluated that there is a U-shape relationship between the broadcasters’role
orientation transformation and their direct income. The broadcasters’direct income experienced a sharp
decline for a short period of time after transformation and followed by a rise after a period of adaptation. And
for broadcasters with different genders and amounts of fans, the influence degree of role orientation
transformation is various.
Originality/value –This paper provides a fresh usage of the regulatory engagement theory in the brand new
information communication technology. And it also explores the boundary effect of the participating object’s
self-factors in the regulatory engagementtheory.Besides, this paper expands the research of livestreaming into
natural background. Such results also provide operable suggestions for the livestream platform, the
broadcaster himself and the enterprises who want to employ some broadcasters to recommendtheir products.
Keywords Livestream, Viewers’tips, Monetization, Social media, DID model
Paper type Research paper
1. Instruction
Live streaming, as a new channel, has achieved rapid development in recent years. It enables
users to interact online in real-time. Besides, this new interactive way has also given birth to
some nova careers, such as professional broadcasters who serve as talent exhibitors or
product salesmen (Fei et al., 2021;Lin et al., 2021). For example, Austin Li, who endorses
beauty products through live streaming, performs as a professional broadcaster on the
Taobao platform (the largest e-commerce platform in China). In the 2020 Double 11 shopping
carnival, one single live streaming visitor of Austin Li has reached 160 million, which sets a
new world record. Another notable example is Twitch, launched in 2011, which focuses on
video game live streaming, and creates a platform for the game player to show their talent.
The effect of
broadcasters’
role
1
Funding: This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (72272045,
71831005), National Social Science Foundation of China (21BGL015).
Data availability statement: The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study
are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human beings and animal subjects
performed by any of the authors.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-3806.htm
Received 24 February 2023
Revised 23 March 2023
2 June 2023
Accepted 25 July 2023
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 77 No. 1, 2025
pp. 1-26
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-02-2023-0055
And by February 2014, it had become the fourth-largest source of Internet traffic in the United
States.
Viewers who engage in live streaming play a vital role as the main contributors to its
value. They actively participate in the live streaming by consuming the content provided by
the broadcasters. During the process of consuming content through live streaming, viewers
engage with broadcasters in various ways, including watching, chatting and tipping. These
engagement activities can take both monetary and non-monetary forms. Researchers have
identified several motivations for viewers to engage in live streams, including social
interaction, a sense of community, meeting new people, entertainment, seeking information
and seeking support (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018;Hu et al., 2017). While previous studies
primarily focused on viewers’non-monetary engagement (Bao and Han, 2019;Ma et al., 2019),
tipping behavior stands out as a distinct form of engagement in live streaming. Tipping
reflects a deeper level of engagement from viewers and directly showcases the broadcasters’
appeal among ordinary users on the platform. This public appeal can translate into
purchasing power when broadcasters promote products. Therefore, the amount of tipping
from viewers serves as an important indicator for both retailers and broadcasters to assess
the commercial value of the broadcaster. Additionally, for live streaming platforms,
broadcasters earning more direct income indicate that viewers are purchasing more gifts or
virtual tokens from the platform. This financial engagement plays a significant role in the
two-sided network effect of the platform. Some studies have indicated that social interaction,
entertainment and social integration are key predictors for deeper engagement behaviors
such as subscription and tipping (Chen and Lin, 2018;Sj€
oblom and Hamari, 2016). However,
these studies mainly rely on viewers’subjective cognition, and few studies have explored the
specific real-life factors that contribute to changes in viewers’psychological activities.
In the realm of live streaming, viewers’tipping serves as a primary source of income for
broadcasters. This direct income is derived from viewers’direct economic behavior towards
the broadcasters. On the other hand, broadcasters can also earn indirect income through
product sales commissions (Johnson and Woodcock, 2019). According to the content
displayed in the livestream room, the broadcasters can be divided into two kinds: talent
exhibitors and product salesmen. Talent exhibitors refer to the broadcasters who provide
talent exhibiting (such as singing, cooking and so on) in their live streaming. And product
salesmen are those sale products in the live streaming. Both talent exhibitors and product
salesmen can receive direct income through viewers’tipping during live streaming (see
Figure 1). However, only product salesmen can generate indirect income. Some talent
exhibitors may choose to change their original role orientation after accumulating a larger fan
base and access both direct and indirect income. Additionally, product sales broadcasters
may transform their role orientation to enhance viewer engagement and make their live
streaming more interesting. These role orientation transformations are driven by the desire to
increase income. However, such transformations are likely to influence viewers’cognition
and psychology. The impact of broadcasters’role orientation transformation on their direct
income remains unknown. Given the significance of viewers’tipping for platforms,
broadcasters and retailers, it is crucial to understand the effect of broadcasters’role
orientation transformation on viewers’tipping behavior. This research aims to combine
theoretical derivation with real-world factors to address the following research questions:
RQ1. How does viewers’tipping behavior vary when the talent-exhibiting broadcasters
transform their original role orientation?
RQ2. How does viewers’tipping behavior vary when the product-sales broadcasters
transform their original role orientation?
AJIM
77,1
2
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