Effects of Live Streaming Proneness, Engagement and Intelligent Recommendation on Users' Purchase Intention in Short Video Community: Take TikTok (DouYin) Online Courses as an Example

Abstract

Shopping through short video communities has become a new trend, but few currently understand users' purchase intention toward TikTok online courses. This research developed a purchasing intention model of TikTok online courses by extending the technology acceptance model. This study used a questionnaire survey method and collected 413 valid questionnaires. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to test the hypotheses and found: (1) perceived usefulness and ease of use positively affect perceived value. Free trial negatively affects perceived cost. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and free trial indirectly affect purchase intention through two mediation variables; (2) live streaming proneness, live streaming engagement, and perceived value positively affect purchase intention, while the perceived cost will negatively affect purchase intention; (3) an exciting conclusion is that intelligent recommendation positively moderates the relationship between perceived value and live streaming engagement with purchase intention, but intelligent recommendation negatively moderates the relationship between perceived cost and purchase intention. These findings make theoretical contributions and provide managerial insights based on empirical results for short video community purchase intentions.

Acknowledgment

Thanks to Liangwei Tu for her assistance in the language expression of the article. We also thank Fei Shen for her help in collecting the article materials.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Zhejiang Province Association for Higher Education Project under grant [KT2022412], Ningbo Education Science Planning Project under Grant [2022YZD012], Ningbo Soft Science Research Program under Grant [2022R040], and Ningbo Soft Science Research Program under Grant [2021R030].

Notes on contributors

Shaofeng Wang

Shaofeng Wang teaches at Zhejiang Wanli University’s School of Logistics and e-Commerce. He has a Doctor of Management from University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Canberra. His current research interests are e-commerce, enterprise digitization and education digitization.

José Paulo Esperança

José Paulo Esperança is a full professor of Finance and former Dean of the ISCTE Business School as well as a former Pro-Rector for International Relations and Entrepreneurship at ISCTE-IUL. His research interests include innovation, small business financing and corporate governance.

Qiao Wu

Qiao Wu is an associate professor at Zhejiang Wanli University. His main research fields are e-commerce, logistics and supply chain management. He graduated from Zhejiang University with a Ph.D. in Management.