Date of Award
7-23-2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Discipline
Business
First Advisor
Prof. LI Yiwei
Second Advisor
Prof. LENG Mingming
Third Advisor
Prof. CHOW Kong Wing Clement
Abstract
Essay 1: The past decade has witnessed a dramatic rise in influencer marketing, with its value expected to hit 24 billion U.S. dollars by 2024. A key emerging contributor driving this growth is live stream commerce, which combines influencer live stream and e-commerce. Yet, the knowledge of influencers developing product mix strategies to maximize sales remains limited. In this trend, influencers often promote or sell multiple products that are similar or even substitutes. While this may increase the likelihood of consumers purchasing multiple items, it may also result in competition among similar products. To accurately identify the effectiveness of various product mix strategies, I utilize unique data from over 2 million live streams on TikTok to identify the potential competition (or synergy) of similar products promoted during live streams. The findings suggest that presenting similar products in a live stream overall increases sales performance. We propose that the product sales of a livestream depend on the perceived credibility. Promoting multiple similar items increases credibility by showing the expertise of the influencer and thereby increasing sales. Furthermore, the synergy of similar products will be weakened when the perceived credibility is already high, for instance, when the influencer possesses extensive promotional expertise in the product category being promoted or when the influencers have intensive product/brand promotion activity. This study is the first to (1) empirically investigate the impact of introducing similar products on live stream sales performance, and (2) provide specific guidelines for developing product mix strategies for live streams.
Essay 2: Language is the currency of human communication, we use words to interact with others. Particularly, personal pronouns are among the most used words according to the Oxford English Corpus. The extant literature suggests that even subtle variations in language use can significantly affect consumers’ perceptions/behaviors. However, although substantial research shows that personal pronoun usage reflects the writer's mindset or traits, it is unclear how pronoun usage impacts the reader. This study tries to bridge this knowledge gap and investigates how pronoun usage (third-person versus first-person) affects funding behavior in the increasingly important domain of crowdfunding (donation-based versus reward-based). Specifically, we find that using third- (first-) person pronouns increases the funded amount of donation- (reward-) based crowdfunding. For donation-based crowdfunding, funders contribute primarily out of altruism and are more likely to trust a fundraiser who writes objectively using third-person pronouns. For reward-based crowdfunding, funders expect rewards and the using first-person pronouns signals the fundraiser’s expertise in product development. We combine empirical analyses with experiments. Empirical analyses based on population-scale data verify the proposed effects. Field and lab experiments strengthen the causal inference. This study is among the first that (1) demonstrates that a subtle variation in language use can influence funding behavior, (2) offers an integrated perspective of donation- (reward-) based crowdfunding, and (3) causally reveals a psychological process that has significant funding implications for crowdfunding. The managerial implications are substantial as currently 88% of donation-based crowdfunding overwhelmingly uses first-person pronouns.
Keywords
Influencer Marketing, Livestream Commerce, Product Mix Strategy, Product Competition, Perceived Credibility, Product Sales, Crowdfunding, Personal Pronoun, Perceived Credibility
Language
English
Copyright
The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited.
Recommended Citation
Liu, S. (2024). Essays on product mix strategies in influencer livestream commerce and personal pronoun use in crowdfunding (Doctoral thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from https://commons.ln.edu.hk/otd/216/