The impact of network social presence on live streaming viewers’ social support willingness: a moderated mediation model

AbstractWith the accelerating development of social networks and the popularization of intelligent personal communication devices, live streaming has provided fluid experiences in time and space for the Chinese people, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Live streaming has enabled the real-time communication and interaction between viewer and live host, and has created a range of live hosts and new forms of business models due to the affordance of virtual currencies and gift reward mechanisms featured on live streaming platforms. Based on a questionnaire survey of 515 live viewers, this study examines the impact of the viewers’ network social presence on social support willingness and analyzes the roles of parasocial interaction and emotional response. The study reveals that network social presence has a direct positive impact on emotional, instrumental, and economic support willingness. Additionally, parasocial interaction plays a mediating role in the impact of network social presence on emotional, instrumental, and economic support willingness. Furthermore, the higher the degree of emotional response, the stronger the mediating effect of parasocial interaction on the relationship between network social presence and instrumental support willingness. Findings shed light on the potential intermediate mechanism and the boundary conditions of the influence of network social presence on the social support willingness of viewers, providing new insights on promoting the relationships between live hosts and viewers on live broadcast platforms.