Research On The Influence Mechanism Of Gender Reverse Marketing Of Male Streamers On Female Consumers

Consumption is an important engine part of China’s economic growth.Pointed out by General Secretary Xi Jinping in the study session of Central Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee,it is necessary to meet consumption demand with high-quality supply and boost new demand.Live streaming e-commerce has revolutionized the way people shop and gradually becomes a driving power of new growth in online consumption.Different from the traditional online shopping channel,the interactive,visual and entertaining features of live streaming e-commerce make the e-commerce streamers a key factor in the conversion of the heat of live streaming and sales volume.In recent years,among many live e-commerce marketing practices,male streamers’ gender reverse marketing gradually prevailed,that is,male streamers sell cosmetics and other products mainly oriented for female consumers.According to data,some male streamers are even more competitive than female streamers in drawing female consumers’ attention and increasing purchase.Therefore,it is necessary to explore the impact and the corresponding mechanisms of male streamers’ gender reverse marketing on consumers in the live e-commerce environment.Different from the human-computer interaction in traditional online shopping,mediated by computer networks,the interpersonal interaction between streamers and consumers is realized in live streaming marketing.Therefore,the personal characteristics of streamers can influence interpersonal attraction perceived by viewers,which affects the watching and shopping experience.Previous research has demonstrated that enthusiastic,professional,good-looking,humorous,and passionate streamers can motivate consumers’purchase intentions by increasing perceived value.However,the key dimensions explaining how male streamers attract consumers in gender reverse marketing have not been clarified,while the mechanisms through which these attractions influence consumers’purchase decisions should be studied further.In addition,the behavior and characteristics of male streamers selling female products can be different from the typical male in people’s stereotypes.From the perspective of gender stereotypes,there have been numerous studies showing that the difference in gender between the spokesperson and the product’s target customer may lead to positive advertising results.It has also been suggested that individual’s masculinity and femininity can influence his attractiveness to others.From the perspective of streamers’ gender,it remains to be further explored whether consumers are attracted to male streamers by the novelty brought by breaking the traditional impression of female products’ endorser,or by their unique gender characteristics that trigger positive emotional experiences.This paper is to investigate how male streamers attract consumers and promote them to generate watching and purchasing behaviors.Based on theories about interpersonal attraction and the PAD(Pleasure,Arousal,Dominance)model,the literature related to live streaming e-commerce,interpersonal attraction,consumer emotion and purchase behavior is reviewed.Then,by further in-depth interviews,a research framework is established,which generates the research findings from the in-depth interviews of 21 female consumers and from the questionnaire results of 234 female consumers.Combining the results of the coding results of in-depth interviews and literature review,male streamers’ physical,voice and verbal attractiveness,masculinity,femininity and counter-male stereotype behavior are regarded as independent variables;pleasure,arousal and dominance are regarded as mediating variables,and consumers’ willingness to watch and purchase as dependent variables.Referring to all above,the research hypothesis and model are proposed.Finally,a survey is used to verify the hypothesis.Based on the empirical data of 234 female consumers,the main research conclusions are as follows:(1)The attractiveness of male streamers can positively influence consumers’ watching and purchase intention through pleasure and arousal,but cannot influence watching and purchase intention through dominance.(2)Among the attractiveness that is not directly related to gender roles,male streamers’ physical attractiveness and verbal attractiveness are the most powerful explanatory factors,positively influencing consumers’ pleasure and arousal,which enhance their willingness to watch and purchase,voice attractiveness positively influences willingness to watch and purchase through pleasure.(3)Among the three types of gender role-related attractiveness,male streamers’masculinity positively influences consumers’ watching and purchase intentions through consumers’ arousal.Femininity and counter-male stereotype behaviors positively influence consumers’ watching and purchase intentions through pleasure.There are mainly four aspects of breakthroughs and theoretical contributions of this paper.First,this paper focuses on gender reverse marketing that is rarely studied before,and explores the marketing mechanism of male streamers selling female products,which expand the application of gender reverse marketing-related theories in the live streaming e-commerce environment.Second,by having qualitative observations and in-depth interviews,this paper investigates e-commerce streamers from the perspective of interpersonal attractiveness and summarize six dimensions of it,which expands the research related to computer-mediated interpersonal communication.Third,masculinity,femininity,and anti-male stereotype behaviors are introduced into the research framework of male streamers selling female products,thus shedding new light on the reasons for the success of gender reverse marketing.Fourth,the three segmented dimensions of the PAD emotion model are comprehensively incorporated into the study of the mechanism of streamers’ influence on consumers,demonstrating that each streamers’ attractiveness influences consumers’ behavioral intention through pleasure and arousal,respectively,and verifying the validity and applicability of the model in online live streaming contexts.At the practical level,the research findings provide sufficient suggestions for e-commerce streamers,MCN organizations(streamer incubators)and enterprises.For MCN agencies and enterprises,it is recommended to focus on the appearance and voice attractiveness and verbal expression skills during the streamer incubation process to bring good viewing experience and positive emotions to consumers;and to hold entertaining activities during the live streaming to create a pleasant and interesting atmosphere.For male streamers,research tells that they should focus on masculine and feminine traits they show during the live streaming,and adopt strategic communication and sales approaches based on the actual situation,such as interacting gently with female viewers to make them feel closer.In addition,streamers should emphasize on driving consumers’ emotions,so that they can motivate viewers to continue watching and place orders for purchases.