Influence of livestreamers' intimate self-disclosure on tourist responses: The lens of parasocial interaction theory

Abstract

Livestreaming has become a new channel for tourism marketing due to its high real-time and interactive characteristics. However, there is not a strong theoretical underpinning in the literature now available to explain parasocial phenomena in livestreaming. This study intends to fill this knowledge gap by expanding our knowledge of two different types of parasocial phenomena (parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship), how they are formed, and how they affect the audience. Therefore, this study proposes a theoretical framework that includes livestreamers' intimate self-disclosure, parasocial interaction, parasocial relationships, trustworthiness, and purchase intention. The findings demonstrate that the intimate self-disclosure of travel livestreams enhances the parasocial relationship and parasocial interaction between audiences and livestreams and leads to the generation of audiences' credibility, thus increasing their purchase intention. In addition, the research findings have important practical implications for tourism marketing, livestreaming platforms, and tourism livestreaming organizations.