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Is sadness always bad? The effects of streamers’ multimodal expressions on viewer engagement in live streaming

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  • Luo, Lijuan
  • Xu, Meiling
  • Wan, Fei

Abstract

In live streaming, streamers' emotional expressions and linguistic styles play a crucial role in shaping viewer engagement. While previous studies have explored the effects of linguistic style, limited attention has been paid to how non-verbal emotional cues interact with linguistic styles to influence viewer engagement. Drawing on emotional contagion and empathy theory, this study investigates how streamers' facial expressions of sadness, combined with different linguistic styles, affect viewers' engagement. Using data from Douyin Live, we employ a negative binomial regression model to analyse the interactive effects between sadness expression and two distinct linguistic styles—arousing and interactive—on viewer engagement. The results reveal that facial expressions of sadness increase viewers' gifting and commenting behaviour, but have no significant effect on liking behaviour. When combined with high-arousal linguistic style, sadness weakens viewers' gifting and commenting behaviours. In contrast, combining sadness with a highly interactive linguistic style enhances viewer engagement. Moreover, the streamers’ popularity moderates these effects. Robustness checks support the consistency of our findings. This study enriches the understanding of multimodal emotional communication in live streaming and offers practical insights for enhancing viewer engagement.

Suggested Citation

  • Luo, Lijuan & Xu, Meiling & Wan, Fei, 2026. "Is sadness always bad? The effects of streamers’ multimodal expressions on viewer engagement in live streaming," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:89:y:2026:i:pa:s0969698925003583
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104579
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