IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v90y2026ics0969698925004631.html

The interaction effect of virtual streamer anthropomorphism and price expectation discrepancy on purchase intention: The mediating role of inferred intentions

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Ji
  • Li, Yuanhui
  • Wang, Xuan

Abstract

With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual streamers have gained widespread adoption, as they are inexpensive and can mitigate public relations risks. However, they also face challenges such as a lack of emotional resonance and insufficient trust. Some existing research suggests that high anthropomorphism enhances trust and purchase intention, whereas other studies indicate it may trigger negative attitudes. This divergence is primarily due to the insufficient attention to transactional context—the price expectation discrepancy (PED). This study examines how anthropomorphism (high vs. low) and PED (price higher vs. lower than expected) influence consumer purchase intention. Three online experiments reveal a significant interaction effect between anthropomorphism of virtual streamers and PED on purchase intention. When prices are lower than expected, high anthropomorphism streamers enhance purchase intention more than virtual streamers with low anthropomorphism. When prices exceed expectations, high-anthropomorphism avatars reduce purchase intention more significantly than low-anthropomorphism ones. Inferred intentions mediate this effect: virtual streamers with high anthropomorphism evoke benevolent intent perceptions at low prices and selfish intent perceptions at high prices; virtual streamers with low anthropomorphism weaken such intent-based inferences. Moreover, AI literacy weakens this mediation pathway, indicating a moderated mediation process. This study provides the first systematic evidence that PED conditions the effects of anthropomorphism in livestream commerce, theoretically extending the concept of expectation discrepancy and social information processing to human–computer interactions and refining individual differences via AI literacy. Managerially, the findings guide the alignment of anthropomorphism with pricing strategies in the live streaming e-commerce industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Ji & Li, Yuanhui & Wang, Xuan, 2026. "The interaction effect of virtual streamer anthropomorphism and price expectation discrepancy on purchase intention: The mediating role of inferred intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:90:y:2026:i:c:s0969698925004631
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104684
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698925004631
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104684?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Nicole Tsz Yeung & Kirshner, Samuel N. & Lim, Eric T.K., 2023. "Is algorithm aversion WEIRD? A cross-country comparison of individual-differences and algorithm aversion," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. Li, You & Li, Xiaolin & Cai, Jiali, 2021. "How attachment affects user stickiness on live streaming platforms: A socio-technical approach perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Seo Young Kim & Bernd H. Schmitt & Nadia M. Thalmann, 2019. "Eliza in the uncanny valley: anthropomorphizing consumer robots increases their perceived warmth but decreases liking," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Chang, Yaping & Wang, Han & Guo, Zhenjiang, 2025. "Artificial intelligence in live streaming: How can virtual streamers bring more sales?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Yao, Ruiqi & Qi, Guijie & Wu, Zhiqiang & Sun, Hua & Sheng, Dongfang, 2024. "Digital human calls you dear: How do customers respond to virtual streamers’ social-oriented language in e-commerce livestreaming? A stereotyping perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Markus Blut & Cheng Wang & Nancy V. Wünderlich & Christian Brock, 2021. "Understanding anthropomorphism in service provision: a meta-analysis of physical robots, chatbots, and other AI," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 632-658, July.
    7. Haoyu Liu & Kim Hua Tan & Ajay Kumar & Sanjay Kumar Singh & Leanne Chung, 2024. "Value Co-creation in Sports Live Streaming Platforms : A Microfoundations Perspective," Post-Print hal-04325652, HAL.
    8. Koles, Bernadett & Audrezet, Alice & Moulard, Julie Guidry & Ameen, Nisreen & McKenna, Brad, 2024. "The authentic virtual influencer: Authenticity manifestations in the metaverse," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    9. Xiao, Quan & Li, Xia & Huang, Weiling & Zhang, Xing, 2025. "Gimmick or genuineness? Exploring the antecedents of AI virtual streamers aversion in live-streaming commerce," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    10. Dabiran, Ehsan & Farivar, Samira & Wang, Fang & Grant, Gerald, 2024. "Virtually human: anthropomorphism in virtual influencer marketing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Anouk S Bergner & Christian Hildebrand & Gerald Häubl & J Jeffrey Inman & Richard J Lutz & Ellie J Kyung, 2023. "Machine Talk: How Verbal Embodiment in Conversational AI Shapes Consumer–Brand Relationships," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 50(4), pages 742-764.
    12. Liu, Qixuan & Ma, Ning & Zhang, Xiaoyi, 2025. "Can AI-virtual anchors replace human internet celebrities for live streaming sales of products? An emotion theory perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    13. Gao, Wei & Jiang, Ning & Guo, Qingqing, 2023. "How do virtual streamers affect purchase intention in the live streaming context? A presence perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Zheng, Shiyong & Chen, Jiada & Liao, Junyun & Hu, Hsin-Li, 2023. "What motivates users' viewing and purchasing behavior motivations in live streaming: A stream-streamer-viewer perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Hu, Hai-hua & Ma, Fang, 2023. "Human-like bots are not humans: The weakness of sensory language for virtual streamers in livestream commerce," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. Yang, Hongyan & Xu, Hong & Zhang, Yan & Liang, Yan & Lyu, Ting, 2022. "Exploring the effect of humor in robot failure," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    17. Gursoy, Dogan & Chi, Oscar Hengxuan & Lu, Lu & Nunkoo, Robin, 2019. "Consumers acceptance of artificially intelligent (AI) device use in service delivery," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 157-169.
    18. Quanling Cai & Weidong Chen & Mingxing Wang & Kaisheng Di, 2025. "Post-pandemic job market: an analysis of factors influencing university students’ willingness for flexible employment based on SEM-ANN-fsQCA," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gong, Xiuyuan & Sun, Pengkai, 2026. "How to liberate human labor? Understanding the interplay of virtual streamer type and interaction style in livestreaming e-commerce," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    2. Yao, Ruiqi & Qi, Guijie & Wu, Zhiqiang & Sun, Hua & Sheng, Dongfang, 2024. "Digital human calls you dear: How do customers respond to virtual streamers’ social-oriented language in e-commerce livestreaming? A stereotyping perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Liu, Hao & Zhang, Peilin & Cheng, Hongqing & Hasan, Najmul & Chiong, Raymond, 2025. "Impact of AI-generated virtual streamer interaction on consumer purchase intention: A focus on social presence and perceived value," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Liu, Zixuan & Zhong, Shiquan & Jia, Ning & Zhang, Jiemin & Lee, Likchern, 2026. "When feeling takes a backseat in livestream commerce: The effects of virtual versus human streamers on consumers’ impulsive buying," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Lintong Han & Jiaming Fang & Chunya Xie & Miyan Liao & Yangting Zhang, 2026. "Breaking CSR Skepticism: How Virtual Streamer Disclosure Influences Consumer Purchases in Livestreaming," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 204(4), pages 907-931, April.
    6. Ri Na & Anan Hu & Qingfeng Zeng & Ruyi Ge & Ruohong Hao, 2025. "Unveiling the relationship between virtual streamer characteristics and consumer purchase intention in live streaming commerce: Insights from source credibility perspective," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 35(1), pages 1-21, December.
    7. Gong, Xiuyuan & Sun, Pengkai, 2025. "Can virtual streamers express emotions? Understanding the language style of virtual streamers in livestreaming e-commerce," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    8. Gong, Yanping & Huang, Rong & Chen, Zhuo & Liu, Yongdan & Tan, Yuxuan, 2025. "Are assertive messages more effective in live marketing? Matching effects of anchor type and message assertiveness on purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Chang, Yaping & Wang, Han & Guo, Zhenjiang, 2025. "Artificial intelligence in live streaming: How can virtual streamers bring more sales?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    10. Chih, Wen-Hai & Wang, Kai-Yu & Banda, Hope Wilfred, 2025. "Chatbots at the frontline: Unveiling antecedents of customers’ willingness to accept chatbot intervention in service recovery," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Wang, Xueying & Zhang, Yuexian, 2025. "Brand-transformed or celebrity-transformed? The effect of different role-transformed virtual influencers on purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. Aubel Martin & Pikturniene Indre & Joye Yannick, 2022. "Risk Perception and Risk Behavior in Response to Service Robot Anthropomorphism in Banking," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 30(2), pages 26-42, June.
    13. Chen, Hongquan & Zhang, Shuhua & Shao, Bingjia & Zhang, Yong & Zhao, Quanwu, 2026. "Instrumental vs. hedonic Affordances: Examining their impact on repurchase behavior on live commerce platforms through self-determination theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    14. Zhang, Kai & Luo, Biao & Yan, Juanjuan & Weng, Xiuzhen, 2025. "The art and impact of narrative: How streamer narrative styles shape consumers’ purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    15. Li, Yan & Xiang, Xiaofang & Wu, Ruijuan, 2026. "Display advertising or social media post? The impact of endorsement execution form on the effectiveness of virtual influencers’ advertising endorsements," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    16. Yahui Liu & Lei Wang & Shuai Yang & Yanwen Wang, 2026. "Artificial Intelligence-Powered Digital Streamers in Online Retail: Empirical Insights and Design Strategies from Experiments," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 37(2), pages 824-841, June.
    17. Song, Mengmeng & Jiang, Wenjing & Xing, Xinyu & Mou, Jian & Duan, Yucong, 2026. "The more human-like the better? Effect of anthropomorphic level on customer intention to participate in AI service recovery," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    18. Mengjun Li & Ayoung Suh, 2022. "Anthropomorphism in AI-enabled technology: A literature review," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(4), pages 2245-2275, December.
    19. Wang, Xueying & Zhang, Yuexian, 2025. "Product-independent or product-dependent: The impact of virtual influencers’ primed identity on purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    20. Gao, Wei & Jiang, Ning & Guo, Qingqing, 2025. "How cool virtual streamer influences customer in live-streaming commerce? An explanation of stereotype content model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:90:y:2026:i:c:s0969698925004631. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.