ABSTRACT

Digital/virtual gift purchasing and giving (gifting thereafter) is a business model that has emerged in the context of the social live streaming service (SLSS). In this study, we argue that both SLSS and its gifting model are largely established upon the application of game and game-like design elements and principles in the non-game environment – a process known as gamification. The system and content qualities of SLSS gamification exercise activating effects on users’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for gifting behavior – a transactional process that can serve as a novel model for the electronic commerce (E-Commerce) industry to leverage customers’ transactional behaviors. Built upon the gamification literature, this study develops a research model to investigate SLSS gamification and its motivating effects on users’ gifting behaviors. The model is validated using a cross-sectional field survey of 697 SLSS users. The theoretical and practical implications as well as limitations and future research are discussed in the Chinese E-Commerce context.