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NTU Management Review Vol. 32 No. 1 Apr. 2022

plaints decrease a firm’s sales (Turney and Littman, 2003). Consumers, particularly wom-
en, experience a decline in purchase intentions after reading a disappointed review (Bae
and Lee, 2011). And so far no study has supported the effect of “ridiculing” comments on
purchasing behavior. Nevertheless, Ullah, Amblee, Kim, and Lee (2016) suggest that neg-

ative emotions can improve producer offerings; that is, the use of words such as “ridiculing”
to describe a product can trigger a continuous process of quality improvement, which can
significantly benefit the producer firm.

Compared to above-noted studies regarding online product reviews in e-commerce
environments, research on the relationship between discrete emotional features in viewers'
comments and their gift-sending behavior has been insufficient in the context of livestream
environments. Drawing on the aforementioned literature, this study infers that comments
embedded with positive emotions (i.e., excitement, amusement, and praise) are positively

related to viewers' gift-sending behavior on live-streaming platforms. Conversely, negative
emotional comments (i.e., criticism, disappointment, and ridicule) detrimentally impact
viewers' gift-sending behavior on live-streaming platforms.

2.4 Impact of Streamers' Characteristics and Behaviors on Paid Gifting
Table 3 lists the effects of streamers' characteristics and behaviors on viewers' gift-
sending and donation intentions on live-streaming platforms. Most studies included in the
table have examined the impact of streamers' behaviors on viewers' gift-sending intentions

rather than behavior, on live-streaming platforms from a socio-psychological perspective.
For example, Wan et al. (2017) examine the effect of social and technological factors on
the donation intention of livestream users and find that both interaction and information
value have an indirect influence. Yu, Jung, Kim, and Jung (2018) adopt a social perspective

to explain that chatting with other viewers enhances viewers' gift-sending behavior. Wohn
and Freeman (2020) show that value creation by streamers through, for example, the
sharing of product features and experiences increases viewers' willingness to pay for gifts.
Xu (2017) suggests that enthusiastic responses by streamers play a critical role in product

marketing.
Few studies, however, have explored the impact of streamers’ characteristics on
gift-sending intentions. Wohn and Freeman (2020), for example, suggest that the interper-
sonal attractiveness of streamers positively impacts donation intentions and that female

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