The effect and mechanism of social presence in live marketing on online herd consumption from behavioral and neurophysiological perspectives

Abstract: With live marketing as background and based on the analysis of the literature, we introduce social presence and explore the connotation and composition of social presence in live marketing environment. Besides, ground on the theory of conformity consumption, we conduct behavioral tests and probe into the cognitive mechanism of how social presence influences online conformity consumption in live marketing. Furthermore, according to the theory of social presence, this paper discusses the moderating effect of self-construction and tie strength between buyer and network-anchor in this process. Finally, based on the theory of social facilitation, this study explores the emotional mechanism using neuroscience method which has the advantages of objectivity and "process measurement". This research will reveal the effect of social presence on online herd consumption, provide guidance to network-anchor and E-sellers, meanwhile help consumers understand their own behavior better in order to make more rational consumption choices.