Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management

ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 11, No. 3, 2023

The Effect of Short Video Content Marketing on

Consumer Purchase Intention
Yuya Liu, Minghua Wang
School of Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, 510006, China

Abstract: Short video content marketing is increasingly popular nowadays. This study explores the impact mechanism of short
video content marketing on consumer purchase intention. The results show that the two dimensions of content marketing,
informative and entertaining content, significantly affect consumer purchase intention, and perceived value plays a partial
mediating role in the impact of content marketing on purchase intention, while product engagement negatively regulates the
impact of content marketing on perceived value.
Keywords: Short video content marketing; Purchase intention; Perceived value; Product involvement.

attract and retain customers by creating and disseminating

1. Introduction various forms of educational or eye-catching content.
With the development of mobile internet, short videos have Subsequently, Holliman and Rowley (2014) argued that
gradually become an important tool for people to satisfy their content marketing is the creation, dissemination, and sharing
daily entertainment needs. Many businesses and brands have of relevant, engaging, and timely content at an appropriate
found good opportunities to gradually present content point in time when customers consider purchasing behavior,
marketing in the form of short videos, but many companies in order to attract customers and encourage them to transform
may not achieve the expected results when conducting into the desired outcomes of the enterprise.
content marketing. Therefore, exploring the internal influence 2.4. Informative content and consumer
mechanism of content marketing to promote consumer
consumption has become an urgent problem to be solved. purchase intention
Content marketing is the creation of valuable, relevant, and
2. Theoretical Background and eye-catching content by a brand while maintaining its own
Hypothesis Development consistency, used to generate positive behavior toward the
brand by its customers or potential customers (Pulizzi , 2012).
2.1. SOR theoretical model Positive behavior also implies the possibility of forming a
The SOR theory is known as the "Stimulate Organism positive purchasing intention. Tran (2022) found that by
Response" model, which was first proposed by Mehrabian watching live e-commerce programs, consumers can more
and Russell in 1974 based on psychology. Mehrabian and intuitively feel the quality of their products, develop interest
Russell (1974) argue that when an individual is stimulated by in them, and thus develop a desire to purchase. Based on this,
external stimuli, it is not mechanical or passive, but subjective we posit that:
and active. Therefore, the individual actively processes H1: Informative content is positively related to consumers
effective information, which in turn triggers individual purchase intention
reactions. 2.5. Entertainment content and consumer
2.2. Elaboration Likelihood Model purchase intention
The Elaboration Likelihood Model is used to indicate that Entertainment content is also attractive to customers and
an individual's attitude can be changed through two different can promote purchase behavior. Lin et al. (2014) studied the
persuasion routes, namely the central route and the edge clue impact of advertising content characteristics on consumer
route ( Cacioppo & Petty, 1984). When the possibility of fine attitudes in SMS services, and found that when digital and
processing is high, consumers' attitudes are mainly changed mobile advertising content provides consumers with
through a central route, that is, they carefully collect and pay information and entertainment value, consumers have a
attention to information, and form a large amount of rational positive attitude towards content. The entertainment content
thinking and analysis of the information. When the possibility generated by marketers can have a positive impact on
of fine processing is low, consumers' attitudes are mainly consumer engagement and attract consumers to participate in
changed through edge clues, that is, they do not carefully the interaction of marketing activities (Tan & Chen, 2022).
collect and pay attention to information, and form a large Based on this, we posit that:
amount of rational thinking about it. The attitude change of H2: Entertainment content is positively related to
consumers is mainly driven by their emotions and other consumers' purchase intention
factors.
2.6. Informative content and consumer
2.3. Content Marketing perceived value
Pulizzi and Barrett (2009) proposed a clear definition of Brand content marketing is a branch of brand
content marketing, believing that content marketing aims to communication that can produce valuable information to

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meet consumer needs (Schultz ,2016). The role of content perceived value (Tran,2022). By watching e-commerce live
marketing in consumer value is that consumers may be driven streaming programs, consumers can more intuitively feel the
by functional motivation in their choices and interactions in quality of products, develop an interest in products, and thus
content marketing, so they may learn more about relevant generate purchase desire. According to the SOR theory, when
informational content until their needs are met (Hollebeek & consumers watch short video content, they perceive
Macky ,2019). The functional requirements here include information content that is conducive to decision-making or
extracting and obtaining brand through content marketing. pleasant content, which helps to form higher purchasing
Based on this, we posit that: intentions. Based on this, we posit that:
H3: Informative content is positively related to consumers' H5: Perceived value mediates the short video content
perceived value marketing and consumer purchase intention
2.7. Entertainment content and consumer 2.9. The moderation effect of product
perceived value engagement
Digital content marketing can meet consumers' When a product has a high degree of involvement,
entertainment needs or the hedonic motivation to interact with consumers’ perceived importance of the product is high as
content (Logan et al., 2012). The hedonic motivation may well as a high perceived risk. At this time, consumers will
reflect consumers' desire to showcase their identity through invest more cognitive resources to conduct a more
digital content marketing interactions. Consumers are comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the product.
influenced by emotionally driven experiential needs in According to the Elaboration Likelihood theory, when
content selection and interaction in content marketing consumers' attitudes change through the central route and
(Hollebeek & Macky (2019). Therefore, consumers may seek their product involvement level is high, it indicates that
to understand entertainment content until their needs are met . consumers have undergone a lot of rational thinking when
Based on this, we posit that: watching short video content, so the perceived value of short
H4: Entertainment content is positively related to video content marketing may decrease (Cacioppo & Petty,
consumers' perceived value 1984). Therefore, we posit that:
H6: Product engagement negatively moderates the content
2.8. The mediating role of perceived value marketing and perceived value
Consumers can obtain relevant value from brand content
marketing on social media, which is then conducive to 2.10.Research Model
forming a more favorable purchase intention (Lou et al.,2019). Based on the above literature review, it can be found that
E-commerce live streaming can have a positive impact on the research model proposed in this article is shown in Figure
consumers' purchase intention with the mediating role of 1.

Figure 1. Research model

3. Research Method 3.2. Data collection and analysis

3.1. Questionnaire design and measurement This study collected 161 questionnaires with 150 valid ones.
The data efficiency is 93.17%. The data is analyze by SPSS
This article conducts research through a questionnaire
25.0 and process 4.0.
survey. The measurement questionnaire in this article will
refer to the mature scale of research variable measurement,
and make reasonable adjustments to the scale based on the
4. Results
research needs and actual scenarios. 4.1. Sample profile
The independent variable of this study is short video
The proportion of female respondents is 61.3%, while the
content marketing, which is divided into two dimensions:
proportion of male respondents is 38.7%. The proportion of
informative content and entertainment content. The two
male and female respondents is about 4:6, indicating a
dimensions of the measurements refer to Wiertz &Ruyter
relatively large proportion of female respondents. In terms of
(2007), Jain (2019). The measurement of product engagement
age, respondents aged 18-25 accounted for the largest
is adjusted from Hong (2015). The perceived value measures
proportion in the sample data, accounting for 64.7%,
from Petrick& Backman (2002). The measurement of
reflecting the younger characteristics of the group accepting
purchase intention is from Dodds, etc. (1991).
short video content marketing. The proportion of disposable
income ranging from 1000 to 3000 yuan is the highest,

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accounting for 49.9%. In terms of education level, the significant. Information content and entertainment content
proportion of undergraduate students is the highest, have a significant positive predictive effect on perceived
accounting for 50%. value, and perceived value also has a significant positive
predictive effect on consumer purchase intention.
4.2. Reliability and Validity Analysis From Tables 1 and 2, it can be seen that the total effect
From the reliability test table, it can be seen that the α the values of informational and entertainment content on
values of the coefficients are all greater than 0.8, and the consumer purchase intention are 0.8656 and 0.8262,
CITC values of each item are all greater than 0.6, further respectively, and the Bootstrap 95% confidence interval of the
indicating that the scale has good internal consistency and the total effect does not include 0, indicating that the main effects
reliability level of the sample data is high. From the factor of both paths are significant. The direct effect values of
analysis table of the scale, it can be seen that the KMO values information content and entertainment content on consumer
of all variables are greater than 0.7, and the significance is purchase intention are 0.3711 and 0.3639, respectively, and
less than 0.01. Indicates that the sample data is suitable for the Bootstrap 95% confidence interval for the direct effect
factor analysis. The cumulative explanatory rate of each does not include 0, indicating that the direct effects of both
variable is greater than 60%. The factor load coefficient of paths are significant. The mediating effects of perceived value
each question item is greater than 0.7. Each item of the on consumer purchase intention for informational and
explanatory variable can explain most of the information. entertainment content are 0.4944 and 0.4623, respectively,
and the Bootstrap 95% confidence intervals for the mediating
4.3. Test of main and mediating effects effects do not include 0, indicating that the mediating effects
This article uses the SPSS process for data analysis. From of both pathways are significant. At the same time, due to the
the correlation analysis, it can be seen that the correlation relative effect values of the intermediary effect of
coefficients between each variable are greater than 0.7, informational and entertainment content being 57.12% and
indicating a strong correlation between the variables. From 55.96%, both of which are greater than 50%, indicating that
the data, it can be seen that informational and entertainment the intermediary effect is greater than the direct effect. It
content have a significant predictive effect on consumer indicates that content marketing can not only directly predict
purchase intention. When the mediator variable ‘perceived consumers' purchase intention, but also predict consumers'
value’ is included, the predictive effect of informational and purchase intention through the mediating effect of perceived
entertainment content on consumer purchase intention is still value. Therefore, H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 are supported.

Table 1. Mediation of informative content and purchase intention: Perceived value effect table
Bias-corrected Bias-corrected
Path Effect size Boot SE Relative effect size
95% Lower 95% Upper
Overall effect 0.8656 0.0409 0.785 0.9464
Direct effect 0.3711 0.0632 0.246 0.4960 42.87%
Indirect effect 0.4944 0.0772 0.3433 0.6453 57.12%

Table 2. Mediation of entertaining content and purchase intention: Perceived value effect table
Bias-corrected Bias-corrected
Path Effect size Boot SE Relative effect size
95% Lower 95% Upper
Overall effect 0.8262 0.0386 0.7500 0.9024
Direct effect 0.3639 0.0593 0.2467 0.4810 44.04%
Indirect effect 0.4623 0.0773 0.3086 0.6084 55.96%

4.4. Test of moderating effects moderating effects. Meanwhile, the coefficient of

informational content on perceived value B=0.2633 is
From the analysis of moderated mediation models in Tables inconsistent with the coefficient of product term on perceived
3 and 4, it can be seen that when the moderating variable value B=-0.2160; And the coefficient of entertainment
‘product engagement’ is added to the model, the coefficient content on perceived value, B=0.2887, is inconsistent with the
of the product term between informational content and coefficient of product term on perceived value, B=-0.1326,
product engagement is significant, and the coefficient of the indicating that product engagement can play a negative
product term between entertainment content and product moderating role in the prediction of content marketing on
engagement is significant, indicating the existence of perceived value.

Table 3. Moderated mediation model test with informative content as the independent variable
Regression equation Fit index Coefficient significance
Result variable Predictor variable R R2 F B t
Perceived value 0.9166 0.8402 106.69
Informative content 0.2633 3.1366**
Product involvement 0.3121 4.1977***
Informative content * Product involvement -0.2160 -4.8725***
Gender 0.1121 1.7278
Age 0.0180 0.4778
Education 0.0085 0.1664
Monthly disposable income 0.0432 0.8612

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 Table 4. Moderated mediation model test with entertaining content as the independent variable
Regression equation Fit index Coefficient significance
Result variable Predictor variable R R2 F B t
Perceived value 0.9145 0.8362 103.58
Entertaining content 0.2887 3.4108***
Product involvement 0.4076 6.1188***
Entertaining content * Product involvement -0.1326 -3.1309**
Gender 0.0492 0.7532
Age 0.0396 1.0282
Education -0.0380 -0.7712
Monthly disposable income -0.0012 -0.0235
Note. *p＜0.05, **p＜0.01, ***p＜0.001

From the mediating effect at different levels of product The slope of high product engagement is greater than that of
engagement in Table 5, it can be seen that when the product low product engagement, indicating that under high product
engagement level of short video users is low, the mediating engagement, content marketing has a greater negative impact
effect of perceived value is stronger, B=0.5924, CI=[0.4207, on perceived value. Indicates that product engagement plays
0.7642], P<0.05. When short video users have a higher level a negative moderating role in the impact of content marketing
of product involvement, the mediating effect of perceived on perceived value, hence H6 is supported.
value is weaker, with B=0.3402, CI=[0.0359, 0.6445], P<0.05.

Table 5. Mediating effect at different levels of product involvement

Bias- Bias-
Product Effect Boot
corrected corrected
involvement size SE
95% Lower 95% Upper
-0.9316(M-1SD) 0.5924 0.0869 0.4207 0.7642
Mediating effect of perceived
0.0000(M) 0.4663 0.1158 0.2374 0.6952
value
0.9316(M-1SD) 0.3402 0.1539 0.0359 0.6445

Based on the above content, it can be seen that the two obtained information content, it may reduce their perceived
dimensions of content marketing, informational content and value, thereby reducing their purchase intention. Due to the
entertainment content, have a significant positive impact on fact that consumers now have multiple channels to access
consumers' purchase intention. At the same time, perceived information, they may have come into contact with a large
value plays a partial mediating role in the impact of content amount of similar content through multiple channels.
marketing on purchase intention. Product engagement plays a Therefore, when enterprises engage in content marketing,
moderating role in the impact of content marketing on they can use big data and other means to provide a more
perceived value. All hypotheses are supported. accurate push to users, reducing the push of a large amount of
duplicate content. By reducing repetitive content, consumers'
5. Discussion and Implementation perceived risk and manipulated inference can be reduced to a
certain extent, which can enhance their perceived value and
Under high product engagement, consumers are more
thus increase their willingness to purchase.
likely to engage in switching behavior. However, many
companies or merchants in short video content marketing may 6. Research Limitations
not have formed corresponding brands yet. Consumers may
be exposed to a lot of homogeneous content, and the This article studies the impact mechanism of content
persuasion intention is too obvious, which may lead to marketing on consumer purchase intention, but there are still
consumers believing that the business has manipulation some limitations. Firstly, the characteristics of the main
behavior, causing an increase in consumer perceived value, audience targeted by different short video platforms may vary.
and ultimately making the recommended content of the Secondly, different types of short video content marketing
business more difficult for consumers to accept. Thus, when may also have different audiences. Fourthly, there are still
the product is highly involved, consumers do not pay more some shortcomings in data collection and processing.
attention to short video content because they want to obtain Related research can focus on more different short video
more information, which leads to an increase in perceived platforms and different types of content; In the future, we will
value. Instead, other factors lead to a decrease in perceived conduct more in-depth research on short video content
value. marketing from more dimensions and increase the relevant
Thus, there are some implementations from the study. variables that affect consumer purchasing decisions.
Firstly, it can increase the informational and entertainment
content in short video content marketing, allowing users to References
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