Driven by engagement and social identity: refining the SOR framework to explore digital music consumption behaviors among Chinese undergraduate students on short video platforms

Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, this study refines the model within the context of short video platforms (SVPs) and digital music consumption. By incorporating social identity as a context-specific “Organism” mediator alongside music recommendation satisfaction, we explore the dual psychological pathways-individual and social-through which SVP usage shapes the consumption behaviors of Chinese undergraduates. We identify four key “Stimulus” variables (platform usability, social influence, emotional regulation, algorithm perception) and measure digital music consumption behavior as the “Response.” Data were collected from 602 Chinese undergraduates via a mixed-method survey and analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 21.0. The results demonstrated strong scale reliability (all Cronbach's α 0.8) and validity (KMO = 0.923; CFA indicated good fit: χ 2 /df = 1.415, GFI = 0.952, CFI = 0.988, RMSEA = 0.032). Correlation analysis revealed significant positive relationships ( r = 0.4–0.7, p 0.001) among key variables. Regression and bootstrap mediation analyses confirmed that: (1) the four stimulus factors are positively associated with consumption behavior; (2) music recommendation satisfaction mediates the effects of platform usability, emotional regulation, and algorithm perception (standardized indirect effects = 0.202, 0.207, 0.183, p 0.05); (3) social identity specifically mediates the relationship between social influence and consumption (standardized indirect effect = 0.245, p 0.001); (4) the indirect effect of social influence through music recommendation satisfaction is not significant (standardized indirect effect = 0.005, 95% CI -0.031, 0.033); (5) social influence emerged as the strongest predictor (β = 0.27 in SEM, β = 0.182 in regression, p 0.001). The refined model explained 58.2% of the variance in consumption behavior and 32.9% in recommendation satisfaction. These findings deepen the understanding of context-bound psychological mechanisms in SVP-driven music consumption and offer practical insights for platform operators, industry stakeholders, and educators.