Beyond the Spotlight: How Non‐Celebrity Streamers' Communication Styles and Product Types Drive Purchase Intent in Live Streaming Commerce

ABSTRACT Despite the global boom of live streaming commerce as an interactive retail channel, existing research has systematically disproportionately focused on celebrity streamers while neglecting non‐celebrity streamers, who exert significant market influence through the long‐tail effect. Unlocking the substantial potential of non‐celebrity streamers has become a core strategic priority for live streaming commerce practitioners. Drawing upon cognitive fit theory, we examine the interactive effects of non‐celebrity streamers' communication styles (social‐oriented vs. task‐oriented) and product types (hedonic vs. utilitarian) on consumers' purchase intention in live streaming commerce. Adopting a multi‐method research design with three sequential studies: a secondary‐sales analysis on TikTok live streaming transaction data, a questionnaire survey of live streaming viewers, and a between‐subjects experiment implemented in the real‐world context, we reveal that a task‐oriented communication style maximizes purchase intention for utilitarian products, while a social‐oriented communication style generates stronger purchase intention for hedonic products. Such congruent matching conditions enhance cognitive fluency, thereby boosting consumers' purchase intention; conversely, mismatching induces cognitive fatigue and weakens purchase intent. This study advances scholarly understanding of non‐celebrity streamers' operational strategies and delivers meaningful theoretical and practical implications for the live streaming commerce industry.