Study of online celebrities who sell knowledge : perceived attractiveness and users willingness to pay

Abstract

This thesis studies China’s emerging online celebrities —“Knowledge Wanghong”—who sell self-created knowledge products to users on digital platforms. Although they can attract numerous users to pay for knowledge products, the understanding of how and to what extent the perceived attractiveness of Knowledge Wanghong motivates users’ willingness to pay is limited. Motivated by this, the thesis draws upon a social informatics perspective to investigate the antecedents of the perceived attractiveness of Knowledge Wanghong according to their characteristics and social interactions with users, and explicate the effects of the perceived attractiveness on users’ willingness to pay. Three research objectives are proposed: (1) to shed light on the characteristics of Knowledge Wanghong by comparing the attributes of knowledge products across different online identity types, (2) to identify and validate the antecedents of the perceived attractiveness of Knowledge Wanghong according to their characteristics and social interactions with users, (3) to examine the direct and indirect effects of the perceived attractiveness on users’ willingness to pay. The first objective was addressed using a unique data set containing 2,617 Knowledge Wanghong’s self-portraits and attributes of knowledge products. After that, semi-structured interviews with Knowledge Wanghong and an online survey of paid users were employed to address the last two objectives. Developing a typology with four online identities—mentor, broker, storyteller and geek—among Knowledge Wanghong, the thesis suggests that the duration, frequency and diversity of knowledge products sold differ across the four types. Three antecedents—perceived professionalism, perceived familiarity, and perceived intimacy—are significant to the perceived attractiveness of Knowledge Wanghong, albeit with varying importance. The perceived attractiveness can directly affect users’ willingness to pay, or indirectly through the role of users’ attachment to Knowledge Wanghong.