Elderly Engagement in the Digital Marketplace: A Study of Douyin's Silver-haired Fashion Influencers through Two-step Flow and Multi-step Flow Models

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4865619/v1

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Elderly Engagement in the Digital Marketplace: A Study of Douyin's Silver-haired Fashion Influencers through Two-step Flow and Multi-step Flow Models

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4865619/v1

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In the digital era, China’s aging population poses significant societal challenges. However, silver-haired fashion influencers on Douyin, with a following of millions, have emerged as a positive force, setting a precedent for smart utilization of older people and silver economy growth. Using the two-step and multi-step flow model theories as a framework, this study explores how these influencers can use product placement in their short videos to optimize profits and self-worth. Through qualitative interviews with 11 followers of such influencers, the research found that the influence of product placement on purchase intentions is multifaceted, influenced by the influencers themselves, followers’ product perceptions, and the platform ecology. In order to increase the impact of product placements, the study highlights the significance of developing parasocial interactions and making thoughtful product selections. Silver-haired fashion influencers may drive the silver economy and promote smart ageing solutions by better leveraging their influence when they understand these dynamics.

aging

silver-haired fashion influencer

smart utilization of older people

silver economy

product placement

purchase intention

Douyin

China is experiencing a major aging population challenge, with predictions that by 2030, 25.5% of the population will be elderly, around 330 million people (Ingrosso, 2021). Although this demographic shift seems to add to the country’s society and economic burdens, it also presents the potential emerging from this social dilemma by taking “silver-haired influencers” as an example. Silver-haired influencers, who are over the age of 60 display themselves and disseminate content through short video, are born under the exponential development of short video platforms (Shen, Zuo and Lin, 2022). For example, Douyin, a popular short video platform in China featuring 15 to 60-second videos and comprised of user-generated content rather than professionally generated content, was downloaded by more than 2 billion people during the global health crisis (Kaye, Chen and Zeng, 2021). Meanwhile, the short video user base reached 1.026 billion people in 2023 with particular growth occurring in the 2020s (China Internet Network Information Center, 2023). And the silver-haired population over the age of 60 is expected to reach 100 million by 2025 as an emerging Internet user group (Thomala, 2023). It means that many silver-haired people have become users of short video platforms, joining the community of user-generated content. Short video platforms, represented by Douyin, have provided a new channel for older people over 60 to display themselves so that many silver-haired influencers have emerged. It is a way to enhance their connection to society as well as increase their sense of social engagement. Academics refer to them as a new model of smart utilization of older people, which is one aspect of smart elderly care, and other aspects including smart help for older people and smart filial piety (Shen et al., 2022).

Smart elderly care refers to using information technology and other temporary technology such as the Internet, social media, mobile devices, etc., to manage the daily lives, safety, health, entertainment, leisure, learning, and other aspects of older people, first proposed by the British Lift Trust (Zhou, 2019). With increasing age-adapted products, services and technology functions appearing in the silver market, smart elderly care is rapidly making its way into China’s discourse as a new elderly care model that combines the benefits of information technology to help the country actively deal with aging (Shen et al., 2022). It is a path to turn the aging population situation around. And also it shows a great opportunity for the silver economy to grow, a subset of the economy centered on products and services that are expected to lengthen life expectancy (Ma, 2022). Certainly, the silver economy not only pays attention to the consumption needs of older people but also their society participation and contribution (Ingrosso, 2021). Therefore, silver-haired influencers, as a representation of silver economy growth and a new model of smart utilization of older people, give rise to a possibility to transfer demographic threats into chances of development.

By April 2021, Douyin’s official data revealed that over 600 million videos — including fashion shows, parent-child interactions, creative special effects, food and scenery, animal and plant care, and more — had been created by creators over 60 on the platform, garnering over 40 billion likes overall (Feng, 2021). As of October 1, 2021, the number of silver-haired influencers over the age of 60 with more than 2 million followers on Douyin had exceeded one hundred, according to the NEWRANK platform (Shen et al., 2022). This is especially true of the “silver-haired fashion influencers,” who are more focused on expressing or communicating their views on fashion or exquisite life by taking existing genres and combining them into new formats through video production and even attempting to break stereotypes and subvert the “old” look and feel, which is more prominent among the silver-haired influencers on Douyin (Farinosi and Fortunati, 2020; Farinosi, 2023). For example, two famous silver-haired fashion influencers, North Sea Grandpa (北海爷爷) and High-Heeled Shoes-only Grandma Wang (只穿高跟鞋的汪奶奶), have 16.488 million and 13.151 million followers on Douyin respectively by March 2024.

Silver-haired fashion influencers, as one type of influencer, are different from ordinary influencers in that they can meet the audience's yearning needs and attract fans by arousing the audience's imagination of their later years (Shen et al., 2022). In the context of the rise of the silver economy, silver-haired fashion influencers with a broad fan base have competitive promotional capabilities and have become the object of competition for brands in terms of brand product placement in their videos or conducting live streaming e-commerce, as well as a new weapon for platforms to gain incremental users (Zhang, 2022). However, existing research has focused more on the image or identity representation and communication of silver-haired fashion influencers, or compared it to young fashion influencers, with research platforms and gender mainly focusing on Instagram and women, and less attention being paid to the profitability of male and female silver-haired fashion influencers on Douyin (Farinosi and Fortunati, 2020; Miranda, Antunes and Gama, 2022; Ghosh, 2023; Jerrentrup, 2023). Therefore, in order to make up for the gap in this academic direction, this study aims to study the potential profitability of product placement in short videos of silver-haired fashion influencers from the perspective of followers' purchase intention, which is full of exploration significance in the academic research of silver economy and smart utilization of elderly. Meanwhile, from the perspective of social external motives such as monetary incentives, helping silver-haired fashion influencers obtain more monetary gains is a way of giving maximum play to the smart utilization of older people. It is also helping them to achieve greater self-worth. Therefore, there is academic value and social necessity to investigate the profit model of silver-haired fashion influencers to give more practical recommendations to improve the effectiveness of their product placement. And this study focuses on one dimension of the profit model, namely product placement, and specifically addresses two research questions. They are:

RQs

Whether product placement in silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos on Douyin can influence followers’ purchase intentions? If so, how?

This paper argues that the influence of product placement in silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos on followers’ purchase intentions is multi-dimensional, both promoting and hindering. To further examine the influence of product placement in silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos on followers’ purchase intentions and put forward constructive suggestions on how silver-haired fashion influencers can expand or maximize their influence via their product placement, the study achieves the aims through the following objectives:

To develop a theoretical framework that provides an in-depth understanding of whether and how silver-haired fashion influencer has an impact;

To understand the definitions of product placement and purchase intention and then identify current research on the factors influencing the relationship between the two;

To focus on short video product placements as one of the strategies of influencer marketing and how this type of advertisement influences behavioral intentions such as purchase intention;

To understand the real experiences, thoughts and feelings of the interviewees (i.e., followers of the silver-haired fashion influencers) and to gain more insights around the research questions;

To code the textual data obtained from the interviews and integrate them with the literature and theories to answer the research questions.

Therefore, guided by the research aims and objectives, the following sections are divided into five parts, i.e., literature review, methodology, results and findings, discussion as well as conclusion.

In order to better solve the research questions, this study intends to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers as well as the dissemination and influence process of product placement in their short videos from two mixed theoretical perspectives: the two-step flow model and the multi-step flow model. Then, looking at past related studies, it aims to understand the causal relationship and influencing factors between product placement in different media forms and purchase intentions. In addition, the researchers focused on product placement in the form of short videos, which is an important strategy for influencer marketing. It aims to understand some of the key factors that influence an audience's behavioral intentions, such as purchase intentions. Each aspect is explored in detail in the following sections related to the literature review.

Theoretical Framework: Two-Step Flow Model and Multi-Step Flow Model

For this study, the theoretical framework was based on two theories, i.e., the two-step flow model and the multi-step flow model. These two theories are significantly related to this study. It can give us insights into whether and how silver-haired fashion influencers have an impact.

Firstly, the two-step flow model means that the majority of people obtain their information from opinion leaders through interpersonal interaction rather than directly from the mass media, as evidenced by the finding that “opinion leaders,” or active media users who gather, interpret, and distribute media information to less active media consumers, are the primary recipients of mass media content (Postelnicu, 2016; Vrontis, Makrides, Christofi, and Thrassou, 2021). It was created by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet and published in their book The People’s Choice after researching how voters made decisions during the 1940 U.S. presidential election (Postelnicu, 2016). Later, Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz expanded on the two-step flow model in their book Personal Influence (Postelnicu, 2016). They argued that consumer responses to information disseminated by mass media are mediated by opinion leaders, who convey their own interpretations of information through multiple group encounters (Vrontis et al., 2021). As research by Casaló, Flavián and Ibáñez-Sánchez (2018) shows, the combination of these two influences in the two processes determines consumers' final purchase choices, with interpersonal communication having a greater impact on behavior and decision-making than mass media. Therefore, putting this theory into the research context, silver-haired fashion influencers can be seen as “opinion leaders.” They play a similar role to “opinion leaders” in influencing audiences. Namely, silver-haired fashion influencers convey a brand or product’s information to followers through their own video creation. But whether there is a purchase intention occurred on followers, which is one of the focuses in this study.

Secondly, criticisms surfaced, saying that the two-step flow model was not as straightforward as it seemed and that opinion leaders are really recipients as well as disseminators because people who influence other people are also impacted by other groups — a phenomenon called the multi-step flow model, which is a derivation of the two-step flow model (Marjerison, Huang, and Chen, 2020). It emphasizes the complexity of communication and involves the role of multiple intermediaries with varying degrees of influence in shaping public opinion (Das, 2023). It means that followers may be influenced by more than a single intermediary, when they have purchase intention influence, there may be other influencers as well, and so on. Therefore, this study also focuses on observing how followers generate purchase intention influence. In addition, there is a lack of research on the influence of influencers on followers' purchase intention from these two theoretical perspectives, more from the perspective of the two-step flow model. For example, Joo and Teng (2023) explored how marketing strategies of social media influencers affect consumers’ purchase intentions through the two-step flow model. Similarly, Zia, Zahra and Hayat (2021) studied Instagram beauty influencers from this theoretical perspective. Thus, research in this area from a mixed theoretical perspective could fill some of the gaps.

Product Placement and Purchase Intention

Product placement is the intentional introduction of commercial content—a product pitch created by fusing entertainment and advertising—into noncommercial contexts as a way for influencers to interpret and disseminate information (Ginosar and Levi-Faur, 2010). Product placement refers to the practice of inserting a brand name, goods, packaging, signs, or other trademarked goods for commercial purposes into movies, television shows, or other media content, which is also known as product brand placement, in-program sponsoring, branded entertainment, or product integration (Williams, Petrosky, Hernandez and Page, 2011).

Product placement initially appeared in Europe in 1896 as a way to save costs in movies and television shows (Williams et al., 2011). After the Depression, product placements were largely inactive until they began to revive in the 1960s and 1970s and then to grow again in the 1980s and 1990s (Balasubramanian, Karrh and Patwardhan, 2006). Nowadays, with the development of technology, digital product integration has become a new area of product placement (Williams et al., 2011). Accordingly, the majority of previous product placement research has been on mass media, such as video games (20.21%), television (32.25%), and movies (33.87%) (Kureshi and Sood, 2010). But an increasing amount of study has been done on new media content. Examples include studies on what makes product placement effective (Li, Chou, and Liao, 2015) and how it affects consumer attitudes and behavior (Gageler and van der Schee, 2016; Ghosh, 2022).

One of the notable predictors of consumers’ behavior is purchase intention, which specifically refers to the intent of consumers to purposefully prepare or strive to buy brand products (Spears and Singh, 2004). Perceived risk and brand trust function as chain mediators in the effect of product placement on purchase intention (Huang and Deng, 2022). Additionally, with the enhancement of self-concept similar to that of influencers, consumers’ purchase intentions will also be affected (Hermanda, Sumarwan and Tinaprillia, 2019). Specifically, greater image satisfaction with influencers is correlated with positive assessments of social existence, degree of happiness, and interpersonal interactions—all of which have a big influence on consumers' intentions to make a purchase (Dabholkar, van Dolen and de Ruyter, 2009; Chen and Shen, 2015; Li and Peng, 2021). Among these studies on the effect of product placement on purchase intention, less attention has been paid to short video product placement, and less attention has been paid to silver-haired fashion influencers in the Chinese context. The research focus of this study can further expand the research related to product placement by influencers, which is also one of the most important strategies of influencer marketing.

Influencer Marketing

Consumers are becoming less comfortable with conventional forms of advertising and less trusting of direct marketing from brands (Gerdeman, 2019). Their greater propensity to follow the advice of friends, acquaintances, or independent experts has a positive effect on influencer marketing's expansion (Alassani and Göretz, 2019). Influencer marketing is a social media marketing strategy that involves influencers posting product placements on their networks, as defined by Alassani and Göretz (2019). According to the social capital theory, Leung, Gu and Palmatier (2022) propose that influencer marketing can be interpreted as leveraging influencer resources (such as followers' trust, individual positioning, and networks) to enhance the marketing communication impact of businesses. Capitalizing on the influence and reach of influencers—who subsequently share an advertisement for a company on social media—is the aim of the strategic approach to influencer marketing. Revenue generation is the main goal, with product placement serving as a means of positioning the brand, raising brand awareness, and drawing in new clients (Alassani and Göretz, 2019).

Current studies in this domain primarily discuss the effects of specific influencer attributes (like perceived credibility, attractiveness and expertise) and content attributes (like influencer-brand fit and emotional attachment) on outcomes at the influencer and brand levels (Vrontis et al., 2021; Leung et al., 2022). For example, influencers’ expertise, attractiveness (i.e., likeability and familiarity), and influencer-brand fit content have a positive effect on brand attitude, influencer credibility and consumers’ engagement (i.e., comment, like and share) (Hughes et al., 2019; Jin and Muqaddam, 2019; Ki and Kim, 2019; Trivedi and Sama, 2020). And these dependent variables act as mediating factors for the favorable impact of these independent variables on behavioral intention (e.g., purchase intention) (Magno, 2017; Breves, Liebers, Abt and Kunze, 2019; Torres, Augusto and Matos, 2019; Trivedi and Sama, 2020).

In addition, under the influence of influencer attributes and content attributes, followers are easy to establish a kind of parasocial relationship with influencers, which is a positive and one-way relationship and regard the influencer as a more trusted resource to seek purchase information (Lee and Watkins, 2016; Yang and Ha, 2021). Needless to say, the stronger this type of parasocial relationship, the stronger the intention of followers to purchase (Hwang and Zhang, 2018; Luo and Yuan, 2019; Yang and Ha, 2021). And according to a systematic review of the literature in this field, there are also studies on silver-haired influencers, but most of them focus on the Instagram platform (Vrontis et al., 2021; Ghosh, 2023). While Instagram is the most strategic platform for influencer marketing campaigns, further investigation into other social media networks is warranted, especially short video platforms, as the characteristics of each platform can influence customer behavior differently. Therefore, this exploratory study is of great significance for the in-depth study of the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers or more types of silver-haired influencers on Douyin.

Overall, the two theoretical perspectives, i.e., the two-step flow model and the multi-step flow model, lay a basic foundation for this study. Silver-haired fashion influencers play an influencing role in audiences’ views and behaviors like “opinion leaders”. And such influences are multifaceted and complex. So is it possible that the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers has an impact on the purchase intentions of their followers, and how is it realized. The previous researches about product placement and purchase intention give the researcher a blueprint to conduct this study. For example, relevant research is helpful to inspire the researcher to come up with an interview framework. In addition, even though research on short video product placement as one of the strategies of influencer marketing also exists research related to silver-hair influencers, these pay less attention to the fashion type and the Douyin platform. So this study will focus on these two things to expand the relevant research fields, such as looking at whether the influencing factors discovered in other research will be rediscovered and so on.

This study aims to explore whether and how product placement in silver-haired fashion influencers' short videos on Douyin has an impact on followers' purchase intentions. The data collection strategy for this exploratory study was a qualitative, semi-structured interview approach, with the data analysis method being thematic analysis. The detailed research methodology is formulated as follows:

Research Design

Interpretivism was used in this study as its research philosophy, adopting an inductive approach. According to Alharahsheh and Pius (2020), the interpretivism paradigm would enable researchers to delve further by seeking out personal experiences and views of a particular social context. Moreover, the primary objective of inductive analysis is to identify underlying characteristics and provide a methodical account of the ways in which these characteristics interact — that is, how objects function (Azungah, 2018). Therefore, this research philosophy and approach were appropriate to answer the type of research questions, i.e., whether and how, and to search for meaning by gaining insight into followers' perceptions of product placement in influencer-follower relationships.

In addition, a qualitative research methodology was employed. Firstly, the qualitative research method is useful for identifying, describing, and explaining phenomena by paying close attention to research participants' spontaneous, unrestricted behaviors and open-ended responses (Fitch, 1994; Kuczynski and Daly, 2003). It also entails the researchers' ability to evaluate the data they gather in order to make sense of it (Kuczynski and Daly, 2003). Secondly, quantitative survey methodology was used in the majority of existing studies (Li and Peng, 2021; Marjerison et al., 2020; etc.) about product placement and purchase intention. Very few research projects used a qualitative approach. Thus, qualitative research was useful for gaining thorough knowledge.

Research Methods

This study utilized a semi-structured interview to gain primary data. Through the semi-structured interview, research participants were able to eloquently convey their emotions, experiences, and opinions regarding the topic’s significance (Azungah, 2018). Additionally, because a semi-structured interview allows the interviewee a great deal of flexibility in what they say, how much they say, and how they say it, the researcher can approach different interviewees differently while still covering the same questions, and information from earlier interviews can be double-checked and verified (Rowley, 2012; Bryman and Bell, 2015; Azungah, 2018).

The interviewees used purposive sampling to recruit followers of North Sea Grandpa (北海爷爷, 16.488 million followers), High-heeled Shoes-only Grandma Wang (只穿高跟鞋的汪奶奶, 13.151 million followers), Xue Rui Aunt (雪瑞姑姑, 5.818 million followers), Kang Kang and Grandpa (康康和爷爷, 6.122 million followers), who were selected based on the number of followers of Douyin accounts. Interviewees were mainly contacted through private messages on Douyin and open recruitment through Chinese social media such as The Red, Douban and WeChat. After the university’s ethical approval, there were 11 interviews to be held at the final. There were two male participants and nine female participants. They all followed two to four silver-haired fashion influencers that this study involved. Nine participants were between the ages of 20 and 30. The other two participants were 30 to 40 years old. The 20 to 40 age range is also the main age group for silver-haired fashion influencers’ followers (Li and Zhao, 2022). The interview protocol focused on the central research questions, and involved questions about why they follow the silver-haired fashion influencers, what impressions of silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos, how they feel about silver-haired fashion influencers’ short video product placements, and why they will or will not generate purchase intentions to product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers, etc. Every interview approximately lasted 30 minutes.

Certainly, a pilot study, as one of the crucial phases of a research project, was carried out following the initial establishment of the interview protocol. Its purpose was to identify any potential issues or shortcomings with the research tools and protocols prior to carrying out the full study and to assist the researcher in becoming acquainted with the protocols' procedures (Hassan, Schattner and Mazza, 2006). Additionally, the pilot study, as well as the formal interviews, were conducted both online and offline, which depended on the convenience of the interviewee. And the language of the interviews was based on the native language preference of the interviewee. However, the final texts to be analyzed were translated into English.

Following the interviews, the primary data were processed using the thematic analysis method, which entails finding, evaluating, and summarizing any patterns or themes (Castleberry and Nolen, 2018). According to Castleberry and Nolen (2018), thematic analysis is a descriptive method that reduces the data in a flexible way and works well with other data analysis methods. Because this data analysis method can address a wide range of research issues and themes, it is widely used (Castleberry and Nolen, 2018). Thematic analysis of open-ended responses from transcribed interviews can study the relationship between product placement and purchase intentions in videos of silver-haired fashion influencers in a depth that is not possible with quantitative analyses, while still allowing freedom and interpretation in the data analysis process (Castleberry and Nolen, 2018). Open coding was used to highlight important keywords, such as terms that interviewees frequently mention. Axial coding was used to find the connections between the open codes. Selective coding was done by comparing the categories that emerge from axial coding in order to identify notable themes or patterns (Fan, Chan, and Wang, 2022). Finally, three main themes were categorized, and accordingly there were some sub-themes generated below the three main themes.

Limitations and Ethical Consideration

Although qualitative research may not be very generalizable, it can provide useful information for future studies and make up for the shortcomings of previous quantitative research. In addition, human subjects were used in the research process. The first thing to think about was informed consent (InnovateMR, 2023). Participants all gave their informed consent after being fully informed about the background and aim of the study, the processes involved, any possible risks or benefits, and the intended use of their data. To guarantee that participation is voluntary, participants were given the option to withdraw from the study at any point if they felt emotionally or otherwise uncomfortable after providing written consent. Participants' responses and personal information were always kept secret and confidential in the whole research process.

Additionally, because this study used interpretivism, a thorough textual analysis was done to identify important themes and patterns in the interview data, and subjective bias or distortion was avoided to ensure an unbiased interpretation of the findings. To guarantee the traceability of the study, the interview procedure and outcomes were recorded after the consent of the participants.

In order to answer the research questions, this study has conducted 11 semi-structured interviews. All participants, aged between 20 and 40, followed two to four silver-haired fashion influencers on Douyin. They identified themselves as frequent consumers of silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos. The watching frequency remained the same as the frequency of silver-haired fashion influencers’ updates. And they have the awareness and understanding of product placements as well as the ability to identify product placements in silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos. When asked about their purchase intentions regarding product placements in short videos of silver-haired fashion influencers on Douyin, their answers varied. While no participant expressed an unequivocal intention to purchase, the majority indicated potential interest, except for three respondents who reported no intent to purchase.

Three key themes emerged from a subsequent analysis of their responses, providing insight into whether and how product placements by silver-haired fashion influencers affect the purchase intentions of their followers. And below the three key themes, there were several sub-themes generated to explain the influence specifically. An in-depth analysis of these themes and sub-themes, along with consumer viewpoints and underlying motivations in the context of content consumption of silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos, will be provided in the following section.

Theme 1: The influence of silver-haired fashion influencers themselves

Interviewees were asked to explain the reasons or motivations for following silver-haired fashion influencers on Douyin. Curiosity and aspiration were the most common responses. Notably, the majority of participants (9 out of 11) mentioned these two attributes. Here are two illustrative reports. The first quote is about the attribute of curiosity. The second quote focuses on the aspiration attribute.

“I watched them with a sense of curiosity. Based on a stereotype, I wanted to know what their daily lives were like and how their short video content differed from that of young people.” (Female, aged 24)

“Their outfits are trendy and it's my favorite style. Since they can be so stylish, it feels as if I can look up to them.” (Male, aged 30)

However, these two sentiments appear to have a dual effect on their purchase intentions instead of a single and positive influence on purchase intentions. On the one hand, they demonstrate the potential positive impact that the curiosity and aspiration associated with silver-haired fashion influencers may translate into trust and acceptance of their product placements. On the other hand, some participants have an emotional connection aroused by these sentiments while doubting whether the promoted product is appropriate for their age or lifestyle, among other factors, that may deter purchase intentions. The following sub-themes give more explanation.

Sub-theme 1: The shift of societal norms leading to followers’ older life fantasies

After interviewees expressed their following motivations, they were asked to describe the overall impression of silver-haired fashion influencers and their short videos. Senior intellectuals were widely recognized by participants as the silver-haired fashion influencers' identities. The representation of silver-haired fashion influencers in short videos was more grace, handsome, young and fashionable. In other words, the presence of silver-haired fashion influencers broke down the societal norms of aging, fashion and beauty in interviewees’ minds. And this breakdown arouses their older life fantasies. Just like one interviewee said,

“The confidence and grace of High-heeled Shoes-only Grandma Wang (只穿高跟鞋的汪奶奶) has changed my mind about how older people live their lives. Old people can also live a wonderful, chic heart, let me no longer be afraid of growing old.” (Female, aged 39)

These older life fantasies are like a catalyst influencing followers’ purchase intentions on silver-haired fashion influencers’ short video product placements. It increases their trust and acceptance of products silver-haired fashion influencers promoted in their short videos. Here is a representative quote:

“I'm middle-aged and feeling like it's hard to keep up with the trends. They on the other hand are older and live young. So I just feel like those products they recommend will make me feel like I can be as young, stylish and up-to-date as they are when I use them. Like some of their outfits, I especially like them and often follow them in their purchases.” (Female, aged 40)

The above two quotes come from two middle-aged participants. Only they conveyed this feeling. So it can be found that middle-aged people are more likely to have greater older life fantasies about the product placement by silver-hair fashion influencers, and then increase their trust and acceptance of the products promoted by silver-hair fashion influencers, resulting in stronger purchase intention. However, for participants in their 20s, the influence on purchase intentions was slightly different.

Sub-theme 2: The silver-haired fashion influencers arouse followers’ emotional connection

Curious about silver-haired fashion influencers, younger interviewees said they often engage with short videos of silver-haired fashion influencers. Reading comments and commenting were the most frequent engagement (reported 8 times). The reason for this behavior is as one interviewee put it.

“I often read the comments underneath their videos and the most common comment is when the commenter says they think of their older family members. I feel the same way. Like when North Sea Grandpa (北海爷爷) used to wear a suit to video shoots, I was reminded of the photos I've seen at home of my grandpa in a suit when he was younger.” (Female, aged 23)

When silver-haired fashion influencers were presenting themselves online, it simultaneously reminded young people of their grandparents or older family members. There is a nostalgia that is growing within them. But this kind of emotional connection does not make them generate purchase intentions. Here are two quotes.

“While their videos show me a lot of different things and give me different emotional feelings, I think the age gap still exists and I'm not sure if the products they advertise are right for me.” (Female, aged 24)

“Although their videos remind me of my grandpa, it's still hard for me to have a willingness to purchase the products they promote in their videos. You see, my grandpa is the same age as them, but his lifestyle is completely different. Even if I buy the products they recommend, my grandpa will not use them.” (Female, aged 23).

The first quote explains the self-age gap cognition deterring them from having a willingness to purchase products placed in the short videos. Then the second quote highlights the difference in lifestyle between silver-haired fashion influencers and the older people around followers, making it difficult for them to consider purchasing products from silver-haired fashion influencers in product placement for older people around them. Therefore, when young people watch short videos of silver-haired fashion influencers to obtain an emotional connection, this emotional connection does not promote their trust or acceptance of the products appearing in the short videos, but rather their own self-age gap cognition and lifestyle differences prevent them from generating purchase intentions.

Theme 2: The influence of followers’ product perception

When interviewees were asked about the advantages of silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placements given to them, increasing knowledge of brands or products was most often mentioned. It was mentioned five times. This includes a better understanding of a product's functions and features, as well as knowing a new brand or product. But these two aspects have different effects on purchase intention respectively. A better understanding of a product’s functions and features promotes followers’ purchase intention, while knowing a new brand or product in silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placement hinders followers’ purchase intentions. A more detailed analysis is as follows.

Sub-theme 1: The origin of parasocial interactions with silver-haired fashion influencers

First, when asking interviewees in depth why they have a better understanding of the product’s functions and features through product placement by silver-haired fashion influencers, it was found that they all have an interest in the product promoted by silver-haired fashion influencers. As the following two interviewees said,

“I like watching the video of Kangkang and Grandpa (康康和爷爷) very much. The more I watched his videos, the more I felt he had an affinity for our fans. And I'm interested in videos of his outfits. He can wear all kinds of clothes. Through his videos, I also know what style suits me, and sometimes I buy some clothes he recommends.” (Male, aged 26)

“North Sea Grandpa (北海爷爷) recently posted a video of the electric car, and then I just happened to want to get to know the car myself. It was so nice of him to make this video just to give me a reference for my purchase, and also let me know more about the functional features of this brand of car.” (Male, aged 30)

Whether it is through the videos of silver-haired fashion influencers to learn about various wear characteristics or to understand the functional features of a certain car, the purchase intention caused by this is related to the interest of the followers themselves in the product. However, not as long as they are interested in the product, no matter what the influencer's product placement can let them understand the functions and features of a product, and have a certain willingness to purchase. The big premise is that there is a kind of parasocial interaction between followers and silver-haired fashion influencers. This is one of the advantages of silver-haired fashion influencers, who allow followers to have a one-sided psychological association. As in the first quote, the interviewees said affinity, which is the association that the followers make them imagine and construct through frequent consumption of short videos of silver-haired fashion influencers. In addition, as another interviewee said,

“Silver-haired fashion influencers have always felt close to me compared to the other influencers I follow. My grandma is also a relatively high degree of people. Her life is also more exquisite. Maybe this influence makes me feel that silver-haired fashion influencers have my grandma's shadow in, so feel very close to it.” (Female, aged 22).

Therefore, whether it is affinity or feeling very close, the generation of these types of parasocial interaction is one of the unique advantages of silver-haired fashion influencers. And before gaining a better understanding of a product’s functions and features, followers must have an interest in the product, which stems from the premise of building parasocial interactions with silver-haired fashion influencers.

Sub-theme 2: Result from more perceived risk and less brand/product trust

Second, knowing a new brand or product was another effect of silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placements, but this does not become a positive advantage on followers’ purchase intentions as same as the first aspect. “New” is the key deterring factor. Here is one key quote.

“If it's a brand I've never heard of, I usually don't buy it. Because the efficacy of the product is not very clear. I don't know its advantages and disadvantages, or whether it is recognized by everyone. Generally speaking, I will buy well-known products. For example, these products have been recommended by many influencers before.” (Female, aged 23)

It can be seen that the product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers does not in itself increase the famousness of a brand, they can only play a value-added role in the promotion of a well-known brand. If a new brand appears in the product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers, followers will create a perceived risk, because they lack trust in a new brand. But if it is a well-known brand, the followers will not have such a feeling, but will have the intention to purchase. As one interviewee put it,

“I wanted to buy a skin care product gift for my mother on Mother's Day before, and I saw a good evaluation and a well-known product in The Red and wanted to buy it. One day I saw this product on Xue Rui Aunt's (雪瑞姑姑) video and bought it for my mom.” (Female, aged 24)

Theme 3: The influence of platform ecology

When Douyin empowers silver-haired fashion influencers exerting influence, disempowering factors on Douyin also exist influencing followers’ purchase intentions. There were three perspectives on platform issues mentioned by interviewees.

Sub-theme 1: Bias against product placement on Douyin

With short videos as the carrier, Douyin is full of various advertisements. Product placement is one of the advertisements. Interviewees were asked about their knowledge of product placements. Then some negative comments came out. Three interviewees had negative attitudes and perceptions toward product placements. One interviewee shared,

“Those product placements on Douyin are hypocritical. Those influencers will no doubt praise their products, but the purchasing experience may not be as depicted in their videos. I would be disappointed if I bought it back.” (Female, aged 23)

Inevitably the three people did not have any purchase intentions for silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placements. It demonstrated that the proliferation of product placement on Douyin is a big concern for silver-haired fashion influencers, which has made people lose faith in the products promoted in silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placements.

Sub-theme 2: Purchase link on Douyin

When discussing the purchasing experiences on Douyin, a lot of interviewees recalled some awful memories. Many people blame the purchase links inserted in the short videos. Because the sellers are not official stores clicking into the purchase links, which means the quality of products, the after-selling services, etc. do not have guarantees. There is a representative report.

“If the purchase link they insert is official and it feels like a good deal, I'll buy it. Sometimes third-party links are not guaranteed after the sale.” (Female, aged 23)

Considering this reason, many people will not purchase particularly cost-effective products, even if they are recommended by their favorite silver-haired fashion influencer. So followers’ purchase intention would affected by the unofficial purchase link silver-haired fashion influencer inserted in their product placement.

Sub-theme 3: The impact of other influencers on Douyin

Silver-haired fashion influencers are one type of influencers on Douyin. It means that the products they recommended in their short videos will be analogously recommended by other influencers in their short videos. When people see this same kind of popular product in silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos, there were two extremely different views appear. Here are two explanatory reports respectively.

“If the products I see in the short videos of silver-haired fashion influencers also appear in other influencers I follow, I will be very impressed with such products. If I see it many times and it sells well, I will want to purchase it back and try it.” (Female, aged 22)

“When I see a lot of silver-haired fashion influencers recommending products that a lot of influencers recommend, I just think that they are all out to get money. Many times I've seen silver-haired fashion influencers recommend products that don't fit the image they create very well at all, and the product introductions they include in their short videos are very strange.” (Female, aged 22)

As the first quote pointed out other influencers’ recommendations will increase the persuasion of silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placement, in which followers’ brand trust inevitably has growth, and purchase intentions are also positively influenced. But as the second quote said, blindly recommending many popular products that do not conform to silver-haired fashion influencers’ image will not only not convince followers to purchase, but also affect the image and even credibility of silver-haired fashion influencers.

The findings of this study show that multi-dimensional influences of product placement in silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos on followers’ purchase intentions are shaped by the interplay of silver-haired fashion influencers themselves, followers’ product perceptions, and platform ecology.

From the theoretical perspective, the two-step flow model in the context of product placement in silver-haired fashion influencers’ short videos suggested that silver-haired fashion influencers act as “opinion leaders” who affect followers’ purchase intentions, and demonstrates the reconstruction of the online discourse of silver-haired people. This aligns with the findings from Theme 1, where silver-haired fashion influencers themselves played a crucial role in swaying the followers' curiosity and aspiration. Also as Katz's uses and gratification theory points out, silver-haired fashion influencers go some way to fulfilling the psychological needs of the followers themselves, such as providing socialized companionship and bridging emotional gaps. However, for interviewees of different ages, there are obvious differences in the transformation of these sentiments to purchase intention. For middle-aged people, this kind of sentiments will make them produce older life fantasies and thus generate purchase intention (Sub-theme 1 below theme 1), while for young people, the generation of emotional connection does not directly generate purchase intention, which is hindered by the self-age and lifestyle difference cognition (Sub-theme 2 below theme 1). So this divided impact among different age groups further suggests that the effectiveness of opinion leaders may vary across demographics. However, this difference is not clearly explained in the two-step flow model, and this theory has its limitations in explaining the dynamics of influencer marketing.

By contrast, the multi-step flow model allows for a more complex web of influence relationships. It not only recognizes the role of indirect opinion leaders but also acknowledges the audience’s critical perceptions and interpretations in shaping final opinions. These are reflected in the findings concerning product perception and platform ecology (Theme 2 and 3).

First, followers’ product perception led by silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placements is representative of audiences’ critical perceptions and interpretations, which can be divided into two diverse responses, namely a better understanding of the functions and features of the product and knowing about a new brand or product. The positive effect of a better understanding of product functions and features on purchase intention is generated by the follower's interest in the product, which is ultimately caused by the one-sided relationship established between the follower and the silver-haired fashion influencer (Sub-theme 1 below theme 2). Emotions like being mentioned as being affinity or feeling close, which are derived from the screen to reality, further bridge the gap between the virtual and the real, naturally making the followers more willing to pay attention and participate in the interaction. This is a parasocial interaction, referring to virtual interactions that occur at the same time that the media is being processed by the audience (Hall, 2019). However, unlike the findings of Chidiac and Bowden (2023), parasocial interaction is not the strongest direct driver of purchase intention, but rather is indirectly influenced by interest in the product and a better understanding of its features or functions. This is very similar to Lou and Yuan (2019), who found a positive relationship between parasocial interaction and followers' interest in products recommended by influencers. In addition, knowing a new brand or product from the product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers does not arouse the interest of followers, but can create a perceived risk, reduce brand trust and negatively affect the purchase intention (Sub-theme 2 below theme 2). As found in relevant marketing studies, perceived risk and brand trust play a knock-on role in the effect of product placement on purchase intention, which is also verified in this study (Huang and Deng, 2022). Second, followers’ bias against product placements on Douyin (Sub-theme 2 below theme 3) is also the critical perception of the audience that affects their purchase intention. The way Douyin is structured to promote certain content types or influencers, its mechanisms for engagement such as likes and comments, and its algorithms for recommending content to viewers could all affect how influencers' messages are received and acted upon. This means that the followers of silver-haired fashion influencers will be exposed to a lot of product placement by different influencers, maybe resulting in a negative attitude towards it, and then affecting the effect of silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placement. These two points suggest that the audience is not a passive recipient of the influencers’ messages, but rather actively shapes their interpretations and responses.

Furthermore, the impact of other influencers seen in our results also echoes the multi-step flow model's other emphasis on the role of indirect opinion leaders, namely multiple sources of influence (Sub-theme 3 below theme 3). This can be seen as an added layer of complexity to the influencer-audience dynamics on Douyin, where influencers are not only competing for attention but also potentially reinforcing or nullifying each other's messages. As this study found, if the products in the product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers are also recommended by other influencers, this may increase the brand trust of followers, and may also make followers doubt the fit of silver-haired fashion influencers and brand products, thus affecting the image of silver-haired fashion influencers.

Additionally, in influencer marketing, it is found that research on product placement and purchase intention pays more attention to the influencing factors of influencers and the audience themselves, just as the perceived risk, brand trust, influencers’ image, and other factors are verified in this study. It has less concentration on external factors like platform ecology. In the multi-step flow model, the platform as a media plays a more active role in shaping messages and influencing an audience. In addition to the proliferation of product placement on Douyin and the impact of other influencers, the way Douyin integrates social and commercial functions, enabling a seamless transition from watching a video to making a purchase, could also have significant impacts on followers' purchase intentions. As the study found, whether the purchase link inserted in the product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers is an official store or not can affect followers' purchase intentions and even final purchase decisions (Sub-theme 2 below theme 3).

Given current findings and analysis, this qualitative study has generated some theoretical contributions and practical insights for silver-haired fashion influencers. As for theoretical contributions, an interesting finding is that silver-haired fashion influencers as opinion leaders have different effects on different age groups, which extends the two-step flow model. For the complex influence network described by the multi-step flow model, this study also found multiple internal and external factors that affect the purchase intention of followers. In addition, same as most of the existing studies, our study confirms that the classic factors, such as perceived risk, brand trust, etc., do play a role in the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placement on followers’ purchase intention. However extant studies do not further explore the influence of media, which plays an active role in the multi-step flow model. A theoretical gap is filled here as our study introduces some platform-related factors, which could explain how platforms empower and disempower silver-haired fashion influencers.

To expand the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers, the findings of this study can also provide practical suggestions for their creation of product placements. First, it is recommended to give full play to the advantages of silver-haired fashion influencers in establishing parasocial interactions when shooting short video product placement. For example, when shooting product videos, silver-haired fashion influencers can look directly at the camera more, and create a sense of interaction or dialogue with the viewer, just like a friend. If silver-haired fashion influencers just insert a direct product introduction in the video, it will affect the viewing experience of the followers, and it will also lose the effect of product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers. Additionally, while age and lifestyle differences can hinder young followers’ purchase intentions, increasing their interest in products through more parasocial interactions is also a good way to maintain the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers. After all, silver-haired fashion influencers have an edge when it comes to creating emotional connection and resonance. Second, silver-haired fashion influencers need to do more market research when choosing products to avoid following the trend and choosing the most popular products at the moment. Blindly recommending popular products has negative effects, such as the negative impact on personal image and credibility. Therefore, it is suggested to recommend well-known brand products that meet their own image. And it is recommended to cooperate with the official store, so that after-sales service, product quality and other aspects will be guaranteed. This can prevent some of the negative comments from being generated in the first place.

In conclusion, this study explores the multiple influences of product placement in short videos of silver-haired fashion influencers on the purchase intention of followers, and puts forward some practical suggestions on product placement creation to expand the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers. No matter how many obstacles or promotion factors there are between the product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers and the purchase intentions of followers, to a certain extent, it can give us the confidence of older people to present themselves in the digital age, that is, the emergence of a new media culture that combats stereotypes of old age and the status quo of extreme loss of online discourse. Allowing silver-haired people to participate in society and play their “surplus heat” in the digital age can also respond more actively to the aging society. In addition, as a representative of the smart utilization of older people, silver-haired fashion influencer understands how to maximize the benefits of their product placement in the short video platform with fierce traffic competition and expand their influence through this study, which has a good reference point for the society to promote the development of the silver economy, and also helps to enhance the social interaction and integration of silver-haired fashion influencers and inter-generational communication.

However, in this study, only 11 interviewees were selected for in-depth interviews in the process of how product placement of silver-haired fashion influencers affects the followers’ purchase intention, which may lack a certain breadth of practical insights proposed by the researcher. In the future, a follow-up study can be conducted with different demographic followers to enrich suggestions on how to expand the influence of silver-haired fashion influencers’ product placement. Additionally, this study only investigates one profit model of silver-haired fashion influencers, namely product placement. In future studies, we can focus on how other profit models such as live streaming influence followers’ purchase intention, and how to expand this influence, etc. Silver-haired fashion influencers as a picture of the intermingling of media phenomenon, cultural phenomenon and economic phenomenon, more comprehensive research is needed in the future to enlighten the development of active aging policies.

Author Contribution

Y.Z. did the whole research and wrote the whole paper.

Acknowledgement

I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Dr. Qingning Wang, for all of her helpful advice and encouraging comments on my dissertation. Her encouragement gave me the confidence to conduct the research. I am also grateful to my parents for their unconditional support and trust in my studies, allowing me to follow my heart. Additionally, I want to express my gratitude to my friend Zheng for his emotional support throughout my down moments. Thanks to everyone who contributed to my journey. May we be healthy and happy.

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No competing interests reported.

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Elderly Engagement in the Digital Marketplace: A Study of Douyin's Silver-haired Fashion Influencers through Two-step Flow and Multi-step Flow Models

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Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Theoretical Framework: Two-Step Flow Model and Multi-Step Flow Model

Product Placement and Purchase Intention

Influencer Marketing

Methodology

Research Design

Research Methods

Limitations and Ethical Consideration

Results and Findings

Theme 1: The influence of silver-haired fashion influencers themselves

Sub-theme 1: The shift of societal norms leading to followers’ older life fantasies

Sub-theme 2: The silver-haired fashion influencers arouse followers’ emotional connection

Theme 2: The influence of followers’ product perception

Sub-theme 1: The origin of parasocial interactions with silver-haired fashion influencers

Sub-theme 2: Result from more perceived risk and less brand/product trust

Theme 3: The influence of platform ecology

Sub-theme 1: Bias against product placement on Douyin

Sub-theme 2: Purchase link on Douyin

Sub-theme 3: The impact of other influencers on Douyin

Discussion

Conclusion

Declarations

Author Contribution

References

Additional Declarations

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