Vlogs as retail touchpoints to influence consumer interest: A mixed-method approach combining SEM, fsQCA, and LDA topic modeling

Vlogs function as influential digital touchpoints guiding consumers from discovery to purchase. However, research offering insights into how communication strategies should adapt across product types remains limited. Drawing on the information adoption model, this study examines what drives source credibility and content quality in vlogs, and how these attributes influence consumer interest in search versus experience goods. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combine survey and text analysis. Survey data from 228 U.S. vlog viewers analyzed through structural equation modeling show that parasocial interaction and authenticity strengthen source credibility, whereas usefulness, entertainment, and up-to-dateness enhance content quality. Furthermore, multi-group comparison and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis reveal that the influence of source and content on interest is asymmetric by product type: source credibility dominates for experience goods, while content quality is more critical for search goods. These patterns corroborate findings from the latent Dirichlet allocation of 5,000 YouTube comments. This study advances retail and distribution research by outlining product-specific strategies that leverage vlogs as digital touchpoints in the consumer journey.