Online shopping motivations and behavioral heterogeneity of digital nomads in livestream e-commerce: the moderating role of celebrity worship

Introduction Digital nomads constitute a heterogeneous and rapidly growing consumer segment in livestream e-commerce, yet their motivational structure and the conditional role of celebrity worship in shaping their behavior remain underexplored, particularly in the context of digital transformation of China's characteristic forest-fruit industries. Methods This study employs a three-wave mixed-methods design combining in-depth interviews, qualitative text mining, and quantitative questionnaire surveys with 1,255 Chinese digital nomads (including a third-wave subsample of 250 from Southern Xinjiang). Factor analysis, K-means clustering, hierarchical regression, and robustness checks were conducted to identify motivational dimensions, classify subgroups, and test moderation effects. Results Six motivational dimensions and 21 sub-indicators were identified: understanding influencer recommendations, seeking social interaction, achieving shopping convenience, building identity recognition, obtaining entertainment experiences, and participating in online communities. Cluster analysis revealed four motivational types (social interaction, comprehensive identification, practical convenience, identity pursuit). Celebrity worship significantly moderated key motivation-behavior relationships, positively moderating identity recognition's effect on satisfaction and repurchase intention, and negatively moderating entertainment seeking's effect on satisfaction. Findings replicated in the Southern Xinjiang subsample. Discussion This study addresses gaps in dimensional motivation research, enriches understanding of within-group heterogeneity, provides a validated measurement tool, and offers practical guidance for platforms and merchants in optimizing marketing strategies. The findings provide a transferable consumer-side framework for livestream-channel strategies in the digital transformation of characteristic forest-fruit and specialty agricultural industries.