Virtual gifting as affective monetization: a meta-analysis of behavioral antecedents in live game streaming platforms

Virtual gifting is an important monetization mechanism in live game streaming, but prior evidence remains fragmented across psychological, social, and platform-oriented explanations. This study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of empirical research published between 2015 and 2025 to synthesize construct-level antecedents associated with virtual gifting in live game streaming and closely related live streaming contexts. Following PRISMA 2020, eligible studies were identified through a structured database search, screened against predefined criteria, and coded using a standardized extraction procedure. Effect sizes were synthesized using random-effects models, and exploratory subgroup analyses were used to examine potential differences between self-report and secondary behavioral data. The results showed that engagement, attractiveness, utility, social acceptance, hedonic motivation, and awareness of needs were positively associated with virtual gifting, whereas passing time was negatively associated. Parasocial relationships showed a large but statistically unstable pooled association under substantial heterogeneity. Across several antecedent categories, heterogeneity was high, indicating that pooled estimates should be interpreted as average associations across diverse operationalizations, platforms, samples, and data sources. Differences between self-report and behavioral data were observed descriptively, but these subgroup findings should be interpreted cautiously because several subgroups were based on limited numbers of studies. Overall, the findings provide a bounded synthesis of factors associated with virtual gifting and suggest that gifting behavior is linked to activated engagement, streamer-related cues, social acceptance, perceived value, and need awareness, rather than passive viewing motives.