The K-POP fandom environment is rapidly evolving, with the emergence of fan community platforms like Bubble and Weverse reshaping star-fan communication from unilateral delivery to bilateral interaction. This study aims to elucidate the mechanism of p...
The K-POP fandom environment is rapidly evolving, with the emergence of fan community platforms like Bubble and Weverse reshaping star-fan communication from unilateral delivery to bilateral interaction. This study aims to elucidate the mechanism of platform loyalty formation within this new media landscape by examining the structural influence of star self-disclosure (professional/personal) and fan identification (star/fan community) on fan platform loyalty. Specifically, social presence and star loyalty were established as the core dual mediating variables. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis conducted with 479 Chinese fans generally supported the main hypotheses, revealing divergent pathways to platform loyalty based on the type of self-disclosure and identification. In detail, professional self-disclosure affected platform loyalty through partial mediation via social presence, while personal self-disclosure demonstrated a significant indirect effect only through the full mediation of social presence. This suggests that the sharing of private information must successfully translate into the fan's 'presence experience' before it can lead to platform loyalty. Similarly, fan community identification partially mediated the relationship with platform loyalty through star loyalty, whereas star identification transferred to platform loyalty exclusively through the full mediation of star loyalty. These findings empirically demonstrate that platform loyalty formation operates through a dual emotional mediation mechanism involving 'experiential presence' and 'relational loyalty.' This provides a critical theoretical foundation for developing effective content and platform operation strategies in the contemporary fan economy.