Gamification for consumer loyalty: An exploration of unobserved heterogeneity in gamified esports social live streaming

•Socialization gamification drove loyalty in less game-identified users.•Immersion gamification enhanced loyalty among highly game-identified users.•Achievement gamification fueled loyalty regardless of identification levels.•Perceived usefulness affected loyalty more in less game-identified users.•Perceived ease boosted loyalty more among highly game-identified users. Esports has been boosted by the proliferation of gamified social live streaming (SLS) platforms over the past few years. While previous research has recognized the complexity of gamification, limited scholarship has examined gamification effectiveness in terms of consumer loyalty in esports. Through the lens of technology acceptance model (TAM), the current study surveyed esports consumers of two SLS platforms (n = 583) to explore the relationships between gamification dimensions, TAM determinants, and SLS platform loyalty. We examined the structural model on both aggregate and segment-specific levels and revealed the existence of unobserved heterogeneity in the model’s paths and observations. The findings provided unique insights into gamification effectiveness and esports consumer heterogeneity. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed accordingly.