The Cross-Cultural User Reception Mechanism of Thai Commercials in the Chinese Social Media Context: A Grounded Theory Study of Douyin Comments

Zhongrui Mao

Authors

Zhongrui Mao Sripatum University

Keywords:

Thai advertising, Cross-cultural communication, Short-video platforms, Grounded theory, S–O–R

Abstract

This study examines the mechanism through which Thai commercials are received on Chinese short-video platforms, with particular attention to how “foreignness” is transformed into comprehension, empathy, and diffusion through comment interaction. Using user comments on Thai-advertising-related videos on Douyin as qualitative data, the study adopts a constructivist grounded theory approach (open, axial, and selective coding) to develop a process model structured by the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) logic. Findings show that users first form three-dimensional content perceptions—narrative structure, audiovisual presentation, and cultural features (Stimulus)—then engage in dual-pathway processing through emotional experience and meaning understanding (Organism), and finally externalize reception via a cost-tiered ladder of behaviors from liking and brief appraisal to saving, recommending, and sharing (Response). Cultural translation (Chinese subtitles and creator narration) functions as both a threshold-reducing and frame-providing condition, strengthening conversion from internal processing to outward diffusion. Two relatively stable pathways are further synthesized: an emotion-driven path associated with fast engagement and short-cycle diffusion, and a meaning-driven path supporting saving and sustained circulation. The study contributes an evidence-chain-based mechanism explanation for cross-cultural advertising in platform settings and highlights “enterability” as a practical lens for understanding cross-cultural communication on short-video platforms.

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