Examining the decision journey of platform refugee: Focusing on the case of Korean live-streaming industry

The rapid growth of the digital content market has fueled the expansion of the creator economy, driving platforms to innovate and vie for creators' attention. In South Korea, the competitive landscape intensified with Twitch's withdrawal from the market in December 2023. This decision significantly impacted streamers who create content and shape the ecosystem, compelling them to quickly undertake involuntary platform migration to maintain their stability. However, most previous research has focused on voluntary migration. To address this gap, this study adopts refugee theory and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach to systematically examine the decision-making process in involuntary migration and identify the key criteria that streamers consider in this unique circumstance. As the result, this study found that streamers considered their own characteristic as the most important criterion in case of involuntary migration. Additionally, it reveals that fan preference, content category, and platform ambience similarity play crucial roles in the decision-making process, with CHZZK emerging as the most attractive alternative platform. As one of the first studies to explore involuntary platform migration, it provides both academic and practical implications for understanding how streamers adapt to sudden platform changes and highlights the importance of maintaining robust fan communities.