What Drives Consumer Purchasing Intention in Live Streaming E-Commerce?

Abstract

The live streaming e-commerce market continues to grow with the rapid increase in contactless communication due to COVID-19. Live streaming e-commerce goes beyond the confines of traditional e-commerce of simply selling goods or services. It supplies information and allows synchronous information exchange between the online viewer (consumer) and the Internet celebrity, who influences the consumers information behavior and ultimately contributes to the long-term profit generation of the company. From online commerce to new retail and live streaming, China has been at the forefront of innovation in online commerce worldwide. Therefore, this study focuses on investigating the influences of live streaming e-commerce quality, such as service quality (SEQ), information quality (IQ), and system quality (SQ), on consumer purchase intention in China by applying the extended model of technology acceptance. Furthermore, this study analyzes the paths through which the live streaming e-commerce quality affects the consumer purchase intention, based on paths of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), perceived trust (PT), and perceived value (PV). To analyze this study, the data were collected from 231 customers who had used live streaming e-commerce apps in China (e.g., TikTok, Taobao, and Jingdong) and empirical analysis was applied. The results were summarized as follows: SQ is positively related to PU and PT. Similarly, IQ is positively related to PEU and PT. In addition, SEQ is also positively related to PU and PEU. Moreover, SQ affected the PV through PU and PT significantly and ultimately influenced consumer PI. Also, the path in which SEQ affects PU, which in turn affects PV, and ultimately PI, was found. This study found out the paths of how the live streaming E-commerce quality affects the consumer purchasing intention and contributes to the research field of e-commerce and consumer behaviors. Additionally, the results of this study give useful marketing suggestions for relevant financial institutions and enterprises.