Research on the Influencing Factors of User Purchase Intention in Live Streaming E-commerce

Abstract

Live e-commerce has completely changed the way of online shopping through real-time interaction and immersive experience, but the psychological mechanism to promote consumer decision-making needs further study. In this study, we established a comprehensive model, and put perceived usefulness and perceived trust into the framework of planned behavior theory to explore the formation mechanism of live audience’s purchase intention. Based on 410 valid questionnaires collected, we made a rigorous empirical analysis with structural equation model. The empirical test results show that although the overall theoretical model fits well, the direct positive influence paths of the five core antecedents (perceived usefulness, perceived trust, purchasing attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavior control) failed to pass the statistical significance test. This discovery is different from the expectation of traditional theory, which shows that the framework of rational behavior analysis has objective limitations in the scene of live consumption, which is dominated by sensory emotions and has strong immediacy. Therefore, we suggest that practitioners should use the characteristics of product categories to break the dilemma of homogeneous marketing, and indirectly stimulate the audience’s willingness to buy by strengthening the deep interaction between live broadcasts and consolidating the trust foundation. These conclusions provide a cautious practical reference for the refined operation of the industry, and also point out the direction for future research-to broaden the understanding of the user behavior mechanism in specific live e-commerce scenarios.