The commercial impact of live streaming: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Live streaming allows streamers and viewers to watch, create, and share videos in real time on topics from gaming, shopping, and social channels to tourism and entertainment. It is distinct from earlier forms of social media in that it allows for real-time interaction and is extremely synchronous. That makes live streaming an important new area of enquiry. Yet live streaming platforms, streamers, and scholars lack an informed structure from which to build more holistic understanding and strategy. Following the theory–context–characteristics–methodology framework, we undertake a framework-based systematic literature review of 89 articles to source, review, and synthesize disparate findings in the arena of live streaming and live streaming commerce users' motivation and interactions. A dual stimulus–organism–response integrative framework is developed to further explore the characteristics of interaction and motivation factors. A future research agenda highlights areas of research focus that are critical next steps for scholars.     

Should manufacturers open live streaming shopping channels?

Live streaming shopping, as a novel sales channel, has caught much attention from researchers and practitioners. Its unique features, such as the commission rate, fixed fee and number of followers of the live streamer, appear different from traditional wholesale-contract sales channels. But few studies have examined the impact of these factors on manufacturers’ opening live streaming shopping channel decisions. To address this gap, we develop game theoretic models to examine whether a manufacturer should hire a live streamer to open a live streaming shopping channel on an e-commerce platform where the manufacturer's direct channel and third-party e-retailer co-exist. We consider the impact of the commission rate, fixed fee and number of followers of the live streamer on the operating decisions and profits of the manufacturer and e-retailer. Then we identify the threshold-conditions where the manufacturer and e-retailer are better off or worse off by opening a live streaming shopping channel. We show that opening a live streaming shopping channel may hurt or harm the manufacturer's profit, depending on the interaction of above three factors. The manufacturer may be willing to open a live streaming shopping channel when the commission rate and fixed fee are both small, or when the commission rate and number of followers are both large and the fixed fee is small. The e-retailer could also benefit from opening a live streaming shopping channel. These insights appear novel in the literature. We further show that opening a live streaming shopping channel could improve the consumer surplus. We extend our model to price competition to verify our main conclusions. These insights may help manufacturers decide whether or not to open live streaming shopping channels and help manufacturers and extant retailers develop optimal operating decisions and improve profits when participating in live streaming shopping.     

“It's MY Service,it's MY Music”: The role of psychological ownership in music streaming consumption

Music streaming services have become today's most popular way of consuming music. These services give their users access to a comprehensive music library without providing legal ownership of that music. However, recent research suggests that music streaming users still continue to experience feelings of ownership. To advance our understanding, this study investigates the role of psychological ownership in music streaming consumption. In particular, based on the theory of psychological ownership, it is analyzed how service‐ and music‐based psychological ownership emerge. The study further investigates the relationship between these two targets of ownership and whether music‐based psychological ownership is positively related to users' intention to switch from a music streaming service's free version to its paid premium version. Using structural equation modeling, the results indicate that service‐based psychological ownership, stemming from users' investment of self into the service, is positively related to music‐based psychological ownership, which is positively influenced by the sense of control over the music accessed. The results also show that music‐based psychological ownership is strongly related to users' intention to switch from free to premium, which highlights the importance of psychological ownership for providers of music streaming services, particularly those operating a feature‐limited freemium model.     

Checkout button and online consumer impulse-buying behavior in social commerce: A trust transfer perspective

To enhance social media users' shopping experiences, social media platforms launched an online shopping feature – the checkout button –allowing users to browse new products, examine items via multiple photos and videos, and purchase items without leaving the platform. Yet, few studies have examined the impacts of the ‘checkout button’ on social commerce users' perceptions and impulse-buying behaviors. Thus, this study seeks to investigate the impact of the ‘checkout button’ on consumers' trust and impulse-buying behavior based on the trust transfer theory, as well as how the impact will differ based on social factors and brand familiarity in social commerce. This study provides valuable insights into social commerce. Checkout within Instagram does not facilitate impulse-buying behavior, but brand familiarity and social factors influence consumer trust and impulse-buying intention. This indicates that well-known brands might be more suitable for social commerce. Furthermore, active social interaction is conducive to impulse-buying intentions in social commerce.     

Antecedents of mobile payment loyalty: An extended perspective of perceived value and information system success model

Drawing on the information system success model and perceived value theory, we develop a research model to examine factors that may affect user satisfaction and loyalty of mobile payment platforms. Empirical data was collected from users using Alipay and WeChat Pay in China, and a total of 410 valid responses were gathered for data analysis. The results show that the multi-dimensional formative perceived value including benefits and sacrifice is important determinant of mobile payment user satisfaction and loyalty. The three benefit dimensions of functional value, experiential value and social value are more important value components than the two sacrifice dimensions of risk and cost, and experiential value is the dominant component of mobile payment users' value perception. As for the antecedents of perceived value, system quality and service quality mainly affect perceived benefits, while information quality has a greater impact on risk. The research results provide the contribution of specific value dimensions to users' perceived value and the impact of quality characteristics on specific perceived value for mobile payment platform providers, thus helping them to adopt effective strategies to strengthen market competitiveness and retain existing users.     

Over-the-top (OTT) retailing in the post pandemic world. Unveiling consumer drivers and barriers using a qualitative study

Consumers are increasingly moving from traditional television to Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming platforms. Although OTT platforms are widely used, people's interactions with them vary; some people use them eagerly, while others are hesitant. There is a need for thorough knowledge of the underlying elements that affect people's decisions to adopt OTT platforms. OTT platforms must understand the consumers' perceptions to engage effectively in customer retention and acquisition. Using the Gioia method, the study adopted the qualitative research approach to investigate the themes that emerged from the participant's responses and to frame our research into the context of users' actual experiences by utilizing the grounded-theory methodology. The extracted themes drawn from the opinion of 50 participants were found to align with the Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT) and Uses & Gratification Theory 2.0 (UGT 2.0). Aligning with the IRT theory, the barriers were classified under five sub-themes: usage, value, risk, tradition, and image. The drivers were mapped with the UGT 2.0 framework comprising of four sub-themes: modality, agency, interactivity, and navigability. Our study contributes a theoretical aspect by classifying OTT platform usage behavior in the post-pandemic period.     

Platform perspective verse user perspective: The role of expression perspective in privacy disclosure

This study investigates how the expression perspective impacts privacy disclosure when presenting privacy authorization interfaces to users. Using a series of five experiments, the authors discovered that potential users are more inclined to reveal personal information when authorization statements are presented from the user expression perspective (UEP) rather than the platform expression perspective (PEP). This finding is driven by users' perceptions of greater psychological ownership over personal data (POPD) from the UEP as opposed to the PEP. An EEG experiment also reveals that users pay less attention (a lower P2 amplitude) to the UEP (vs. PEP), decreasing the complexity of decision-making (a lower N2 amplitude). This effect persists even when the perceptual load is low but is attenuated under a high perceptual load. The current study contributes to the literature on linguistic framing and privacy disclosure, providing guidelines for platforms to effectively and ethically acquire users' private information.     

The determinants of users’ intention to adopt telehealth: Health belief,perceived value and self-determination perspectives

Telehealth is an effective and promising mode of healthcare delivery. It is crucial for society to understand the determinants of user adoption of telehealth to realize its benefits. This research investigates and analyzes the factors that impact the adoption of telehealth services from the users' perspective. The study integrates three theoretical frameworks, namely, Health Belief Model, Perceived Value Theory, and the Self-Determination Theory, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the determinants of telehealth adoption. Using an online survey conducted in Singapore, the study collected 500 responses for data analysis. The findings indicate that perceived threat, cues to action, and perceived relatedness directly affect perceived value, while self-efficacy, perceived relatedness, and perceived autonomy have a significant direct impact on emotion. Additionally, users' perceived value of telehealth services has a direct and indirect positive influence on their intention to adopt telehealth services through emotions. The study offers practical implications for healthcare organizations, policymakers, and media management teams to encourage the adoption of telehealth services by integrating various psychological and health concerns of users that impact their adoption behavior.     

Text mining-based four-step framework for smart speaker product improvement and sales planning

The smart speaker market, which is considered an early-stage market, is expected to grow rapidly as smart speakers become a part of daily life. Consequently, manufacturers are trying to dominate the market. To achieve this, they must analyze users' reactions to their products and find insights for product improvement through comparison with competitors. We propose a four-step methodological framework for identifying meaningful opinions from a large number of online user reviews. First, network analysis is conducted to compare differences between brands. Next, through topic modeling, the attributes of speakers that users consider the most crucial are extracted for each brand. Third, sentiment analysis is conducted to examine how users' emotional polarities differ for each attribute. Through this, product improvement and product sales plans can be derived. Finally, in order to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of each brand, brand positioning is conducted and user opinions that have changed along with the evolution of the speaker's generation are analyzed. Our study identified the factors that positively or negatively affect the experience of smart speaker users. In addition, the proposed method is highly useful because it can be used to derive insights from a large amount of user opinion data regardless of the search term.     

一种基于用户需求的OFDM系统资源分配算法

提出了一种新的基于OFDM多用户通信系统的资源分配算法。该算法在总功率限制和用户数据率要求下，通过以下两步实现子载波、比特和功率的动态分配：第一步，基于用户的平均信道增益和数据率要求进行资源初分配（每个用户分配多少个子载波、功率）；第二步，对步骤1中的结果进行调整，最终决定每个用户分配到的子载波、功率以及比特载入方式。相比于Hujun Yjn等人提出的另一种基于用户需求的算法，新算法的基站发射功率略有增加，但复杂度大为降低，在实际运用中更有利用价值。     

Way to success: Understanding top streamer's popularity and influence from the perspective of source characteristics

Live streaming opens a new way for selling products, in which the streamer plays a leading role. Whereas e-commerce live streaming has become ever-increasingly prevalent, how to attract viewers and improve the conversion rate have become problems bothering lots of streamers. Based on 245 viewers' experience of watching top streamers' live streams, we try to find a successful way for small streamers from the perspective of streamer characteristics. This study identifies streamer characteristics from three aspects (attractiveness, competence, and communication style) and examines their effects on streamer's popularity and consumer's behavioral intentions. The results show that beauty, expertise, humor, and passion are all proved to be positively related to hedonic value, and both warmth and expertise are positively related to utilitarian value. Meantime, the results highlight the importance of expertise while beauty shows minor importance. Streamer's popularity can only lead to watching intention, it shows no effect on consumer's purchase intention. These findings highlight streamer characteristics as key factors in affecting streamers' popularity and consumers' watching and purchase intentions and its complex effect in live streaming and marketing.     

How IT affordances influence customer engagement in live streaming commerce? A dual-stage analysis of PLS-SEM and fsQCA

Engaging customers and building loyalty are crucial for operators who embrace live streaming. While previous research has identified many social and technical factors that assist operators in engaging their customers, few studies have examined customer engagement from a sociotechnical perspective (i.e., IT affordances). To fill the gap, a theoretical model grounded in the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework is developed to explain how IT affordances (i.e., metavoicing, visibility, and guidance shopping affordance) influence customer engagement through swift guanxi and perceived enjoyment in live streaming. To test the model, a survey with 371 valid samples was carried out and a dual-stage analysis using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was employed. PLS-SEM results reveal that IT affordances in live streaming indirectly affect customer engagement through swift guanxi and perceived enjoyment. Additionally, fsQCA suggests that two different configurations with high or low visibility affordance can lead to the same outcome of high customer engagement. These findings offer insights into how IT affordances can promote customer engagement and assist operators of live streaming commerce (LSC) in developing effective strategies to engage their customers.     

网购食品消费者选择行为的影响因素

利用1 790份网络调查问卷数据,采用相关分析、交叉分析等统计方法,研究网购食品消费者选择行为,分析网购食品市场渗透率不高、用户黏性不足的主要原因,结果表明,消费者个性特征差异会导致对网购食品的不同态度,进而影响消费者对网购食品的选择行为;良好的网购环境、物美价廉的食品、优质的网购服务,是促使消费者选择网购食品的主要因素,对网购食品安全的担忧、习惯于传统购物方式、网购维权难度大,是抑制消费者选择网购食品的主要因素,尤其是网购食品"难维权、维权难"可能会放大消费者对网购食品产生的消极态度。为此,应加强网购食品多主体协同监管,消除消费者怀疑心理和不放心态度;建立以消费者需求为中心的网购食品质量安全供应链管理体系,推动线上市场和线下实体店紧密结合、融合发展;完善网购食品维权制度,畅通维权渠道。     

A conceptual model to imply a negative innovation assessment framework on consumer behaviors through the electronic business platforms

Online retail platforms significantly impact consumers' purchasing decisions. Satisfaction, purchase intent, and repeat online shopping drive the platform's purchasing decisions. In contrast, individuals do not purchase products due to dissatisfaction and lack of purchasing intent. It will cause hesitation and spread negative feedback to influence online consumer behaviors. This research proposes a conceptual model incorporating the Status Quo Bias (SQB) and the Negative Online Purchase Decision-Making Process (NOPDMP) to suggest a new framework for evaluating the maintained consumer behavior of online shopping platforms. The questionnaires following the proposed conceptual model were collected from the sample data from participants of 384 experienced respondents using online shopping platforms. Data were analyzed for the causal relationship using Structural Equation Model. The implications of the assessment framework that incorporates the influence of negative factors can weigh the decision to purchase products and improve and reduce shopping cart abandonment on e-commerce platforms. This framework can also describe instances of negative perspectives regarding incentive alignments with actual behaviors.     

Why shopping pals make malls different?

The present study examines the effects of the specific type of ompanion a shopper shops with (i.e., friend versus family member) on the emotional attachment to malls. The study aims to explain this influence through two potential mediators, that is, shopping arousal, and shopping apprehension, the relevance of which has been shown in the extant reviewed psychosocial literature. The emotional attachment of shoppers to their mall depends on whom they are shopping with: shopping with friends affects both shoppers' arousal and apprehension. Only arousal mediates the relationship between shopping pal and mall attachment. Our findings provide new insight on the psychological processes explaining the relation shoppers develop with their shopping environment and give retail managers guidelines for increasing shoppers' attachment to their malls.     

A psychological examination of attachment insecurity,loneliness, and fear of missing out as drivers of retail patronage among emerging adults

Recent consumer literature has shown that attachment insecurity (i.e., anxious, avoidant) enhances individual's motivations for retail shopping. We extend that literature using attachment theory to explain how attachment insecurity, loneliness (i.e., social, emotional), and fear of missing out (FoMO) affect retail patronage. We posit that these three negatively valenced psychosocial conditions generally incline emerging adult consumers toward retail patronage to resolve their relational deficits. Based on results from partial least squares-structural equation modeling (n = 509), we find support for most of our hypotheses. The study presents previously unavailable knowledge about antecedents of FoMO and multiple negative psychosocial drivers of retail patronage. We provide a foundation for future scholarship to examine more broadly how attachment, loneliness, and FoMO impact consumer behavior. Managerial and theoretical implications are also provided.     

网络购物粘性行为前置因素研究

以网络购物中的消费者粘性行为前置影响因素为切入点,通过文献回顾,提出用户视角的网络粘性是在持续使用基础上所形成的一种心理依赖行为,并以此为基础构建网络消费者粘性的前置因素假设,通过问卷调查的方式进行实证分析。研究表明:持续使用意向在各前置因素与粘性行为的形成之间起中介效应作用;消费者的感知因素如感知有用性、心流、满意度均通过中介变量对粘性产生影响;同时,网络的结构化特征结构嵌入也通过持续使用意向促进粘性的产生;消费者的网络使用习惯则直接促使粘性的产生。     

An attribute-based model of quality satisfaction for Internet self-service technology

Many factors may contribute to consumers' satisfaction with Internet shopping, but the issue has rarely been addressed from the perspective of customer participation. Drawing on the attribute-based model, this article examines the attributes important for consumer satisfaction with Internet-based self-service technology (ISST). In addition, the current study argues that the importance of the attributes in determining consumers' satisfaction would vary as a function of their readiness to adopt technology. A survey was conducted to collect data from experienced users of online travel agencies or bookstores. The results based on 459 participants show that efficiency, ease of use, performance, perceived control and convenience are attributes having significant impacts on users' satisfaction with ISST. This study also identifies three consumer segments among ISST users based on their scores on technology-readiness drivers and inhibitors. As predicted, the importance of each attribute at determining user satisfaction varies across the three segments. Finally, implications for managers and researchers are discussed.     

Using Groupon for health and wellness businesses

Social merchants are small business owners and entrepreneurs who adopt social shopping as a new sales channel. They employ social shopping intermediaries, such as Groupon and LivingSocial, to promote their products or services to price-sensitive customers at large discounts. The success of social merchants depends in part on the reputation they gain at merchant review sites (e.g., Yelp, TripAdvisor, Angie's List), via which consumers post online product and merchant reviews. An analysis of social shopping provides insight regarding how social shopping works and what merchants must be aware of if they utilize social shopping intermediaries. This article shares these insights in the context of a set of health and wellness merchants that were studied for five years. Specifically, this article discusses how their Groupon daily deals affect merchant reviews, and how surviving vs. failed social merchants differ in terms of their review scores and number of reviews. Finally, this article provides recommendations about merchant review management to health and wellness merchants.