Transparentizing the "Black Box " of Live Streaming: Impacts of Live Interactivity on Viewers' Experience and Purchase

Live streaming shopping platforms are increasingly gaining momentum. However, how live streaming engages its viewers and induces purchase is poorly understood. Viewing a shopping process as fulfilling both utilitarian and hedonic values and based on social information foraging theory, we identify a unique characteristic of live streaming platforms, namely, live interactivity, and conceptualize its main components. We also hypothesize the impact of live interactivity from a utilitarian value view (i.e., product diagnosticity, product serendipity, and sensory appeal) and a hedonic value view (i.e., entertainingness). We argue that viewers will experience enhanced utilitarian and hedonic values when using the live streaming shopping platform, which in turn leads them to exhibit heightened purchase intention. Based on the survey data of 200 individuals, we find that live interactivity is positively related to product diagnosticity, serendipity, sensory appeal, and entertainingness. Except for product serendipity, the other three significantly lead to viewers' purchase intention on a live streaming platform. Our findings add to the live streaming literature by conceptualizing and dimensionalizing live interactivity, theorizing its impacts, and exploring its underlying processes associated with product features and viewer engagement in their decision-making.