Moderating effect of consumers’ opinion leader acceptance: Exploring the relationship between livestreaming shopping and online shopping safety satisfaction

The recent developments in forms of online shopping have been shaped by emerging information technologies, and the sources of online shopping safety have been accompanied by numerous changes. Based on the database of the 2022 Chinese Internet Safety Satisfaction Survey , this paper explored the relationship between consumers’ livestreaming shopping usage frequency and their online shopping safety satisfaction, then focusing on the moderating effect of consumers’ opinion leader acceptance, finally providing a further analysis based on the cultural theory of risk. The study finds that: (1) Consumers’ livestreaming shopping usage frequency positively affects consumers’ online shopping safety satisfaction. (2) Consumers’ opinion leader acceptance plays a significant positive moderating role in the relationship between consumers’ livestreaming shopping usage frequency and their online shopping safety satisfaction. (3) Based on the cultural theory of risk, the moderating effect of consumers’ opinion leader acceptance becomes stronger for consumers whose educational level is lower (technical school and junior college) or occupational status is less relevant to livestreaming shopping (non-employed by the livestreaming shopping industry such as students, doctors, jobless, etc.).