What triggers you to buy? Exploring the consumer trust and purchasing intention in livestreaming shopping

Livestreaming shopping has become extraordinarily popular in recent years in China. It is online shopping where consumers buy products during a live video stream broadcasted by livestreaming sellers. As livestreaming shopping contributes to economic profit for the market, this phenomenon also attracts research attention on examining consumer trust and purchase intention in a new arena. This research explores the Chinese consumer trust and their purchase intention formed in the livestreaming context by first combining PSI and social presence in one framework. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews, the research indicates that PSI contributes to consumers’ emotional attachment to the sellers, resulting in establishing a four-step “gatekeeping” mechanism in consumer trust in the sellers. Consumers would go through trustworthiness accepting, testifying, depending, and enhancing. Social presence in livestreaming influences consumers' purchase intention. Social presence and interactivity highlight a product’s usefulness based on which products are bought for their usefulness to fulfill needs. On the other hand, the livestreaming context also leads to impulsive buying driven by the urge, through which consumers achieve hedonic pleasure after purchases. To conclude, the research adds to the existing livestreaming shopping studies by first identifying a consumer trust mechanism, and this research also provides explanations of purchase intention formed in the livestreaming shopping context. Future possible research directions are also suggested based on the current findings.