Lingyun Guo, Xiayu Hu, Jinxuan Lu and Ling Ma
Live streaming commerce, a new form of social commerce where firms integrate with broadcasters, community members and customers in live chat rooms for real-time interaction to…
Abstract
Purpose
Live streaming commerce, a new form of social commerce where firms integrate with broadcasters, community members and customers in live chat rooms for real-time interaction to help sell products, has become increasingly popular. However, factors that impact the success of live streaming commerce are not fully explored. The purpose of this study is to examine these factors by exploring the relationships among customer trust (i.e., trust in broadcasters, community members, and products) and customer engagement, and the mediating role of swift guanxi.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed 422 customers who have watched Taobao Live, one of the largest live streaming commerce sites in China, and used their questionnaires to test the research model employing partial least squares modeling.
Findings
The authors’ results indicate that trust in broadcasters has a positive effect on trust in products and community members, which positively influences trust in products. Additionally, swift guanxi has a fully mediating effect on the relationship between customers' trust in broadcasters and customer engagement.
Originality/value
First, from the theoretical perspective, this study comprehensively identifies three types of trust, explores the transfer relationships among trust in broadcasters, community members, and products based on Trust Transfer Theory. In addition, this study examines the mediating influence of swift guanxi on the relationship between customer trust and engagement. Second, from the managerial perspective, the study provides insights to help broadcasters and practitioners use live streaming to facilitate shopping.
Details
Keywords
Brady Lund and Jinxuan Ma
This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types and sources of information sought by older adults along with their motivations in the Midwestern United…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types and sources of information sought by older adults along with their motivations in the Midwestern United States.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted with 30 older adults residing in rural communities around the Midwestern United States during late-summer (July/August) 2020, using a protocol based on Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology. The resulting data was analyzed using standard content analysis procedures, guided by the theoretical frameworks based on Dervin's Sense-Making and Williamson's Ecological Model of Information Behavior. Implications of COVID-19 for the normative behaviors described in these models are discussed.
Findings
Findings show that older adults were concerned primarily with health and political information during this period, but that this information was not necessarily sought only to address an informational need, but also to satisfy the need to maintain social and emotional connections in coping with isolation and loneliness. Sources of information that allowed for social interaction with people were favored. Wider personal networks (community members) were strained by the social distancing measures and closures. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for considering the impact of social restrictions on information seeking behaviors of older adults in a time of crisis.
Originality/value
This study is the first, known to the authors, that applied the two adopted theoretical frameworks to explore information seeking behaviors of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Details
Keywords
The author believes that China’s modern development is reaching a crossroads, and that country is facing some critical challenges as it seeks to keep its modernization program…
Abstract
Purpose
The author believes that China’s modern development is reaching a crossroads, and that country is facing some critical challenges as it seeks to keep its modernization program, and further economic development, on track.
Design/methodology/approach
This masterclass posits that understanding more fully what is happening in China, and how to succeed there, is rapidly becoming a strategic imperative for any corporate leader with global ambitions.
Findings
China’s importance to global business is undeniable. Even though its growth rate now seems to be stabilizing at 7-8 percent, China looks set to become the world’s largest economy within a decade, and is likely to be more than twice the size of USA economy by 2050.
Practical implications
Soft infrastructure should be China’s next priority. China’s ability to construct a modern airport and a fleet of world class aircraft has been progressing at a much faster rate than its overall ability to operate an efficient, world-leading, inter-city and international, civil aviation passenger service.
Social implications
While the pace of political reform is likely to remain cautious, it has already been quite “extensive and far-reaching” in China’s own terms and continues to evolve.
Originality/value
Western leaders should reconsider how they measure China’s progress. China can be expected to experiment its way very cautiously towards greater democratization, but the outcome is likely to be profoundly different from the Western model.