How social media live streams affect online buyers: A uses and gratifications perspective

Social media live streams (SMLSs) are becoming mainstream e-commerce platforms, especially for direct selling, offering online retailers (e-tailers) immense consumer interaction and engagement levels. Despite their growing prevalence, e-tailers face difficulties capitalising on this platform to enhance retail operations. This paper explores how SMLSs affect consumers' purchase intentions by exploring their motivations for participating in e-commerce SMLSs. To this end, we used the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory to explain how using SMLSs to satisfy consumers' needs could lead to high or low purchase intentions. It was done by collecting cross-sectional data from 795 consumers who have participated in e-commerce SMLSs. The data were analysed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Our findings revealed that people use SMLSs to satisfy their need for value, social identification, and the medium's attributes. Based on these findings, we show six configurations that lead to high or low purchase intentions and make corresponding theoretical propositions. Thus, our study contributes to the research and practice of using SMLSs for online shopping.