Why Do We Continue to Impulse Buy When Watching Live Stream Commerce?

Purpose: Live-streaming commerce emerges as a new e-commerce powerhouse. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response model and the latest literature on live commerce, this study presents an integrated theoretical model with factors influencing potential consumers' intention to watch live broadcasts. This study expects that four factors (product fit, parasocial interaction, perceived serendipity, and deal proneness) would be positively related to one’s intention to watch live streams. In addition, the intention to watch live commerce is expected to play a role in linking these factors to impulse purchases. Research design, data and methodology: A survey was conducted with 280 consumers in Korea who recently watched live commerce. Results: Statistical analyses were performed using structural equation modeling in which all four factors were found to show positive and statistically significant relationships with the intention to view the program live. As expected, the intention to watch live commerce simultaneously demonstrated the indirect effect. Conclusions: This study found significant antecedents of continuous watching intention and impulse buying, including product fit, parasocial interaction, perceived serendipity, and deal proneness. Furthermore, this study confirmed both the direct and indirect effect of continuous watching intention on impulse buying, which was found to be a meaningful and impactful indicator in live commerce