Affective and Cognitive Social Presence in Chinese Live Commerce -Consumption Value as a Mediator-

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the implications of rapidly growing live commerce in China by examining the multifaceted aspects of social presence, in particular to help small commerce operators and platform companies. It examines the effect of cognitive and affective social presence on consumer engagement by evaluating consumption values and trust in streamers. In this survey study, the responses of 221 individuals residing in large cities of China were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that cognitive social presence had a positive effect on consumer engagement by mediating the utilitarian value and trust in streamers. Furthermore, affective social presence had a positive effect on consumer engagement through the hedonic value and trust in streamers. Thus, our research provides a new perspective to approaching a multidimensional social presence and understanding consumer behavior in live commerce. Moreover, it contributes to the application and expansion of social presence theory in this field.