No abstract

PurposeLive 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/approachThe 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.FindingsThe 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/valueFirst, 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.

The popularity of multiplayer online battle arena games is closely linked to customer engagement. The purpose is to investigate the influences that individual motivators and environmental antecedents have upon customer engagement and continuous playing games intention, and compare the impacts between playing Multiplayer online battle arena games on personal computers and on mobile phones. A Triadic reciprocal determinism framework was developed to explain the relationship among individual motivator (flow experience), environmental antecedents (technical features and social interaction), individual behavior (continuous playing games intention), and customer engagement within multiplayer online battle arena gaming settings. Altogether 531 questionnaires from multiplayer online battle arena players were collected. Structural equation modeling with Smart-partial least squares was used to evaluate the research model. The findings suggest that the influence of flow experience on customer engagement in personal computers gaming is more significant than that in mobile gaming, while the effects of perceived ease of use and offline social interaction on customer engagement in mobile gaming are comparatively higher. This study indicates the importance of flow experience, perceived control, perceived ease of use, and social interaction in the Multiplayer online battle arena gaming development and the prosperity for better customers engaged, and to enhance customer experience.

mHealth is one of China’s national strategies that brings affordable, accessible, and convenient health care to its entire population, may they be in cities or rural areas. Although Chinese young adults are among the first to adopt mHealth, the factors influencing Chinese young adults to use mHealth are yet to be studied both empirically and in depth. This study explores the mechanism that determines Chinese young adults’ intention to use mHealth, based on an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The extended TAM was tested using responses from 486 Chinese young adults. The results showed that perceived usefulness strongly and significantly influenced people’s intention to use mHealth. Additionally, communication effectiveness, health consciousness, and perceived ease of use were found as significant factors influencing people’s intention to use mHealth through perceived usefulness. Distrust was not found to significantly influence people’s intention to use mHealth.

With the rapid development of contemporary e-commerce, there are now multiple sales channels in the supply chain. At the same time, frequent natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and economic disasters have increased the risks from disruptions in supply chain transportation. Cargo transportation insurance is an important tool for managing transportation disruptions in the supply chain. Based on a secondary supply chain, this paper analyzes an expected profit model for a manufacturer's decision, in a dual-channel supply chain, to purchase cargo transportation insurance against transport disruptions. It explores the impact of manufacturers with insurance on the expected profits in the supply chain. The research reveals that cargo transportation insurance can effectively reduce losses caused by transportation disruptions. In addition, the results show that, if transportation insurance is purchased and the possibility of transportation disruption exists in both channels, the total profit of the supply chain under decentralized decision is higher than its profit under centralized decision.