E-service quality on live streaming platforms : swift guanxi perspective

Purpose: In recent years, more and more e-retailers have adopted live streaming services to attract customers. Although the extant literature has mostly examined the motivations for live streaming usage, it remains unclear how to enhance customers’ purchase behaviour. Based on the social exchange theory, in the context of live streaming platforms (LSP), this study aims to investigate the impact of information quality and interaction quality on swift guanxi and customers’ purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducted an online survey to conduct two rounds of data collection and analyses the data using SPSS and SmartPLS softwares. Findings: The results show that information quality (believability, usefulness and vividness) and interaction quality (responsiveness, real-time interaction and empathy) are positively related to swift guanxi, which may influence customers’ online purchase intention on LSP. Originality/value: Prior service quality studies tend to focus on traditional physical stores and e-commerce websites context. This study offers the description of key dimensions of service quality on emerging LSP context. The study also confirms the importance of swift guanxi in an online marketplace.