Revelling in Interaction Rituals：The Impact of Interaction Ritual Chains of Live-Broadcast E-Commerce on Users' Long-Term Viewership

In recent years, the live-broadcast e-commerce has been developed rapidly, attracting a large number of users. However, the ultimate success of the platforms depend on users’ continued adoption behavior. Based on meaning transfer model and interaction ritual chain theory, this study develops a theoretical framework of how interaction rituals in live-broadcasts affect users' long-term viewership based on using grounded theory approach. We found that users’ continuous watching behavior is rooted in the formation of the interaction rituals of live-broadcast. The interactive ritual of live-broadcast is formed by the transfer of the basic meaning of live-broadcast to the meaning of the interaction rituals, and the interactive ways between those two meanings drive the transfer of “meaning chains”. The underlying psychological mechanisms are examined. This study find that the formation process of user continuous viewing behavior is influenced by the following four factors: anchor factor, user factor, platform factor and social factor