Determinants of Retailers’ Trust in Live-Stream Selling on Social Commerce Platforms: Evidence Using PLS-SEM and FsQCA

The social commerce live-streaming feature has propelled the business model into the global spotlight by generating huge profits. Numerous studies in the past have evaluated different dimensions of live-stream selling from the consumer’s perspective, however, there is little research on live-stream business from the viewpoint of online retailers. Accordingly, this study aimed to address the gap by evaluating the determinants of retailers’ trust in live-stream selling. This study explores the determinants of retailers’ trust in live-stream selling via social commerce platforms. An online questionnaire was developed, which was distributed among 572 Malaysian retailers who utilize social commerce platforms for live-stream selling purposes. The determinants, among others, include cost perception, scarcity persuasion, vicarious experience, anchor (parasocial interaction), audience (social contagion, the attractiveness of the online store), and situational (selling motivation, time pressure, product involvement). The results of causal relationships revealed the influence of content, anchor, audience, and situational factors on retailers’ trustworthiness along with multi-way interactions of platform assistance and anchors’ professionalism which strengthen this relationship. The results provided eight fundamental solutions to tackle the concern of retailers’ trust in social commerce platforms’ live-stream selling.