A protective buffer or a double-edged sword? Investigating the effect of “parasocial guanxi” on consumers’ complaint intention in live streaming commerce

The buyer-seller relationship in live streaming commerce is crucial especially in service failure situations, yet it has been underexplored. In this paper, we reconceptualized the relationship between consumers and sellers in live streaming commerce as “parasocial guanxi”, which consists of ganqing (emotional attachment), xinren (trust) and reciprocal value. The effects of parasocial guanxi on consumer dissatisfaction and complaint intention in service failure situations were further investigated based on the expectation confirmation theory. Our study involved 425 valid questionnaires and employed the partial least squares structural equation method (PLS-SEM). The findings are mixed: on one side, parasocial guanxi acts as a buffer, mitigating dissatisfaction and complaint intention in the face of product or service problems and reducing the impact of disconfirmation on consumer dissatisfaction. On the other side, it may also increase the likelihood of dissatisfied consumers complaining. Furthermore, the buffering effect weakens as consumers make more frequent purchases. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the buyer-seller relationship in live streaming commerce.