Understanding the role of streamers in livestreaming commerce: a vocal–visual perspective

Despite streamers having earned widespread attention, no studies have explored the relationship between streamers and customer engagement from a vocal–visual perspective in the livestreaming commerce context. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model, we examine how streamers’ speech rate and facial attractiveness influence customer engagement using 434 pieces of unstructured livestreaming video data extracted from Taobao. The findings show that speech rate is positively related to customer engagement behaviors. Facial attractiveness has a significant positive effect on the number of comments and viewers obtained, but it has no impact on the number of likes received in a livestream. Speech rate and facial attractiveness demonstrate a significant interaction effect, increasing customer engagement behaviors. Additionally, the numbers of comments and viewers obtained are positively related to sales performance. These results offer new insights into the vital role of streamers and provide practical implications for improving customer engagement in livestreaming commerce.