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This study aimed to develop and validate an online live streaming perceived servicescape (OLSPS) scale that can help platform service providers to develop strategies for new live streaming channel promotions.

This study conceptualized the construct of OLSPS and the four-phase procedure of the 66-item OLSPS scale development, including item generation, item purification, scale validation, measure application and testing of hypotheses. It also provided a research framework to assess audiences' cognition and behavioral intention, and an online survey on 420 live streaming users (social platforms, n = 210; native platforms, n = 210) was conducted.

This study developed and validated a 35-item OLSPS scale with eight dimensions. The results of the empirical model showed that OLSPS is positively correlated with the audiences' cognition and behavioral intention. Furthermore, parasocial interaction experience showed a positive moderation on channel trust.

This study is a pioneering effort to develop and validate an OLSPS scale. The results could be helpful for researchers in building OLSPS and for managers in assessing and promoting users' acceptance of online live streaming platforms.

It is unclear what constitutes the tourism live streaming (TLS) servicescape and how it affects users' travel intention (TI). The study aims to explore the composition of the TLS servicescape, the influence mechanism of the TLS servicescape on users' TI and the formation of users' TI.

Based on stimulus organism response theory (SOR), we develop a mediation model to explore the influence of TLS servicescape on users' TI. This study collected data from 432 Chinese TLS users through an online questionnaire, and we used the structural equation model and the SPSS PROCESS macro to test the proposed model. In addition, we tested the variable relationships using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

TLS servicescape is a second-order variable that can be categorized into physical element (PE), social element (SOE), symbolic element (SYE) and natural element (NE). TLS servicescape influences TI by affecting social presence (SP) and customer engagement (CE). The fsQCA reveals seven combinations of PE, SOE, SYE, NE, SP and CE that form a high TI for TLS users.

Using multiple data analysis methods, the study emphasizes the significance of the TLS servicescape for TLS. It explores how to evoke users' TI in TLS and provides a reference for TLS marketing.

This study aims to use mixed methods to create a new conceptual framework to understand the unique characteristics of virtual tourism experiences (VTE), which has not been systemically examined.

Study 1 uses topic modeling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation to analyze 91,609 online reviews from the Airbnb Experience platform. Study 2 uses content analysis of open-ended qualitative responses from VTE customers. The two studies together are used to build a new conceptual model.

Building upon the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model and the experience economy, results present a new conceptual model and identify VTE as unique in terms of Stimulus (education, entertainment, esthetics, escapism and connection), Organism (experiencing synchronicity, telepresence, participation and customization, emotion) and Response (evaluation and behavioral responses). Given the uniqueness of VTE, the new construct of the virtual servicescape is incorporated, recognizing the host, the focal customer and other customers, and the technology as the four main components.

The proposed framework can be used to guide the design, development, and evaluation of VTE, including identifying the key considerations, engagement within the ecosystem and providing guidance to hosts and operators.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that systematically explores VTE and proposes the theoretical framework to comprehensively understand this new form of experience in sharing economy by combining the unique aspects of the stimulus, organism, response and virtual servicescape.

Live streaming commerce enhances shopping experience and reduces uncertainty. However, with increasingly fierce competitions, it has become a challenging task for live streaming commerce platforms to retain existing customers. The purpose of this study to explore factors affecting customers’ stickiness intention toward live streaming commerce platforms.

A research model was developed by modifying e-commerce system success model (ES success model) based on the context of live streaming commerce and meanwhile integrating serendipity and flow into the model. Using the data collected from 380 customers who have live streaming shopping experience, the established model was empirically assessed by partial least squares based structural equation model.

The results show that vividness, real-time interaction and diagnosticity are antecedents of perceived value and customer satisfaction toward a live streaming commerce platform which in turn influence customers’ stickiness intention. Besides, as new factors introducing into the ES success model, serendipity and flow are two important motivators of satisfaction and stickiness.

This study establishes a well-organized framework to understand the mechanism regarding why customers stick with a live streaming commerce platform. It provides a socio-technical approach to analyze how the stickiness intention can be influenced.

On December 20, 2021, Viya, a social media influencer (SMI) with the largest number of followers in China, was exposed for having evaded RMB 643 million in taxes during 2019 and 2020. Consequently, she was fined a total of RMB 1.341 billion by the tax authorities. While the strict government regulations demonstrated in the Viya event may build confidence in the consumers for future purchases, the exposure of issues and problems through implementation of the stronger government regulations may warn consumers off. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to examine the effect of government regulations on consumers' usage intentions of live streaming e-commerce by taking the Viya event as an example.

The authors consider both the positive effect of consumers' perceived benefits of the government regulations and the negative effect of their perceived risks of the Viya event on the usage intentions of live streaming e-commerce. After collecting 314 subjects with diverse gender, ages, education levels and income profiles, the data are processed by partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and SmartPLS software.

The results demonstrate that strict government regulations can build trust in consumers of live streaming e-commerce by increasing the perceived benefits of restricting the behavior of SMIs. Among the potential perceived risks (social risk, safety risk and psychological risk), the safety risk is supported to have a negative effect on consumers' trust in live streaming e-commerce platforms. Besides, the authors have also identified different types of usage intentions in live streaming e-commerce, i.e. watching intention and purchase intention, and have empirical support for the positive relationships between the consumers' trust in live streaming e-commerce platforms and different usage intentions.

The authors' findings contribute to the application of commitment-trust theory, institutional theory and organizational control theory in the context of the live streaming e-commerce industry. Particularly, the authors use the Viya event as an example to quantitatively examine the effects of strict government regulations, which enriches the existing literature on this topic.

This study aims to examine the determinants of consumer behavioral intention to use the restaurant, concert and education services online during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

A conceptual model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was tested via structural equation modeling by using data collected from a sample of 420 Brazilian consumers.

The results showed that performance expectancy and social influence are the most critical determinants of consumer behavioral intention to use services online during the pandemic. The results also provided evidence that the pandemic has generated significant impacts on future consumer behavior.

This study contributes in a multidisciplinary way to the literature on hospitality, entertainment and education services, by applying the UTAUT theory and testing the model during and after the COVID-19 pandemic context. Moreover, this study provides empirical evidence from Brazil, one of the most affected countries by COVID-19.

Live streaming commerce, a new form of social commerce where firms integrate with broadcasters, community members and customers in live chat rooms for real-time interaction to help sell products, has become increasingly popular. However, factors that impact the success of live streaming commerce are not fully explored. The purpose of this study is to examine these factors by exploring the relationships among customer trust (i.e., trust in broadcasters, community members, and products) and customer engagement, and the mediating role of swift guanxi.

The authors surveyed 422 customers who have watched Taobao Live, one of the largest live streaming commerce sites in China, and used their questionnaires to test the research model employing partial least squares modeling.

The authors’ results indicate that trust in broadcasters has a positive effect on trust in products and community members, which positively influences trust in products. Additionally, swift guanxi has a fully mediating effect on the relationship between customers' trust in broadcasters and customer engagement.

First, from the theoretical perspective, this study comprehensively identifies three types of trust, explores the transfer relationships among trust in broadcasters, community members, and products based on Trust Transfer Theory. In addition, this study examines the mediating influence of swift guanxi on the relationship between customer trust and engagement. Second, from the managerial perspective, the study provides insights to help broadcasters and practitioners use live streaming to facilitate shopping.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the fast growth of online music festivals. This paper explores how festivalgoers' experience affects their satisfaction and drives their loyalty to re-attend online music festivals in China.

Based on an understanding of the music festival experience and the characteristics of live-streamed performances, this paper investigates five factors that affect festivalgoers' satisfaction and loyalty, namely the music experience, ambience experience, separation experience, social experience and novelty experience. The relationships between festivalgoers' experience, satisfaction and loyalty are also explored using structural equation modelling techniques.

The empirical results suggest that four of the above-mentioned five factors of the online music festival experience directly affect festivalgoers' satisfaction and loyalty. The online mode is a rapid adaptation of and preferred alternative to offline music festivals, whilst the creation of the experience, along with satisfaction with and loyalty to the online music festival, are determined by different factors compared to offline modes. Overall festival satisfaction positively enhances the relationship between festivalgoers' experience and loyalty to online music festivals.

This study offers a range of practical and managerial implications for organisers of online music festival, similar activities such as live-streaming concerts and stage performances and hybrid events.

This study explores a phenomenon that has evolved quickly since COVID-19 and will, potentially, have an ongoing and enduring impact on the music festival sector. It differentiates the understanding of festivalgoers' experience in online and offline modes, which is a new addition to the literature. It also enriches the theoretical understanding of the experience of, satisfaction with and loyalty to online music festivals.

Despite the burgeoning popularity of virtual gifting in live streaming, research lacks an in-depth understanding of the drivers behind this behavior. Using para-social relationship (PSR), this study aims to capture viewers’ lively social feelings toward the streamer as the key factor leading to the purchase behavior of virtual gifts. It also aims to establish a theoretical link between PSR and viewers’ holistic experience in live streaming as captured by cognitive absorption and aims to investigates the role of technological features (i.e. viewer–streamer and viewer–viewer interactivity, streamer-level and viewer-level deep profiling and design aesthetics) in shaping viewers’ experience.

Based on 433 survey responses, this study employs a combination of structural equation modeling and neural networks to offer valuable insights into the relationships between the technological environment, viewer experience and viewer behavior.

Our results highlight the salience of PSR in promoting the purchase of virtual gifts through cognitive absorption and the importance of the technological environment in eliciting the viewer experience. This study sheds light on the development of PSR in a technological environment and its relationship with cognitive absorption.

By applying PSR to conceptualize viewers’ perceived connection with the streamer, this study extends the research on purchase behavior in the non-shopping context by providing an enlightened understanding of virtual gift purchase behavior in live streaming. Moreover, by theoretically linking PSR with cognitive absorption, virtual gift purchase and technological features of live streaming, it enriches the theory of PSR and bridges the gap between the design practice of supporting the IT infrastructure of live streaming and research.