Two Streams to Success: Unpacking the Informational and Relational Roles of Live Streaming in Online Shopping

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chen, Cheng; Hu, Yuheng; Lu, Yingda; Hong, Yili
• 署名单位: University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Milwaukee; University System of Ohio; Ohio State University; University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Chicago; University of Illinois Chicago Hospital; University of Miami
• 刊物名称: PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1059-1478
• DOI: 10.1177/10591478251403725
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: word-of-mouth; Social media; electronic markets; price promotions; service process; IMPACT; purchase; Marketplaces; uncertainty; allocation

摘要

The growing prominence of live streaming has attracted the attention from both e-commerce practitioners and the research community. This paper investigates the impact of online retailers adopting live streaming technology in business operations on their product sales, dissecting dual roles of live streaming: information provision and customer relationship management. Leveraging multiple archival data sources, we combine econometrics with deep learning to analyze the nuanced, dual roles of live streaming in online retail. Specifically, we develop a novel deep-learning framework to identify two types of live streaming strategies, product-oriented and nonproduct-oriented, and find that both strategies significantly increase online product sales. Notably, our research suggests that past review volume and product visual informativeness substitute the impact of using product-oriented live streaming; whereas seller's rating and product visual informativeness complement the impact of using nonproduct-oriented live streaming. These results suggest that product-oriented live streaming increases sales by reducing product uncertainty via information provision, whereas nonproduct-oriented live streaming increases sales via noninformation mechanisms, such as enhancing customer relationship management.