What drives consumer engagement in live streaming commerce? A socio-technical systems and trust configuration approach

What the paper says

Purpose While live-streaming e-commerce serves as a dynamic catalyst for consumer engagement behavior (CEB), existing research often examines drivers in isolation, overlooking their complex interdependence. This study bridges that gap by examining how socio-technical attributes and trust in both products and streamers interact to produce high vs low CEB. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in socio-technical systems theory, this research employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to map the complex causal pathways shaping engagement. We analyzed how configurations of seven socio-technical elements (expertise, humor, beauty, warmth, passion, personalization and interactivity) alongside trust-transfer mechanisms shape CEB live-streaming e-commerce. Findings The fsQCA results reveal that high CEB primarily emerges from configurations where streamer warmth and expertise synergize with platform interactivity and strong trust in products. Conversely, the absence of both social and technical cues leads reliably to user disengagement and low CEB. Originality/value This study advances socio-technical systems theorizing in live-streaming commerce by introducing a configurational explanation of customer engagement, demonstrating equifinality and functional substitution among social cues, platform affordances and trust conditions. It further identifies trust gatekeeping as an asymmetric causal principle, showing that trust functions as a critical enabling factor in high-engagement pathways and that its absence can nullify otherwise strong socio-technical bundles.