Building Trust to Drive Purchase: Key Factors in Vietnamese Livestream Commerce

Abstract

Livestream commerce represents a significant advancement in digital retail by combining real-time interaction with social engagement to influence online purchasing behavior. This research develops and empirically tests a structural model to explain consumers’ purchase intentions in livestream settings. Five antecedent predictors - Social Interaction (SIN), Streamer Credibility (SCR), Perceived Enjoyment (PEN), Subjective Norm (SNO), and Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) - are analyzed, with Trust (DTR) serving as a central mediating variable. Trust demonstrates a substantial mediating effect, highlighting its pivotal role in consumer decision-making within interactive commerce environments. The proposed model accounts for 64.6% of the variance in Trust and 72.2% of the variance in Purchase Intention, demonstrating strong explanatory and predictive capabilities. These results advance theoretical understanding by elucidating the relationships among social, experiential, and technological factors in livestream shopping. From an applied and practice-oriented standpoint, the study advances implementable recommendations for e-commerce platforms, digital retailers, and streamers aiming to reinforce trust, improve user experience, and increase the strategic impact of livestream commerce.