How live stream session is developed to guide value co-creation between streamer and audience: an ethnographic investigation based on Dramaturgical Theory

E-commerce live streaming has become one of the main retailing approach for online selling. It resembles a well-organized drama performance which encourages audience to make purchase. Such format of online selling proves to be more effective than conventional online selling by creating desired value for audience. However, the creation of value is a complex and interdependent process rooted in the dynamics between streamers and viewers. It is thus imperative for industrial professional and academic researchers to understand the complicated practice in E-commerce live streaming. Extant literature still lacks systematic discussions over the complicated process related to value creation in e-commerce live streaming. Therefore, drawing on Dramaturgical Theory and Consumption Value Theory, this study employs an ethnographic research design to explore how a live stream session is developed and managed to create desired value together with the audience. The systematic typology of live stream practices is proposed as the foundation for theoretical discussion.