Understanding the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic cues on consumers’ emotional trust in live streaming e-commerce

Although various cues are practically used by consumers as the references to build their trust in live streamers, which cues are used and how these cues affect consumers’ trust have not been well explored in prior studies. Thus, drawing upon the cue theory, this study identifies three key cues and classifies them into intrinsic cues (i.e., streamer stance) and extrinsic cues which can be further categorized into high- and low-scope cues (i.e., streamer popularity and word-of-mouth (WOM) valence) respectively, and investigates their main and interaction effects on consumers’ emotional trust. A 2 (famous vs. unfamous streamers) * 2 (positive vs. negative WOM) * 2 (consumer vs. merchant stance) scenario-based survey was conducted, and the results suggest that (1) emotional trust is higher for famous streamers than for unfamous streamers, for positive WOM than for negative WOM, and for consumer stance than for merchant stance; (2) WOM valence has a greater impact on emotional trust when streamer is famous vs. unfamous; and (3) streamer stance has a stronger impact on emotional trust when WOM valence and streamer popularity is inconsistent vs. consistent. Finally, theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.