The bright side of live-streaming e-commerce: improving farmers' income in agricultural supply chains

Purpose As the prevalence of selling agricultural products using live streaming increases, it is unclear whether and under what circumstances the live-streaming selling format can benefit farmers. This article also reveals the influence of consumer pro-farming preference and pricing power on agricultural sales and farmers' incomes under the live-streaming selling format. Design/methodology/approach We develop a stylized game model based on the agricultural product supply chain and identify two selling formats (traditional selling or live-streaming selling). Thereby, we construct three distinct models – traditional selling, live-streaming with farmer pricing and live-streaming with live-streamer pricing – and explore them through equilibrium analysis. Findings Compared to traditional model, we find that the live-streaming selling format can significantly increase farmer's profits, but it can also jeopardize farmer's interests due to the commission rate and consumer quality sensitivity. Moreover, consumer pro-farming preferences for the farmer can increase the farmer's profits, and this preference weakens the impact of sensitivity coefficient of effort level on the farmer's profits. Interestingly, the pricing power is always favorable for the farmer, but it is not always beneficial for the live-streamer. Originality/value Firstly, this article explores how the live streaming selling format affects farmer's incomes and its underlying mechanisms, considering the quality decision for agricultural products. Secondly, our study introduces consumer pro-farming preferences into the model to explore to what extent consumer pro-farming preferences can affect the sales of agricultural products and farmer's incomes under the live streaming selling format. Thirdly, this study analyzes how pricing power under different live streaming selling models affects the pricing of agricultural products and farmer's incomes.