How real-time interaction drives purchase intention: the mediating pathway through perceived trust in live streaming

Purpose Live-streaming e-commerce is characterized by real-time interaction, namely, consumer-streamer interaction (CSI) and consumer-consumer interaction (CCI). Integrating uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this study proposes a dual-process framework of trust formation: CSI (expertise and responsiveness) cultivates trust through the central route by enabling evaluation of information quality, whereas CCI (personalization and entertainment) cultivates trust through the peripheral route by leveraging social proof and emotional resonance. Design/methodology/approach Using survey data from 409 live-streaming shoppers in China and employing partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), this study examines how CSI and CCI shape purchase intention via perceived trust, and how price sensitivity moderates the trust-purchase intention relationship. Findings CSI and CCI enhanced purchase intention through perceived trust, with indistinguishable baseline effects. Trust partially mediated these associations, with central and peripheral patterns. Price sensitivity eliminated personalization's direct effect, suggesting comparable effects may conceal mechanistic differences. Furthermore, heightened sensitivity induced systematic processing, reducing reliance on trust and moderating the perceived trust–purchase intention relationship. Originality/value This study advances live-streaming research by embedding dual-process theory within real-time interaction dynamics. Contributions include demonstrating equivalent effects can operate through divergent mechanisms, reconceptualizing streamer expertise as a dynamically validated signal, and empirically testing ELM's boundary conditions, showing peripheral-route effectiveness depends on low motivation (proxied by price sensitivity). Findings extend ELM to live-streaming and offer actionable guidance for interaction strategy design.