Live streamer commerce: exploring how the interconnections among brand, streamer, and follower translate into behavioural outcomes

This study investigates the psychological and behavioural mechanisms that drive consumer engagement and impulse buying in live streaming commerce. As an emerging form of digital marketing, live streaming integrates real-time interaction, sense of presence, and brand messaging to create immersive consumer experiences. Drawing upon a multi-theoretical framework—comprising Source Credibility Theory, Congruity Theory, Flow Theory, and Consumer Engagement Theory—this research explores how streamer attributes (attractiveness, expertise, trustworthiness), brand–streamer–follower congruence, and the sense of presence contribute to dynamic brand experiences, which in turn influence follower engagement and impulse buying behaviour. To address these aims, a quantitative research design was employed using structured online questionnaires conducted in both China and the UK, enabling cross-cultural analysis of follower behaviours. Data collected from 600 participants (300 per country) were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using SmartPLS to test direct, mediating, and moderating relationships among the constructs. The findings confirm that streamer attributes positively influence dynamic brand experience, with sense of presence and congruence acting as critical psychological mechanisms. Sense of presence showed a positive mediating effect among Chinese followers but not a very positive effect in the UK sample, highlighting important cross-cultural differences. The congruence emerged as a consistently strong predictor of dynamic brand experience across both markets. Dynamic brand experience, in turn, strongly drives follower engagement and impulse buying, with gender and product type not moderating the strength of these effects in engagement and impulse buying. The study contributes to theoretical advancement by extending the application of existing models to real-time, interactive commerce environments and offers actionable insights for marketers, streamers, and brands seeking to enhance the effectiveness of live-streaming strategies.