A STUDY ON THE PURCHASE INTENTIONS OF AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCTS BY CHINESE CONSUMERS IN ZHEJIANG PROVINCE

ON A LIVE SALES PLATFORM

Jieni Ma 1, * and Mai Aye Aye Aung 2

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to explore the attitudes relating to the consumer purchase
intentions of live streaming sales and to know the influences on consumers’ final purchase
decisions for farming products through live streaming. A quantitative online survey was used
to examine consumer purchase intentions for live streaming sales to understand more about
their thoughts and behavior regarding agricultural products. The study collected 208 online
customer surveys from Chinese nationals, performing a non-probability purposive sampling
technique to validate the analysis. The sample size of 208 was calculated based on G*Power.
The results show that attitude homophily and influencer professionality in relation to the
influencers, impacts the purchase intentions of consumers, suggesting that the consumer
decision path involves both affective and internalization processes before the consumer makes
a decision to purchase the product. Perceived uncertainty was shown to be a marginal effect
whereby consumers are slightly concerned about the quality and price of purchases through
live stream shopping. These findings confirm the theory of planned behavior (TPB) by
revealing that consumers’ purchase intentions come from their own decision making.
Additionally, the study extends the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) by proving that
attitude homophily and professionality have a high effect on purchase intentions for live sales.
It was found that attitude homophily and professionality are key factors to increase consumers’
trust in products. Therefore, it is suggested that businesses using live stream sales should pay
more attention to enhance relatedness for current and potential consumers.

Keywords – Social Attractiveness, Physical Attractiveness, Attitude Homophily, Perceived

Uncertainty, Professionality, Purchase Intention

1. INTRODUCTION shopping channel in China and has become a

E-commerce live streaming is a new dependable digital tool for customer
innovative type of technology-driven engagement and sales (Greenwald, 2020). In
business model that has been developed in 2020, the initial half hour of Taobao’s Live
recent years shifting from image-centric e- presales campaign received $7.5 billion in
business platforms to video-centric live sales total operational value (Zhang J. , 2020) Live
platforms (Song, Chen, Guo, & Gao, 2021). streaming e-commerce made $6.1 trillion in
Live commerce rapidly transformed as a main 2020 on Taobao, one of the major giant online

Jieni Ma is currently working as a lecturer in the Financial Management and Accounting Department of
1 ,*

Zhejiang Agricultural Business College, China. She obtained a master’s degree in Finance from Newcastle
University, UK. She is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Martin de Tours School of Management and Economics,
Assumption University, Thailand. Email: majienichina@126.com
2
Mai Aye Aye Aung is currently working as a lecturer in the Business Department of Myanmar Institute of
Theology, Myanmar. She obtained a master’s degree in Business Administration from Assumption University,
Thailand and a master’s degree in Peace Studies from Myanmar Institute of Theology, Myanmar. She is a Ph.D.
Candidate in the Martin de Tours School of Management and Economics, Assumption University, Thailand.

232 ABAC Journal Vol.42 No.3(July-September 2022, pp 232-248)

 A Study on the Purchase Intention of Agricultural Products by
Chinese Consumers in Zhejiang Province on a Live Sales Platform

shopping platforms in China, while it was intentions for consumption; and whether live
projected that this will rise to $7.7 trillion in streaming will be likely to continue in the
2021 (Ma, 2021). When coronavirus hit the post-epidemic era when lockdowns ease and
country, the agriculture industry could no shoppers are able to return to physical stores
longer sell its produce because the products are some of the concerns relating to this
are usually sold in markets (Pan, Yang, Zhou, research. This research paper plans to fill a
& Kong, 2020). E-commerce giants allowed gap by enhancing knowledge of the
the farming product sector to expand into the persuasion concept in relation to live sales and
online shopping arena through live- the definite purchase behavior it influences.
streaming; this helped China’s farmers to Building on the elaboration likelihood model
persist through the pandemic by offering an (ELM) introduced by Petty and Cacioppo
entirely new way of business which is likely (1986) and improved by Sokolovo and Kefi
to be sustained after the pandemic has ended (2020), persuasion factors of physical
(Hao, 2020). attractiveness, social attractiveness, attitude
Livestreaming is the invention of smart homophily, professionality, and perceived
agriculture which is an improvement from uncertainty, are used to examine how the
old-fashioned sales models and e-commerce purchase intentions for agri-food products
(Wang, Li, & Chen, 2022). Compared to occur based on the theory of planned behavior
traditional e-businesses, livestreaming offers (TPB) as emphasized by Rausch and Kopplin
real-time communication and interaction (2021).
(Yen, 2018), that can enrich customers’ trust Therefore, the research question is
in the product, increase customers’ trust in the whether persuasions and characteristics of
sellers, and decrease perceived uncertainty, streamers can increase the purchase intentions
also reducing psychological distance, and for agri-foods in a live commerce situation?
enhancing the authentic viewing experience The remaining sections are structured as
(Wongkitrungrueng, Dehouche, & Assarut, follows: the first section presents
2020b). Whether sale of agri-food products identification of factors and theories that
through live commerce can keep on a influence actual purchase behavior along with
comparable track with non-agri-food products previous studies; the second section prepares
or services (Yang, Du, Hatzenbuehler, & Lu, the conceptual framework; the third section
2021) is one the concerns of this research, as explains the research methodology, data
agri-foods are perishable and there are analysis, and findings; and the last section
challenges to informing consumers of the includes the discussion, conclusion,
product quality through live streaming. More implications, and limitations of the study.
knowledge on the persuasiveness of
livestreaming in leading to purchase 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
intentions is yet to be discovered. Lured by
the increasing sales produced by this new 2.1 Livestreaming Commerce
method, live-streaming platforms have
emerged in many businesses, while knowing Livestreaming commerce is an attractive
how to upsurge live steaming sales has new channel for businesses wherein streamers
become a key issue for these businesses (Hu open live streams to communicate with
& Chaudhry, 2020). customers in real time (Chen & Lin, 2018).
The intention of this study was to The most exciting feature of the live sales is
determine the attitudes relating to consumers’ communication in real-time; streamers can
purchasing desires regarding live streaming show the characteristics of the product,
sales and the factors influencing consumers’ introduce how to use it, and answer pop-up
final purchase decisions for farming products questions during broadcasting (Chen, Zhao,
purchased through live stream shopping in & Wang, 2022). China's livestreaming e-
China. Whether persuasion will increase the commerce industry has beheld enormous

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growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic which of persuasion was first introduced by Petty
enhanced new market opportunities for and Cacioppo (1981); ELM seeks to explain
businesses and inserting new channels into alternative ways in which individuals process
the economy (Xinhua, 2021). Livestreaming stimuli and the results of these processes on
has gained a main role in building awareness changing attitudes and behavior. Researchers
and boosting the sales for brands, even for often mention ELM while studying
smaller operators such as farmers from persuasion, where the motivation and
remote regions, particularly during the aptitudes of the person processing the
lockdown of the pandemic (Hao, 2020). In message affect whether quality divergence or
China, livestreaming has increasingly gained other marginal prompts would influence the
popularity as an emerging platform resulting thoughts, intentions, or attitudes of the
in a massive market value of $149.9 billion in receiver (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020). According
2020 (Xinhua, 2021), and projected market to Petty and Cacioppo (1984), attractiveness
value of $187.5 billion by the end of 2021 of a message source has a greater impact on
(Statista, 2020). persuasion under situations of low
Recent research has shown that live involvement in argument quality. Unlike
streaming has enormous opportunities in other theories, ELM only specifies the route
reaching consumer engagement and building and does not mandate fixed variables in the
trust (Hu & Chaudhry, 2020; framework (Tam & Ho, 2005). Hence,
Wongkitrungrueng & Assarut, 2020a; Kang, researchers can use the distinct characteristics
Lu, Guo, & Li, 2021; Qiu, Chen, & Lee, of the research setting to advance
2021); live streaming can generate consumer distinguishing variables for measurement
purchase intentions (Zhang, Qin, Wang, & (Chen, Zhao, & Wang, 2022). Prior studies
Luo, 2019; Sun, Shao, Li, Guo, & Nie, 2019; apply ELM to consumer participation (Bao &
Addo, Fang, Asare, & Bakabbey, 2021; Lu & Wang, 2021), and consumer response (Chang,
Chen, 2021); but limited academic evidence Lu, & Lin, 2020).
exists regarding the persuasion factors which Attractiveness includes physical as well
increase consumer purchase intentions in live as social elements (Rubin & Step, 2000).
streaming e-commerce and whether there is Referring to Sokolova (2020), physical
potential to sell agri-food products through attractiveness, social attractiveness, and
live streaming after the pandemic has ended. attitude homophily, are key characteristics of
Chen et al. (2019) initially observed the persuasive attractiveness which are likely to
impacts of live streaming on the sales of have a positive effect on consumer purchase
online retailers’ products and discovered that intentions. Additionally, Chen, Lu, and Zheng
the adoption of live streaming significantly (2020) mentioned that perceived
improves online product sales. They also professionalism also has a positive influence
found that the live streaming approach is more on consumer buying behavior, while Song et
resourceful for certain types of products al. (2021) describes that receiving details of
because the sales of experienced goods product related information by the consumers
increased 27.9% more than when these goods lessens uncertainty. Drawing from the above-
were searched through live sales (Chen, Hu, mentioned concepts, it is believed that
Lu, & Hong, 2019). Hence, research also persuasive attractiveness which includes the
shows that live commerce is beneficial for physical, social, and homophilic elements of
different sized sellers including both big and attitudes, professionality, and perceived
small businesses (Song, Chen, Guo, & Gao, uncertainty, would engage and increase
2021). consumer purchase intentions in live
streaming sales. Based on ELM and the
2.2 Exploiting Attractiveness in Persuasion findings of previous studies, it is proposed
that persuasive attractiveness leads
The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) consumers to make final buying decisions via

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live streaming sales; the factors of physical predictor of purchase behavior that refers to
attractiveness, social attractiveness, attitude individuals’ beliefs about the effects of the
homophily, perceived uncertainty, and behavior, with an estimation of the results of
professionality, will be seen to impacts final these consequences (Ajzen, 1991). If a person
buying decisions. considers a particular behavior will result in a
favorable outcome, he or she will have a
2.3 Consumer Purchase Intentions positive attitude towards that behavior (Liu,
Liu, & Mo, 2020). Norms are the second
Consumer purchase intention is predictor of actual purchasing behavior,
considered to be the most immediate predictor including subjective norms and moral norms.
of behavior, determined by attitudes and Subjective norms refer to the response of
subjective norms; purchase intention is then important reference individuals in the closer
followed (Rausch & Kopplin, 2021). The community such as family members or close
theory of planned behavior (TPB) is an friends (Ajzen, 1991); moral norms should
extended model of the theory of reasoned also be maintained such as environmentally-
action (TRA) which comprises a new friendly behavior or pro-social behavior, that
constituent named perceived behavioral combine both self and social interests (Liu,
control (PBC), the addition process is vital Liu, & Mo, 2020; Chen M. F., 2016).
(Liu, Liu, & Mo, 2020) because the original Perceived behavioral control (PBC) is the last
model has a restraint in foreseeing behaviors predictor of consumer purchase intentions,
that are not entirely controlled by the and indicates whether performing a certain
individual’s desire (Ajzen, 1991). Essential behavior is reasonable or difficult (Ajzen,
development of the TPB is required in 1991); this contains self-efficacy and
attitude-behavior models because an controllability (Liu, Meng, Chen, & Duan,
individual's attitude only weakly predicts 2020). Generally, when the behavior matches
consumer behavior (LaPiere, 1934; Wicker, moral norms, and the consumer possesses
1969; Rausch & Kopplin, 2021); a favorable positive attitudes, and higher perceived
attitude might not be assumed into behavior control over certain activities or products, it is
due to the individual’s social pressures more likely that the consumer’s purchase
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) and the individual’s intentions will be formed into action.
amount of motivation for the effort to make it
happen (Ajzen, 1991). The TPB model 3. RESEARCH MODEL
highlights that a person’s decision-making is DEVELOPMENT AND HYPOTHESIS
oriented by a logical assessment of the effects
of his or her behavior (Bamberg & Möser, It is important for businesses to
2007). Three primary factors that determine understand the persuasive cues made by
behavioral intentions are included in the TPB streamers in order to prepare a fine balance
model: (1) attitudes regarding the behavior, between creativity and control (Sokolova &
(2) subjective norms of the behavior and (3) Kefi, 2020). The characteristics of live
the perceived behavioral control relating to streaming anchors matter because live
the performance of that behavior (Liu, Liu, & streaming involves anchors with rich media
Mo, 2020). content using various types of
A variety of recent research shows that communications in real time compared to
behavioral intentions or purchase intentions other traditional online interactions such as
have been found to be predictors of actual texts, images, or videos (Song, Chen, Guo, &
purchase behavior; however, the agreeable Gao, 2021). Referring to the elaboration
dimensions of purchase intentions include likelihood model (ELM) and theory of
attitude, norms, and perceived behavioral planned behavior (TPB), attractiveness and
control (Chen, Li, Davison, & Liu, 2021; control are presented as factors that could
Rausch & Kopplin, 2021). Attitude is the first increase consumer purchase intentions for

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agricultural foods through live streaming Professionality can be explained as

sales: attitude homophily, physical possessing professional knowledge about
attractiveness, social attractiveness, products and being an industry expert;
professionality, and perceived uncertainty. professionality increases consumer purchase
Attitude homophily refers to individuals intentions because the streamer can provide
who have similarity in terms of education, good explanations about the products, they
beliefs, and social status (Prisbell & can solve potential product problems, and are
Andersen, 1980). The listener or potential able to respond with solutions through live
customer who would feel alike or would like streaming sales (Chen, Lu, & Zheng, 2020).
to be alike to the speaker will have homophily Yang et al. (2021) highlight that the business
of attitude and will be more willing to create name and product reputation are prevailing
a positive relationship with them (Brown & indicators which are attributed towards live
Basil, 2010; Lu & Chen, 2021). Physical streaming sales as they have been known to
attractiveness can be described in social be in markets for other products due to the
psychology literature as finding a person’s importance of quality-related issues
physical appearances and features appealing particularly for sales of farming products
or pleasing (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020). Socially (Yang, Du, Hatzenbuehler, & Lu, 2021).
attractive refers to the likability of the Professionality seems to encourage purchase
streamers (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020). intentions, it is therefore proposed that:
Attractive streamers or speakers can H4: Streamer’s professionality is
transform thoughts (Sharma, 1990) and tend positively related to purchase intentions.
to influence the audience (Chaiken, 1979),
forming convincing peripheral cues for Perceived uncertainty links to consumers
decision making (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020), receiving details of product related
that can decrease consumers’ uncertainty over information which can lessen product
the product offers. Hence, it is proposed that: uncertainty as well as other non-information
H1: Streamer’s attitude homophily is engagement such as social presence and trust;
positively related to purchase intentions. this can convert to consumer persuasion
H2: Streamer’s physical attractiveness is during live streaming sales (Song, Chen, Guo,
positively related to purchase intentions. & Gao, 2021). Both information engagement
H3: Streamer’s social attractiveness is and non-information engagement are
positively related to purchase intentions. mutually beneficial to product sales

Conceptual Framework

Attitude Homophily

Physical Attractiveness

Professionality Purchase intentions

Perceived Uncertainty

Social Attractiveness

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(Bar-Gill & Reichman, 2021). Chen et al. 4.2 Measures

(2020) claimed that the influence of trust in
the streamer is more than double compared The survey method and measurement
with the influence of quality or trust in the items used in the study were adapted and
product during live stream sales. Simply, modified from previous literature. Some
persuasion of attractiveness in livestreaming adaptations were made for a better fit with the
can encourage consumer purchase intentions. current study context. Persuasion
Thus, it is proposed that: attractiveness including social attractiveness,
H5: Streamer’s perceived uncertainty is physical attractiveness, and attitude
negatively related to purchase intentions. homophily, were adapted from Sokolovo and
Kefi (2020) and Lee and Watkins (2016).
4. RESEARCH DESIGN Perceived uncertainty items were revised
from Zang et al., (2020) and Torkzadeh and
4.1 Sampling Dhillon (2002). Influencer professionality
was taken from Liu et al., (2020) and
A quantitative online survey was used to Netemeyer and Bearden (1992). Purchase
examine consumers actual purchase behavior intentions items were modified from Kim et
with live streaming sales to understand more al. (2015); Sun and Li (2019); and Sokolova
about their thoughts and behavior regarding and Kefi (2019). Appendix 1 shows the
agricultural products in online purchases. The measurement items in detail. The researchers
study disseminated 370 online customer also controlled gender, age, monthly income,
surveys to consumers in Zhejiang province in and live streaming shopping frequency. A 5-
China via a purposive sampling technique to point Likert scale was employed in the
validate the analysis. A purposive sampling survey. A Chinese version of the instrument
method was used because the research was developed via translation of the English
targeted only people with experience of live instrument based on the translation panel
stream shopping who had not yet purchased approach as the survey context was in China
agricultural products via a live streaming (Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997).
platform. The research also focused on
generation Z customers as they are the largest 4.3 Statistical Treatment of Data
group in China who watch live streaming and
participate in live streaming commerce. They SmartPLS software 3 was applied to test
are therefore more representative than other the model. SmartPLS is a professional partial
generations. Excluding the respondents who least squares structural equation modeling
had no experience of live stream shopping or software, which is widely used in
who had already purchased agricultural management, marketing, organizational
products via a live streaming platform (162 behavior, information systems, and other
respondents), yielded a total of 208 valid fields. Its principle is to use the partial least
surveys, useable for data analysis. The squares method. PLS is able to analyze latent
minimum sample size was verified by variables without requiring strict normal
G*Power 3.1 (Faul et al., 2007). The result distributions among the data (Hair, 2014).
suggested a minimum sample size of 200 to This approach is necessary in this study which
assure the research model would have a suffers from a problem of collinearity. In this
statistical power of 0.9 with a medium effect study, the researchers only focus on the
size of 0.3. The collected sample size of 208 identification of the key drivers of constructs
was therefore deemed suitable for analysis as and not theory confirmation. The theory
it was larger than this threshold (see appendix confirmation was best handled by covariance-
2). based structural modeling. The researchers
started with a confirmatory phase to assess the
measurement model.

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5. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 5.2 Evaluation of Measurement Model

5.1 Respondents Portfolio 5.2.1 Convergent Validity and Internal

Consistency
91.08% of the sample was composed of The measurement model was
users aged from 18 to 25, 69.73% of which evaluated by assessing its validity and
were female; this is not surprising as females reliability. The convergent validity includes
are more likely to be responsible for shopping. factor loadings and average variance
The respondents were mainly from Zhejiang extracted (AVE). All factor loadings were
Province, China, as this province has the above 0.7, while the majority were close to
highest rank for the number of live streaming 0.9. Average variance extracted (AVE) is an
related enterprises. The Z generation were appropriate method to examine convergent
selected as they are the largest group in China validity. The results in Table 1 show that each
to watch live streaming and participate in live value of AVE is higher than 0.5, indicating
streaming commerce. They are therefore that the model has adequate convergent
more representative than other generations. validity according to Hair et al. (2014). The

Table 1 Construct Validity and Reliability

CONSTRUCT Convergent Validity Internal Consistency
Factor Cronbach’s
AVE rho_A CR
Loadings Alpha
Attitude homophily 0.789 0.866 0.866 0.918
AH1 0.895
AH2 0.880
AH3 0.889
Influence Professionality 0.719 0.870 0.876 0.911
PR1 0.882
PR2 0.864
PR3 0.840
PR4 0.804
Perceived Uncertainty 0.718 0.803 0.824 0.884
PU1 0.895
PU2 0.875
PU3 0.767
Physical Attractiveness 0.845 0.909 0.914 0.943
PA1 0.924
PA2 0.929
PA3 0.905
Social Attractiveness 0.705 0.895 0.914 0.943
SA1 0.869
SA2 0.808
SA3 0.898
SA4 0.783
SA5
Purchase intention 0.726 0.874 0.876 0.914
P11 0.843
P12 0.888
P13 0.859
P14 0.816

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internal consistency measurements include shows the satisfactory results with all values
the Cronbach’s alpha, Dijkstra–Henseler’s being below 0.9 (Henseler et al., 2016).
rho_A and composite reliability. Cronbach’s
Alpha is suitable to test the internal 5.3 Evaluation of the Structural Model
consistency of the variables and the
composite reliability. The results show high 5.3.1 Collinearity and Path Coefficients
consistency, with all values being above 0.8. A bootstrapping procedure was then
For Rho_A, values greater than 0.7 are performed with 5000 re-samples to estimate
deemed appropriate for internal consistency the statistical significance of the path
and reliability (Ramayah et al. 2018). In terms coefficients (Henseler et al., 2016). Based on
of composite reliability (CR), a threshold the structural model shown in figure 2, the
value of 0.7 is required (Hair et al., 2019). As path between attitude homophily and
all values are greater than the above- purchase intentions was highly correlated
mentioned thresholds, the results of the (β=0.483, t=6.468, p<0.05). Similarly, the
analysis confirm the internal consistency of relationship between influencer
the data. professionality and purchase intentions was
strong and significant (β=0.202, t=2.113,
5.2.2 Discriminant Validity p<0.05). Perceived uncertainty had a
marginally significant correlation with
The traditional method to test purchase intentions (β=0.109, t=1.706, p<0.1).
discriminant validity was proposed by Fornell It is usually acceptable to have a p value
and Larcker (1981), who suggested that AVE smaller than 0.05, while some scholars permit
is an apropriate method to compare each values smaller than 0.1 to determine
construct using the squared inter-construct significance in some social studies cases
correlation of that same construct and all other (Cohen, 1992). In this study, a middle-of-the-
reflectively measured constructs. While in road approach was used, whereby the path
modern research, scholars have pointed out between perceived uncertainty and purchase
that the AVE is not appropriate to test intentions was determined to be marginally
discriminant validity. Henseler et al. (2016) significant. However, the findings do not
proposed the heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) provide any suggestion of a relationship
ratio of the correlations as a replacement. It is among the other two paths. Physical
more reliable for testing the discriminant attractiveness and social attractiveness are not
validity compared with the AVE. Table 2 connected to purchase intentions.

Table 2 Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT)

Attitude Influence Perceived Physical Social Purchase
Homophily Professionality Uncertainty Attractiveness Attractiveness Intention
Attitude
Homophily
Influence
0.688
Professionality
Perceived
0.403 0.413
Uncertainty
Physical
0.551 0.624 0.307
Attractiveness
Social
0.658 0.761 0.460 0.697
Attractiveness
Purchase
0.758 0.632 0.419 0.477 0.544
Intention

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Table 3 Collinearity And Structural Model Path Coefficients

95%
Path T P
Vif Confidence Results
Coefficient Values Values
Interval
Attitude Homophily-> 1.771 0.483 [0.335, 6.468 *** Accept
Purchase Intention 0.630]
Influence Professionality-> 2.142 0.202 [0.008, 2.113 ** Accept
Purchase Intention 0.382]
Perceived Uncertainty-> 1.206 0.109 [-0.004, 1.706 * Accept
Purchase Intention 0.244]
Physical Attractiveness-> 1.764 0.062 [-0.061, 0.937 0.349 Reject
Purchase Intention 0.196]
Social Attractiveness-> 2.411 -0.015 [-0.187, 0.170 0.865 Reject
Purchase Intention 0.150]
Note(S): ***P<0.01 **P<0.05 *P<0.1

Figure 2 Structural Model

6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION to purchase a product. Perceived uncertainty

has a marginal effect whereby consumers are
Both attitude homophily and influencer slightly concerned about the quality and price
professionality of the social influencers have of items purchased through live stream
a significant relationship with the purchase shopping. Sample analysis demonstrated a
intentions of the consumers. This reflects that slightly stronger impact of attitude homophily
consumers go through a path of both affective on purchase intentions. This indicates that
and internalization processes before deciding influencers who behave similarly to

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consumers may sell more products. whether there is information asymmetry. To

Meanwhile social attractiveness and physical be specific, consumers are afraid to purchase
attractiveness do not play an important role in a product which does not have a good quality
effecting consumers’ purchase intentions. match with its payment. Moreover, they care
Attitude homophily has a positive about what after-sales services will be
relationship with purchase intentions, accessible if the product is not good. In this
indicating that value sharing is a strong aspect matter, a live streaming platform can improve
of persuasion. The influencer shares the after-sales service and thus develop its
consumers’ values through daily dynamics, trustworthiness with consumers. Another
such as short videos, or the content of blogs. factor which could impact consumers’
The shared values build an affective link with purchase decisions is non-diversification of
influencers and those shared values are also the product category, which results in
indicative of the quality of the content the consumers not being able to find the product
influencers propose. The shared values are they need. In this situation, the corporation
related to the internalization process which should increase the diversity of products in
seems to predominate in the results of this each category, to meet the demands of
study. Attitude homophily reflects the different consumers.
similarity between influencers and consumers. The results do not demonstrate any effect
Brock (1965) claimed that similarity is a of physical attractiveness on consumers’ real
persuasion tool especially when it is relevant purchases. This contrasts with traditional
to the situation. This is particularly true for the superstars, whereby TV and magazine models
younger generation: the younger generation is generally exhibit a perfect physical
more likely to be affective and thus could be appearance and rarely communicate with
more easily affected by someone who has people to keep their mystique. In contrast, to
similarity with them. These results prove that consumers who purchase in live streaming,
the attitude homophily of the influencer has a social influencers are perceived as more
positive impact on purchase intentions. authentic and real (Djafarova & Rushworth,
Influencer professionalization has a 2017). For that reason, attitude homophily
significant positive relationship with purchase plays a significant role as expected, rather
intentions, showing that consumers care about than physical attractiveness.
who sells the product. This result is in Another explanation of this result could
accordance with (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020). be the result of different understandings of
Expertise, defined as someone who is beauty. Human form, appearance, posture,
knowledgeable and experienced, is one of the behavior, demeanor, language, and
key elements of credibility, along with modifications, are the comprehensive
goodwill, and trustworthiness. People are embodiment of physical beauty. By dressing
likely to purchase products introduced by an up, and applying make-up, people can
influencer who is familiar with the product. enhance their integrated external image. At
There is no doubt that consumers are more the same time, people have different beauty
trusting of influencers who have sold or used preferences. For example, the younger
the product before, and therefore these generation prefer a person who looks
influencers are more persuasive and have a fashionable and wears make-up, while older
deeper impact on consumers’ purchase people are more likely to prefer someone who
intentions. In this case, the company should looks natural and has less visible make-up.
hire a host who is deeply involved in its Influencers reduce the psychological distance
industry. by acting as themselves, or as a
The results of this study showed a “neighborhood” boy or girl. To do so, they not
marginal effect of perceived uncertainty on only speak like friends but also use make-up
purchase intentions. This can be explained by which allows their natural imperfections to
the concept that people are concerned about show, which could make them appear less

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beautiful, and less perfect, but more natural professionality have a significant relationship
and similar to normal people. This indirectly to the buying of products. This is useful
proves that attitude homophily has a information for livestreaming e-commerce
significant positive relationship with purchase businesses when thinking about how they
intentions. should relate with their consumers, while this
It is also interesting to claim that the data finding enriches our knowledge of the
of this study does not provide any suggestion underlying purchase intentions of the
that social attractiveness is related with consumers.
purchase intentions. One possible reason is
that the younger generation have more 7.2 Managerial Implications
independent thinking, and therefore can make
decisions without others’ influence. This is Our findings show that persuasion
dissimilar to the phenomenon of public attractiveness creates consumers’ trust in
celebrities, whereby they are trusted by the products which is a key determinant of
people, who thus follow them. In live stream consumer purchase intentions. The
shopping, people buy products based on their researchers found that attitude homophily and
needs. If there is no purchase potential, they professionality are the major factors to
will not waste their money. Another reason is increase consumers’ purchase intentions.
people are realistic, therefore they care more Therefore, it is suggested that live streaming
about the quality and price of the product no sales businesses should pay more attention to
matter whether they like the live streaming enhance the relatedness (attitude homophily)
host or not. of current consumers and potential consumers.
Consequently, a streamer should evaluate the
7. IMPLICATIONS characteristics of the viewers during
livestreaming to be able to relate with them
7.1 Theoretical Implications and fulfill their concerns. At the same time,
enhancing professional knowledge by trying
This research provides some major to become an expert in agricultural food
theoretical contributions to the literature. products or the industry related to their sales
First, the findings reveal that consumers’ would be beneficial for streamers to gain trust
purchase intentions come from their own and attention from their viewers. Streamers
decision making regarding their relatedness must focus on acquiring the necessary
with the streamers, which also confirms the knowledge related to the products that they
theory of planned behavior (TPB); the TPB are selling including detailed information
model expresses that a person’s decision about the products, potential product
making is oriented by his or her own logical problems, and possible solutions, to be able to
assessment (Bamberg & Moer, 2007) which influence consumers’ purchase intentions. It
contains behavioral attitudes, subjective and is therefore suggested that attitude homophily
moral norms, and perceived behavioral and professionality are significant factors to
control in relation to the behavior (Liu, Liu, & increase purchase intentions and live
Mo, 2020; Chen M. F., 2016; Ajzen, 1991). streaming sales of agricultural products,
Second, this study extends the elaboration which are likely to continue in the post-
likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion, pandemic era.
introduced by Petty and Cacioppo (1986) and
improved by Sokolovo and Kefi (2020), in the 8. LIMITATIONS
livestreaming commerce context to
understand ways to reduce consumers’ This study reflects the actual purchasing
perceived uncertainty. The ELM theory was behavior of consumers, especially regarding
used to study consumers’ purchase intentions, the purchasing of agricultural products
finding that attitude homophily and through live streaming sales in China.

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Although the findings are interesting and up consumer participation on brand

to date, there are some limitations to this study microblogs in China: perspectives
which must be acknowledged. Firstly, from elaboration likelihood model,
convenience sampling was used to collect the commitment–trust theory and social
data; future research could use alternative presence. Journal of Research in
approaches which may provide a better Interactive Marketing, 15(1), 10-29.
evaluation or more detailed picture of Bar-Gill, S., & Reichman, S. (2021). When
consumer behaviors and their psychology. online engagement gets in the way of
Secondly, the research mainly discusses offline sales. Management
Chinese consumers’ attitudes and their Information Systems Quarterly, 45(2),
purchasing behavior in relation to livestream 755-788.
sales of farm products. Therefore, future Brock, T. C. (1965). Communicator-recipient
studies should extend the research scope to similarity and decision change.
other contexts, providing a more inclusive Journal of Personality and Social
understanding of live commerce. Thirdly, Psychology, 1(6), 650-654.
future studies can test the research model Brown, W. J., & Basil, M. D. (2010).
based on different product types such as Parasocial interaction and
search goods, experience goods, hedonic identification: Social change
goods, or utilitarian goods. Finally, the processes for effective health
elaboration likelihood model (ELM) only interventions. Health Communication,
specifies the route and does not mandate fixed 25(6-7), 601-602.
variables in the framework, therefore future Cai, J., Wohn, D. Y., Mittal, A., &
research can extend knowledge in this area by Sureshbabu, D. (2018). Utilitarian and
adding new variables in the research. More hedonic motivations for live
research is definitely needed to bring light on streaming shopping. Proceedings of
this new and complex phenomenon. the 2018 ACM International
Conference on Interactive
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Appendix 1: Measuring Factors that Influence on Purchase Intention

Persuasion of Attractiveness (Lee and Watkins, 2016; Sokolova & Kefi, 2020)
Social Attractiveness
 Q1: The streamer is pleasant to be with.
 Q2: The streamer is sociable with me.
 Q3: The streamer is easy to get along with.
 Q4: I would like to have a friendly chat with the streamer.
 Q5: The streamer could be a friend of mine.

Physical Attractiveness
 Q1: The streamer is good looking.
 Q2: The streamer has a good figure.
 Q3: I find the streamer to be very attractive physically.

Attitude Homophily
 Q1: The streamer behaves like me.
 Q2: The streamer has thoughts and ideas that are similar to mine.
 Q3: The streamer has a lot in common with me.

Perceived Uncertainty (Zang et al., 2020; Torkzadeh & Dhillon, 2002)

 Q1: I worry about being charged unfairly when buying agricultural products from a
streamer.
 Q2: I worry about exposure to a limited product category when buying agricultural
products from a streamer.
 Q3: I feel that purchasing agricultural products from a streamer involves a high
degree of uncertainty, i.e they may not express the disadvantages of the agricultural
products.

Professionality (Liu et al., 2020, Netemeyer and Bearden, 1992)

 Q1: The streamer knows about the products well.
 Q2: The streamer has experience in using the product.
 Q3: The streamer has powerful expertise in the area of this product.
 Q4: The streamer has some talent in some skills.
Purchase Intention (Kim et al., 2015 ; Sun and Li, 2019; Sokolova and Kefi, 2019)
 Q1: I will consider the live streaming platform as my first shopping choice when I
need to buy agricultural products.
 Q2: I intend to buy agricultural products through a live streaming platform.
 Q3: I would purchase agricultural products promoted by a live streaming platform in
the near future.
 Q4: I would encourage people to buy agricultural products promoted by a live
streaming platform.

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Appendix 2. Sample Size

248