Abstract: In the fiercely competitive e-commerce live streaming industry, retaining customers has become a major challenge in order to secure long-term revenue. Therefore, exploring customer stickiness is particularly important. Most existing studies have focused on customers’ purchase intentions and behaviors, extensively analyzing the role of anchors as sources of information. However, in e-commerce live streaming, customers also serve as sources of information and post moment-to-moment comments through bullet screens, which in turn affects customer stickiness. First, this study utilizes qualitative research to identify five characteristics of moment-to-moment comment information based on the hierarchy of information needs. These characteristics include synchronicity, diagnosticity, entertainment, relevancy, and innovativeness. Measurement scales are then developed to assess these characteristics. Based on the cognitive theory of emotion, a research model is constructed to examine the evolution path of “moment-to-moment comment information characteristics→emotional reaction→customer stickiness”, and an empirical research is made to reveal the mechanism of how moment-to-moment comment information characteristics influence customer stickiness. This provides practical insights for retaining customers in e-commerce live streaming.

Key words: e-commerce livestreaming, customer stickiness, moment-to-moment comment information characteristics, cognitive theory of emotion, hierarchy of information needs