The social commerce live-streaming feature has propelled the business model into the global spotlight by generating huge profits. Numerous studies in the past have evaluated different dimensions of live-stream selling from the consumer’s perspective, however, there is little research on live-stream business from the viewpoint of online retailers. Accordingly, this study aimed to address the gap by evaluating the determinants of retailers’ trust in live-stream selling. This study explores the determinants of retailers’ trust in live-stream selling via social commerce platforms. An online questionnaire was developed, which was distributed among 572 Malaysian retailers who utilize social commerce platforms for live-stream selling purposes. The determinants, among others, include cost perception, scarcity persuasion, vicarious experience, anchor (parasocial interaction), audience (social contagion, the attractiveness of the online store), and situational (selling motivation, time pressure, product involvement). The results of causal relationships revealed the influence of content, anchor, audience, and situational factors on retailers’ trustworthiness along with multi-way interactions of platform assistance and anchors’ professionalism which strengthen this relationship. The results provided eight fundamental solutions to tackle the concern of retailers’ trust in social commerce platforms’ live-stream selling.

Advances in Web 2.0 technologies have led to the widespread assimilation of electronic commerce platforms as an innovative shopping method and an alternative to traditional shopping. However, due to pro-technology bias, scholars focus more on adopting technology, and slightly less attention has been given to the impact of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on customers’ intention to use social commerce. This study addresses the gap by examining the intention through exploring the effect of eWOM on males’ and females’ intentions and identifying the mediation of perceived crowding. To this end, we adopted a dual-stage multi-group structural equation modeling and artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) approach. We successfully extended the eWOM concept by integrating negative and positive factors and perceived crowding. The results reveal the causal and non-compensatory relationships between the constructs. The variables supported by the SEM analysis are adopted as the ANN model’s input neurons. According to the natural significance obtained from the ANN approach, males’ intentions to accept social commerce are related mainly to helping the company, followed by core functionalities. In contrast, females are highly influenced by technical aspects and mishandling. The ANN model predicts customers’ intentions to use social commerce with an accuracy of 97%. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of increasing customers’ intention toward social commerce channels among consumers based on our findings.

With the spread of m-commerce usage around the globe, mobile commerce can become the primary approach for many users in transactions. Such a method is considered an innovative way for the financial wallet but with some encumbrances. Trust in mobile commerce is one of the challenges yet to receive in-depth studies regarding linear and non-compensatory relationships. This study aims to evaluate the determinants of trust in mobile commerce using hybrid three-stage Fuzzy Delphi-Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)-Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach. A hybrid approach was performed on 344 users mobile-commerce activities. The results of this study provide valuable insights for mobile commerce firms to come up with effective plans that increase customer trust in mobile commerce. Practically, the relative importance of specific determinants of trust in mobile commerce contributes to providing deep insight into the factors of customer trust in mobile commerce. The proposed model predicts 94.80% trust in mobile commerce with social presence and social support theories. A novel perspective was provided in this study to encourage e-marketing among consumers to persuade customers to trust mobile commerce.