See now, act now: How to interact with customers to enhance social commerce engagement?

Although live social commerce apps have emerged as a marketing channel recently, live social commerce, as a relatively new phenomenon, has attracted little attention. The authors aim to explore the effect of live interactions on social commerce engagement based on the stimulus–organism–response paradigm and the moderating effect of susceptibility to informative influence. The findings show that live interactions (i.e., personalization, responsiveness, entertainment, mutuality, perceived control) positively affect perceived usefulness and negatively impact perceived risk and psychological distance, promoting social commerce engagement. The results provide theoretical insights on live interactions and social e-commerce and contribute managerial implications for practitioners.