Service quality and repurchase intention in Chinese live commerce: The mediating role of trust and the moderating effect of generational differences

Chaoqun He and Racidon P Bernarte

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 8, 1-23

Abstract: As a core growth driver of China’s digital economy, live commerce faces intergenerational trust gaps—Gen Z (18−24 years, digital natives) prioritizes interactive experiences, while older adults (55+ years, digital immigrants) rely on streamer professionalism and after-sales support, leading to low repurchase rates. This study constructs a moderated mediation model with service quality (streamer professionalism, interactive experience, after-sales support) as the independent variable, trust as the mediator, digital generations as the moderator, and repurchase intention as the dependent variable. Using 600 valid questionnaires (300 Gen Z, 300 older adults) from Chinese platforms (Douyin, Taobao), we tested hypotheses via SPSS 26.0 (reliability/validity) and Mplus 8.4 (SEM + multi-group analysis). Results show: (1) All three service quality dimensions positively predict trust (β=0.22-0.31, p

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0356797

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0356797

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