Entertainment Value, Streamer Trust, and Digital Customer Engagement in Live-Streaming Commerce: A Moderated PLS-SEM Analysis

Abstract

Live-streaming commerce has transformed digital shopping by integrating entertainment, social interaction, and real-time communication between consumers and streamers. Although entertainment value is theoretically expected to enhance consumer engagement, the conditions under which this relationship is strengthened remain underexplored, particularly regarding the role of streamer trust. This study examines the effect of entertainment value on digital customer engagement and investigates the moderating role of trust in streamer. A quantitative explanatory design was employed, collecting data from 100 consumers with experience using live-streaming commerce platforms (TikTok Live, Shopee Live, Tokopedia Play). Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS. The results indicate that entertainment value (beta = 0.321, p < 0.001) and trust in streamer (beta = 0.447, p < 0.001) each have significant positive effects on digital customer engagement, with the model explaining 62.4% of the variance (R-squared = 0.624). The moderation analysis confirms that trust in streamer strengthens the entertainment value-engagement relationship (beta = 0.176, p = 0.019). These findings suggest that live-commerce practitioners should invest in both entertaining content and streamer credibility to foster sustainable consumer engagement.