The Persuasive Effects of AI and Human Streamers in Live Commerce for Green Products: Dual Pathways of Perceived Authenticity and Personal Selling Motive Inference, and the Moderating Role of Product Positioning

Abstract

Although AI streamers are increasingly used in live commerce, it remains unclear when they are more persuasive than human streamers for green products and through which psychological mechanisms their influence operates. Using a fictitious plant-based hand wash, we conducted a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with 408 Chinese consumers; confirmatory factor analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Amos 26.0, whereas two-way ANOVA and moderated parallel mediation analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0. Human streamers increased green purchase intention through greater perceived authenticity, whereas AI streamers did so through weaker inferences of personal selling motive. The authenticity pathway was stronger under experiential positioning, whereas the selling-motive pathway was stronger under utilitarian positioning; these opposing indirect effects partially offset one another, resulting in a nonsignificant total effect of streamer type. By identifying these competitive dual pathways and their positioning-dependent boundary condition, this study extends research on AI-mediated persuasion and provides e-commerce platforms and green-product brands with guidance for aligning streamer type with product-positioning strategy.