Consumer Trust in Aquatic Product Supply Chains: A Multi-path Model of Traceability, Live Streaming, and Community Engagement

Abstract

Consumer trust in food safety has become a critical concern worldwide, particularly in aquatic product supply chains where information asymmetry and fraud risks are pronounced. Drawing on signalling theory and trust theory, this study develops and empirically tests a multi-path model examining how traceability information transparency, live streaming content quality, and private-domain community engagement are associated with consumer trust and, subsequently, purchase intentions and willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for traceable aquatic products. Data were collected from 1,016 consumers in China through a structured questionnaire survey and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results indicate that all three antecedent factors are positively associated with consumer trust, with traceability information transparency exhibiting the strongest association, followed by live streaming content quality and private-domain community engagement. Consumer trust is, in turn, positively associated with both purchase intentions and willingness to pay a premium. Price sensitivity moderates the association between consumer trust and willingness to pay a premium, such that the positive relationship is attenuated for highly price-sensitive consumers. The three antecedent factors collectively explain 48.3% of the variance in consumer trust, while consumer trust explains 38.4% of the variance in purchase intentions and 29.6% of the variance in willingness to pay a premium; the latter increases to 32.1% when the moderation effect is included. Notably, 86.2% of respondents expressed concern about traceability fraud, and while 68% were willing to pay a premium for traceable products, 73.8% would accept only a premium of 5% or less. These findings advance theoretical understanding of how digital mechanisms are linked to consumer trust in food supply chains and offer actionable insights for practitioners seeking to leverage traceability systems, live streaming commerce, and community-based marketing to enhance consumer confidence in aquatic products.