Abstract

Food livestream e-commerce is rapidly reshaping digital marketplaces and posing new challenges for food industry practitioners. This study examines how food-related ethical judgments and practices are transformed within this context, and how responsibility and trust are reconfigured across key actors in the livestream ecosystem. Drawing on 51 in-depth interviews conducted in China and analyzed using the Gioia methodology, the study identifies five interconnected challenges shaping food livestream commerce: intensified algorithm-driven performance competition; the performative construction of trust through narrative exaggeration; growing financial pressure on suppliers under conditions of excess inventory and shrinking margins; market over-competition that obscures quality differentiation and fosters adverse selection; and the normalization of ethical compromise through platform-mediated governance. By foregrounding the role of algorithmic systems and competitive market dynamics, this study advances food ethics research by showing how ethical practices are reconfigured and responsibility is redistributed across the platform–supplier–host chain. The study concludes by suggesting that regulatory approaches should move beyond post hoc correction of individual misconduct and place greater emphasis on embedding ethical considerations into platform design and governance.