Breaking the “exaggeration benefit” cycle: Evolutionary game and governance strategies for the live-streaming e-commerce ecosystem

Breaking the “exaggeration benefit” cycle: Evolutionary game and governance strategies for the live-streaming e-commerce ecosystem | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Breaking the “exaggeration benefit” cycle: Evolutionary game and governance strategies for the live-streaming e-commerce ecosystem Yingying Li, Rong Zhang, Bin Liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8884983/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In recent years, streamers’ exaggerated behavior in live-streaming e-commerce may not only cause losses to individual consumers’ rights and interests but also erode the foundation of market operation and development. It is urgent to break the “exaggeration benefit” cycle through collaborative governance. In this paper, we establish an evolutionary game model involving four parties, namely the government, platforms, streamers, and consumers, to investigate strategic decisions of each participant as the live-streaming ecosystem evolves. The results find that the strategies of the four parties are interdependent and jointly determine the direction of system evolution. When the cost of rule violation by streamers far exceeds their short-term benefits, the system will tend towards an ideal collaborative equilibrium. On the contrary, if the punishment is insufficient, even multi-party supervision will be difficult to curb violations. In addition, the governance system has the flexibility of responsibility substitution. When either the government or the platform neglects supervision owing to excessive regulatory costs, the other can form effective checks and balances by filling regulatory gaps, and the system can still sustain basic governance efficacy, but distinct patterns of responsibility allocation will emerge. Finally, the effectiveness of a single policy tool is limited, and a combination of dynamic economic penalties, reputation incentives, and supervision rewards is required. This combination is the most effective path to guide the system towards a collaborative evolutionary equilibrium and lower overall regulatory costs. This study yields meaningful implications for live-streaming ecosystem governance, helping stakeholders clarify their respective strategic choices and responsibilities. Humanities/Complex networks Social science/Complex networks Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Live-streaming e-commerce exaggerated behavior collaborative supervision consumer supervision evolutionary game Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 09 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 25 Feb, 2026 Editor invited by journal 25 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 19 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8884983","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607381445,"identity":"e1b024d0-c8b7-4a61-abf2-ba86894d949d","order_by":0,"name":"Yingying Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Shanghai for Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yingying","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":607381446,"identity":"b08f68e1-f69d-4222-b680-08b199104f0c","order_by":1,"name":"Rong Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Maritime University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rong","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":607381450,"identity":"79f6ab43-452e-4afc-802b-6c16fb7c3bdb","order_by":2,"name":"Bin Liu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPmYGNoYEIIMfKsDYQEgLG0yLJEjpAaK0gBEQGBwgWgs7j9mDhzu22RvfSH/8+QODjeyGA8zPHuB3GI+5QeKZ24nbbuSYSRxgSDPecIDN3ICAFjOJxLbbCWY3ctiADjucuOEAD5sEMVrsjWekP/5wgOE/8VoYN0gkGAAddoAYLWzlBkAtiTPOvDGTOGOQbDzzMJsZXi38/Ie3PfwJdBh/O9BhFRV2sn3Hm5/h1YIGQEHFTIL6UTAKRsEoGAXYAQAjG0YdGqLZqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Shanghai for Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bin","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-15 09:23:27","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8884983/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8884983/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104862022,"identity":"878a6abe-f0e9-4d37-b1f3-a36196680e47","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-18 05:41:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1391288,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20260215manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8884983/v1_covered_494b5c52-7dcf-4bc1-862f-cbfb96365185.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Breaking the “exaggeration benefit” cycle: Evolutionary game and governance strategies for the live-streaming e-commerce ecosystem","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Live-streaming e-commerce, exaggerated behavior, collaborative supervision, consumer supervision, evolutionary game","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8884983/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8884983/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn recent years, streamers\u0026rsquo; exaggerated behavior in live-streaming e-commerce may not only cause losses to individual consumers\u0026rsquo; rights and interests but also erode the foundation of market operation and development. 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