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Effect of social commerce factors on user purchase behavior: An empirical investigation from renren.com

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  • Bai, Yan
  • Yao, Zhong
  • Dou, Yi-Fan

Abstract

As a new type of e-commerce, social commerce is an emerging marketing form in which business is conducted via social networking platforms. It is playing an increasingly important role in influencing consumers’ purchase intentions. Social commerce uses friendships on social networking platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, as the vehicle for social sharing about products or sellers to induce interest in a product, thereby increasing the purchase intention. In this paper, we develop and validate a conceptual model of how social factors, such as social support, seller uncertainty, and product uncertainty, influence users’ purchasing behaviors in social commerce. This study aims to provide an understanding of the relationship between user behavior and social factors on social networking platforms. Using the largest social networking website in China, renren.com, this study finds that social support, seller uncertainty, and product uncertainty affect user behaviors. The results further show that social factors can significantly enhance users’ purchase intentions in social shopping.

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  • Bai, Yan & Yao, Zhong & Dou, Yi-Fan, 2015. "Effect of social commerce factors on user purchase behavior: An empirical investigation from renren.com," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 538-550.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ininma:v:35:y:2015:i:5:p:538-550
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.04.011
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    4. Syed Zeeshan Zahoor & A. M. Shah, 2024. "Impact of Social Media on Users’ Complex Buying Behaviour: Analysing the Mediating Effect of Perception and Moderating Effect of Extended Social Media Usage," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 49(1), pages 119-148, February.
    5. Mustafa Kavacik & Kevser Çinar & Saadet Zafer Kavacik, 2023. "Visual Mapping of Social Commerce Articles on WoS Database Between 1995 and 2023," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    6. Busalim, Abdelsalam H. & Hussin, Ab Razak Che, 2016. "Understanding social commerce: A systematic literature review and directions for further research," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1075-1088.
    7. Jian Wang & Fakhar Shahzad & Zeeshan Ahmad & Muhammad Abdullah & Nadir Munir Hassan, 2022. "Trust and Consumers’ Purchase Intention in a Social Commerce Platform: A Meta-Analytic Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    8. Yogesh K Dwivedi & Elvira Ismagilova & Prianka Sarker & Anand Jeyaraj & Yassine Jadil & Laurie Hughes, 2023. "A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Model for Understanding Social Commerce Adoption," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1421-1437, August.
    9. Matea Matic Sosic, 2019. "Examining Social Media Usage In The Context Of Consumer Behaviour," Economic Thought and Practice, Department of Economics and Business, University of Dubrovnik, vol. 28(2), pages 553-566, december.
    10. Prasittichai Narakorn & Tummatinna Seesupan, 2019. "Social Commerce Constructs and Buyer-Seller Relationship Quality as a predictor of Intention to Co-Creation in Branding," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(2), pages 169-169, February.
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