An investigation of the effective drivers of social commerce intentions - the mediating role of trust

The Web 2.0 revolution and proliferation of various social networking sites across the globe have resulted in a tremendous increase in the consumer's engagement in commercial transactions over various social media platforms. The development of social relationships leading to increased development in e-commerce has given rise to a new stream known as social commerce. However, addressing the dearth of literature in this area, the present study aims to propose a conceptual model built on s-commerce perspectives, social support, and trust transfer theory, wherein the indirect effects of s-commerce attributes (community platform and social support) on s-commerce intention through trust have been examined. The data was collected from 705 social media users and analysed using the structural equation modelling technique. The results obtained from the study confirm the significant role of s-commerce attributes (community, platform and social support) on s-commerce intention. In addition, the results provide for the mediating role of trust in the relationships between s-commerce attributes on s-commerce intention. The results indicate that the proposed framework is a valid and robust tool for measuring the behavioural intention to adopt s-commerce and renders beneficial clues for practitioners, and social media marketing managers to effectively use social media platforms.