What and How Social Commerce: Developing an Integrative Formative Model

Despite the rapid growth of social commerce, there is only a limited understanding of how social media technologies, marketers and customers can interact to achieve business initiatives and opportunities. This study develops an integrative formative model outlining key qualities and dimensions of social commerce and their interactions. The model was validated with a field survey of 1250 social commerce customers. The findings contribute to information systems (IS) research, and bear important implications for social commerce practice.