The Factors Driving the Consumer Purchasing Intentions in Social Commerce

The traditional concept of e-commerce has gradually shifted to social commerce due to the faster integration of social media into the traditional e-commerce environment. The understanding of the determinants and reasons accounting for the acceptance of social commerce among the people is critical to practitioners and scholars alike to properly implement social media strategies to drive up social commerce purchases. This study thus examined the intention to purchase in social commerce among Chinese citizens based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Social Exchange Theory (SET). The data (632 valid responses) generated through a research questionnaire was analyzed by the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) aided by AMOS statistical software. The results indicate that trusting beliefs such as trust in social networks, the integrity of the seller, and the benevolence of the seller were significant predictors of the intention to engage in social commerce purchase intention. However, the competency of the seller was not a significant determinant of the intention to purchase in social commerce. Other results showed that the consumer experience in social commerce was significant in predicting the trust in social networks, the integrity of the seller, the competency of the seller, and the benevolence of the seller in social commerce interaction. The validations of the significant impact of consumer experience on the four-trusting belief factors (trust in social networks, the integrity of the seller, competency of the seller, and benevolence of the seller) are among the major contributions of this study to the e-commerce and social commerce literature. Practical and research implications are discussed.