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

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.