Abstract
Online interactions pave the way for new streams of collaborations and support among connected users of social networking sites, and this collaboration is leveraged for business purposes. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing body of research on social commerce by studying individuals’ behavior from the consumer perspective of information technology innovations. By adopting “social support” and the technology acceptance model as a theoretical base, this study used a web-based questionnaire survey to collect data from 325 users of SNSs in Jordan. The data were then analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences regression. Jordan was selected because it is a country that has reported high SNS usage compared to other countries. The main factors that were identified as playing a significant role in individual adoption of social commerce were social commerce construct and perceived usefulness. This study did not find enough evidence that perceived ease of use and perceived information quality were a significant determinant of social commerce adoption. These findings have important implications and value for the academia, businesses managers, and social media specialists in terms of formulating better strategies for handling social commerce effects on businesses. For social media specialists, using the research model in this study can assist in increasing their understanding of why some individuals choose to adopt social commerce services. Additionally, business managers may need to improve their interaction with SNS users and develop a better understanding of how consumers use social commerce in the purchasing decision process. Based on our review of the existing scientific literature on social commerce, few empirical studies have been conducted to scientifically evaluate and explain the usage behavior of social commerce in Jordan. This paper contributes to the continuing research in social commerce adoption and diffusion in the individual context.
Highlights
The increased popularity of social networking sites (SNSs) as a resourceful tool for socialization and information sharing has given rise to social commerce (s-commerce) as a relatively new branch of e-commerce (Liang & Turban, 2011), where consumers and potential buyers use online media that support social interaction and user contributions to enhance the online purchase experience (Ng, 2013)
This study shows that the percentage of social network users in emerging and developing countries like Jordan are higher compared to those in developed economies such as the United Kingdom, Russia, and France (Poushter, 2016)
The results show that perceived usefulness and social commerce constructs are significant
Summary
The increased popularity of social networking sites (SNSs) as a resourceful tool for socialization and information sharing has given rise to social commerce (s-commerce) as a relatively new branch of e-commerce (Liang & Turban, 2011), where consumers and potential buyers use online media that support social interaction and user contributions to enhance the online purchase experience (Ng, 2013). According to a national survey across 40 countries, 90% of internet users in Jordan interact on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter as well as other popular country-specific social networks. This study shows that the percentage of social network users in emerging and developing countries like Jordan are higher compared to those in developed economies such as the United Kingdom, Russia, and France (Poushter, 2016).
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