An Empirical Study of Social Commerce Intention: An Example of China

Abstract

The rise of social networks is rapidly spreading in China. Using social platforms, individuals are no longer just receivers of Internet information, as consumers generate and share contents with others. Social interaction and spontaneous promotion activities are carried out among consumers, but with the growth of traditional e-commerce slowing down, social commerce derived from social networks is gradually taking shape. Based on Hajli’s theoretical model, this study uses the social support theory and social commerce construct to study consumers’ social commerce behavior from a total of 1277 valid sample questionnaires that were distributed in a social platform environment in China. Through the empirical research evaluation using PLS-SEM, the statistical analysis results prove that social commerce constructs do promote social interaction of consumers. Such constructs have a positive effect on social support and social commerce intentions. In this regard, social support is embodied in information support and emotional support, and has a positive effect on social commerce intention. This study also conducts cross-cultural empirical comparisons. In comparison with Hajli’s research, this study has the same results in evaluation of Chinese samples. Among the users who exhibit social commerce intentions, social commerce construction is more important than social support.

A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Model for Understanding Social Commerce Adoption

“…This finding can be explained by social support theory and is consistent with prior studies on s-commerce (e.g. Al-Tit et al, 2020;Hajli et al, 2014;Hajli & Sims, 2015;Lee & Chen, 2020;Makmor et al, 2018;Ooi et al, 2018;Riaz et al, 2020;Sheikh et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2014).…”

“…The advance and development of web 2.0 applications and information and communication technologies (ICT) has directly contributed to the development of s-commerce (Kim & Park, 2013). S-commerce brings social elements, such as attention, sharing, communication, discussion, and interaction to the e-commerce transaction process (Lee & Chen, 2020). Interactions in the context of s-commerce can also be initiated by consumers that in turn can recommend products/services to other users on s-commerce platforms (Lee & Chen, 2020).…”

“…S-commerce brings social elements, such as attention, sharing, communication, discussion, and interaction to the e-commerce transaction process (Lee & Chen, 2020). Interactions in the context of s-commerce can also be initiated by consumers that in turn can recommend products/services to other users on s-commerce platforms (Lee & Chen, 2020). Scommerce can be considered as a combination of commercial and social activities Lu, Fan, & Zhou, 2016a;Yadav et al, 2013).…”

“…Social support theory (SST) examines ways in which social network characteristics influence an individual's ability to manage life events (Fan et al, 2019;Maier et al, 2015). Social support is a psychological term (Lee & Chen, 2020), defined as "the social resources that persons perceive to be available or that are actually provided to them by nonprofessionals in the context of both formal support groups and information helping relationships" (Gottlieb & Bergen, 2010;p. 512).…”

The Effects of Social Support, Trust and Social Presence on Social Commerce Intention: A Meta-Analysis

“…This has made social media an important tool in shaping consumer behaviors (Tsai et al, 2012). Previous studies investigated the relationships between social support and social commerce intention (Lee & Chen, 2020;Zhang et al, 2014). Huang et al (Huang et al, 2020) conducted a study on hotel customers and revealed that, by mediation of social media, social support had a significant effect on social commerce intention.…”