Impact of social support, TAM constructs and consumers’ purchase intentions in social commerce platforms: The pathway to post COVID-19

Abstract

Online social supports empower consumers to communicate and share their knowledge and experiences with each other through social commerce platforms. The communication becomes more important for online communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing scholars have studied social commerce; however, lack of studies has focused on social supports and TAM constructs. Also, a growing concern on the reliability and validity of comments of online consumers would jeopardize the success of social commerce business. Therefore, the research addresses the research gap by proposing a conceptual model. On the basis of the technology adoption model (TAM), this research considers social supports, consumers online purchase intentions and the role of trust as a mediator in Malaysian context. A total of 200 respondents participated. The data are collected via online platforms and analyzed using PLS-SEM software. The results reveal that the social support, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have significant effects toward purchase intention in social commerce platforms. Meanwhile, trust mediated the relationship of social support and purchase intention. The present study discusses the research implications, limitations, and future directions.