The dilemma of social commerce

Abstract

PurposeDue to customers' extensive avoidance behavior, social commerce may be less successful than anticipated. This study investigates the underlying mechanism and antecedents that influence customers' avoidance of peer-generated advertisements.Design/methodology/approachBased on the general framework of avoidance behavior, we propose a theoretical model for the context of a mobile social network, with tie strength as the user-related factor and violation of shared language, advertisement relevance and information overload as contextual variables. Using survey data collected from 334 customers on WeChat, we empirically examine the research model and hypotheses.FindingsTie strength and advertisement relevance are negatively associated with avoidance behavior, whereas information overload and violation of shared language have significantly positive effects. Furthermore, tie strength weakens the negative relationship between violation of shared language and avoidance behavior but strengthens the positive relationship between advertisement relevance and avoidance behavior.Originality/valueThe findings extend understanding of advertisement avoidance behavior and can guide practitioners' improvement of advertising efficiency in mobile social networks.

Emerging space tourism business: Uncovering customer avoidance responses and behaviours

“…Kahlor et al (2020) used the theory of planned behaviour to model avoidance intention toward risk information in the context of a natural threat. Avoidance intentions to be exposed by marketing communications, such as location-based advertising (Shin and Lin, 2016) and social media advertising (Li et al, 2019) were also investigated. Apart from the advertising benefits, which include the ads relevance and the sales promotions, the audiences deal with some types of dilemmas, and the hesitation to use these types of platforms by specifically using digital services involve different types of risk and uncertainty, which include privacy and safety concerns.…”

Ad avoidance in the digital context: A systematic literature review and research agenda

“…According to Li et al (2020), since ad relevance reflects users' perceptions of utility and usefulness, this is a suitable variable to represent ad perception in advertising. On the other hand, if the ads in the digital environment are irrelevant to the consumer, the consumer may experience a lack of attention toward ads (Riedel et al, 2018).…”

“…Another research examined tie strength as a moderator variable. It demonstrated that when tie strength was high, while the effect of violation of shared language on digital ad avoidance was weaker, the effect of ad relevance and digital ad avoidance was stronger (Li et al, 2020).…”

“…Finally, this review is expected to provide important contributions to practitioners trying to understand more about digital ad avoidance. Consequently, given the increment in digital advertising spending, scholars and practitioners need to understand the mechanism and integrative framework of digital ad avoidance (Li et al, 2020).…”

The impact of social shopping feature richness on buying intention: a product perspective

“…Excessive social shopping features may create a more complicated shopping environment, surpassing users' cognitive processing ability, diminishing collaborative efforts and a decreasing motivation for active contribution. Finally, in reaction to the undesired encounters of overload, customers will assume avoidance behaviors or even cease buying (Li et al, 2020). In addition to information overload, social shopping features may also impede purchasing intentions by tarnishing a product's reputation.…”