USER ACCEPTANCE OF SOCIAL SHOPPING SITES - Social Comparison and Trust

Abstract

This paper describes a study on user acceptance of an emerging e-commerce technology: social shopping websites. Leveraging the power of social networking technologies with online shopping, social shopping sites have emerged in recent years to address the fundamental nature of shopping as a social experience. Despite tremendous business interest and anticipated potential benefits, some central issues remain such as whether users will adopt such websites and the factors that affect the adoption. Incorporating social science theories, this study extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with social factors such as an online shopper's tendency to social comparison, and trust in information privacy and data security. Results provide significant support of the extended model. Directions for future research are discussed.