Predictors of online buying behavior in social commerce

Abstract

Social commerce has two basic components, namely commercial and social. However, as a social component, it is a relatively new phenomenon in marketing research and is rarely discussed. Meanwhile, social commerce mediated by social media and social networking platforms has led to the development of new business models for e-commerce and digitized the consumer decision making process. Using social learning theory and social support theory, this study investigates the factors influencing consumers' purchase intention and decision from two aspects: social sharing and social shopping, and uses the five-stage decision making model to analyze consumers' purchase decision process and proposes an online purchase decision model. Data were collected in the form of social questionnaires and interviews; structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze purchase intention and consumer behavior to validate the proposed research model. The experimental results of this study support the decision making process of consumers in the SC environment and are more evident than before. All the proposed hypotheses were significantly supported, thus positively influencing the prediction of consumers' purchase intentions on social networks.