The influence of peer characteristics and technical features of a social shopping website on a consumer's purchase intention

Xi Hu, Qian Huang*, Xuepan Zhong, Robert M. Davison, Dingtao Zhao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

224 Citations (Scopus)
175 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

This paper aims to reveal the influence of peer-member characteristics and technical features of a social shopping website (SSW) on consumers’ purchase intentions. Following the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study operationalizes “stimulus” as website features and peers’ qualities, “organism” as experiential shopping values, and “response” as the purchase intention of users. The research model is empirically tested with survey data from 313 real SSW consumers. The results suggest that similarity, benevolence and expertise of peer members in the community and the website's support for recommendations positively impact shoppers’ perceived utilitarian value of the SSW. Moreover, users’ perception of peers’ similarity and benevolence positively affect their sense of social value of using the platform. Finally, both perceived utilitarian and social value predict individuals’ consumption intentions. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1218-1230
JournalInternational Journal of Information Management
Volume36
Issue number6, Part B
Online published10 Sept 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2016

Research Keywords

  • Purchase intention
  • Shopping values
  • Social commerce
  • Social shopping website
  • Socio-technical perspective
  • Stimulus-organism-response model

Publisher's Copyright Statement

  • COPYRIGHT TERMS OF DEPOSITED POSTPRINT FILE: © 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

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