Understanding social commerce intention: a relational view

With the growing popularity of social media, consumers often rely on the recommendations obtained from online sources when making the purchase decision. Social commerce in this regard represents a shift in consumer's thinking from inefficient individual consumption to collaborative sharing and shopping. In this study, we investigate social commerce intention from two different but interrelated angles, i.e., social shopping and social sharing. Built on commitment-trust theory and trust transfer theory, a research model was developed and empirically examined. The results demonstrated that community commitment and trust towards community exerted significant impacts on both social shopping and social sharing intention. Trust towards members can be transferred to trust towards community, which in turn leads to community commitment. In addition, trust towards members posits a direct effect on social shopping, and an indirect effect on social sharing via trust towards community. Limitations and implications for both research and practice are discussed.