A Social Commerce Intention Model for Traditional E-Commerce Sites

Abstract

The existing literature mainly analyses user intention to practice social commerce on social networking sites, but few studies have focused on traditional e-commerce sites with their own integrated social tools (e.g. forums, reviews). This research aims to identify the antecedents to social commerce intention for traditional ecommerce sites where social tools are integrated. Data were obtained from a survey of 201 consumers and were analysed using Partial Least Squares. The results indicate that web quality, flow and emotional social support have a positive and direct influence on social commerce intention, while social presence and informational social support are not significant. This study contributes to consumer behaviour theory by applying predictors of intention to social commerce for traditional e-commerce sites. The results also help e-commerce practitioners to improve their use of social tools. For instance, to increase the use of social commerce, web quality must be improved to promote dissemination and consultation of the information generated by users in an easy, quick and friendly way. Social commerce intention will also increase if the company designs efficient interactive processes which the user enjoys effortlessly, so that the website creates a flow experience.