Investigating the relationship among characteristics of social commerce, consumers' trust and trust performance

Abstract

Social commerce as a subset of e-commerce, popularizes rapidly with an increasing number of users, and consumers' trust has become a crucial factor in the success of social commerce firms, and impacts on their decision on purchasing. In this regard, the study tries to research the characteristics of social commerce (transaction safety, concentration and enjoyment, communication and information quality) that influence consumers' trust and assess the effects of trust on trust performance (purchase and word-of-mouth intentions), and trust performance will provides a basis for consumers to decide to purchase, and put forward feasible suggestions to social commerce firms. The results of an empirical analysis based on a sample of 133 users indicate that all the characteristics of social commerce involved had significant effects on trust, and then will positively influence trust performance.