Social Commerce: A Bibliometric Analysis and Future Research Directions

Abstract

The present study performs the bibliometric analysis of the social commerce (s-commerce) literature, highlights the major research themes, and suggests future research directions. The HistCite software has been used for bibliometric analysis on a sample of 660 s-commerce papers obtained from the ISI Web of Science database. This study analyses these papers to present the details about the influential journals, authors, and universities regarding s-commerce research. The following research themes have been identified based on the content analysis as well as citation mapping of the top-cited 53 s-commerce papers: 1) S-Commerce – Purchase Intention, 2) S-Commerce – Sharing Intention, 3) Social Media – Marketing and Consumer Engagement, 4) S-Commerce – User Preferences and Concerns. Subsequently, a multi-dimensional conceptual model has been developed to highlight the coupling and flow between s-commerce growth drivers, practice indicators, and performance metrics. Finally, future research directions have been recommended.