Effects of social shopping behavior from the perspective of collective intelligence and dissonance

Abstract

People increasingly depend on the consumer experiences of a virtual community when making purchasing decisions. Potential consumers search for different types of electronic word of mouth when choosing a product to purchase. Social shopping has numerous advantages, including community-based interaction and the sharing of consumer experiences; however, few studies have focused on measuring the effects of social shopping. This study established a conceptual framework for measuring the effects of social shopping activities, comprising the key elements of (1) the perceptions of social shopping activities, (2) collective intelligence and dissonance, and (3) the consequences of social shopping. This study collected 836 valid Internet user responses to an online survey. Partial least squares regression was used to analyze the relationship between the elements and to measure the effects in different social shopping stimuli. The purpose of this study is to build a model of social shopping activities and verified by PLS to establish a theoretical framework. The study found that only cognitive diversity in each path has no significant impact on collective intelligence, management mechanisms on imbalance, and imbalance on community loyalty. Moreover, most of the user perceptions summarized in this research can produce subsequent benefits and behaviors.