An Analysis of Factors Affecting Intention to Purchase Products and Services in Social Commerce

Abstract

As a result of the popularity and growth of social networks, consumers often rely on recommendations and suggestions from online friends to make buying decisions. Through social commerce, people are driven from inefficient individual decisions toward collaborative decision-making with higher efficiency. In this paper, we study the factors that affect customer decisions on the purchase of recommended products and services in the context of social commerce. A total of 327 individuals on three popular social networks in Iran (i.e. Facebook, Cloob, and Telegram) were surveyed. Analysis of the results using the PLS-SEM approach revealed that:(1) Social commerce constructs has a positive effect on social support and relationship quality. (2) Perceived usefulness has a positive effect on relationship quality and intention to purchase. (3) social support has a positive effect on relationship quality and (4) relationship quality has a positive effect on intention to purchase.