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This paper constructs a risk reduction model based on signalling theory to investigate how the platform- and user-oriented signals affect perceived risks, which in turn affect users' actual engagement and purchase behaviours in social commerce. The moderating effects of perceived effectiveness of social commerce institutional mechanisms (PESIM) on the relationships between signals and perceived risks are also considered. Longitudinal data from 226 users of Xiaohongshu were collected to test the proposed hypotheses. We identify signals oriented from platforms and users significantly influence users' perceptions of commerce and participation risks. We also demonstrate that commerce and participation risks influence users' actual engagement and purchase behaviours, respectively. Furthermore, we also verify that PESIM negatively moderates the relationship between signals and perceived risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study investigates how herd behavior affects consumers’ consumption intention and continuous watching intention in live streaming e-commerce. We also consider how consumer–anchor interaction and consumer–consumer interaction moderate the effects of herd behavior on consumption intention and continuous watching intention. We specifically targeted users who watched Taobao live streaming to participate in our questionnaire, resulting in 296 valid responses. Our findings show that herd behavior positively affects consumption intention and continuous watching intention. Consumer–anchor interaction negatively moderates the link between herd behavior and both consumption intention and continuous watching intention. Consumer–consumer interaction positively moderates the relationship between herd behavior and consumption intention, but not the relationship between herd behavior and continuous watching intention. Furthermore, our findings show that herd behavior has a more pronounced impact on consumption intention than on continuous watching intention. Our results provide pertinent and beneficial implications for anchors, online merchants and platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe surge in popularity of e-commerce live streaming is evident among sellers and consumers. However, a holistic examination of the influencing factors of consumers’ purchase intention from the perspective of social and technical systems is still limited. Utilizing the socio-technical systems theory, we investigate the effects of social and technical system factors on consumers’ flow experience and how flow affects consumer purchase intention in the live streaming setting. Furthermore, we identify how optimal stimulation level moderates the relationship between socio-technical system factors and flow. Empirical results (N = 355) indicate that flow can be strengthened through social system factors (financial bonds, social bonds) and technical system factors (visibility, guidance shopping), consequently affecting consumer purchase intention. In terms of the moderating effects, the optimal stimulation level positively moderates the relationships between social bonds, visibility, guidance shopping, and flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how different types of affordances (i.e., utilitarian, hedonic, and connective) affect users' platform and social identity and ultimately boost their social commerce engagement. To test our proposed model, we collected longitudinal data from 228 users of the Little Red Book, China's leading social commerce platform. Results indicate that users' perception of different affordances with the social commerce platform can influence their identity with the platform and certain social groups differently, which subsequently affect their social commerce engagement behavior. Our study contributes to the identity and the social commerce literature by exploring the roles of both platform and social identity in shaping users' engagement behavior in the social commerce context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A smart community provides various local services (i.e. smart community services [SCS]) to community residents through smart community platforms to improve their living environment and quality of life. The adoption of SCS by residents is critical to smart community initiatives, which is the concern of practitioners and researchers. However, few studies have empirically investigated factors affecting residents'willingness to adopt SCS. The present study empirically analysed how technological belief factors (i.e. perceived usefulness and enjoyment) and social influence factor (i.e. affective community commitment) influence SCS adoption intention. A total of 191 community residents in China were surveyed to test the research model. Results show that perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and affective community commitment are significant drivers of SCS adoption intention. Moreover, affective community commitment attenuates the impact of perceived enjoyment but enhances the effect of perceived usefulness on SCS adoption intention. This study enriches the literature on IT acceptance and offers practical suggestions for practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social commerce (s-commerce)—the use of social media to support electronic commerce—has become pervasive. This paper aims to investigate an important type of consumer behaviour that could generate considerable economic value: impulsive purchase behaviour. Specifically, we focus on the role of peer influence. Social influence theory posits that the process via which peers change a consumer's behaviour can be interpreted along two dimensions: informational and normative. Furthermore, drawing from literature, source credibility and social support are proposed as the antecedent factors of the influencing processes in this context. We surveyed 303 s-commerce participants in Sina Weibo to empirically test the research model. The results indicate that peers' expertise and trustworthiness are significantly related to both types of social influence that could exert an influence on a consumer. Further, consumers' exchange of informational and emotional social support significantly facilitates social influence among them. This study contributes to both the s-commerce and the impulsive purchase literature by revealing the role of peer influence in consumers' impulsive consumption behaviour in the s-commerce setting. The practical implications are also illustrated in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We empirically investigate how sellers’ website quality affects buyers’ economic and social satisfaction, which in turn influences buyers’ repurchase intentions in consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce contexts. In addition, we examine how the effects exerted by economic and social satisfaction on repurchase intentions are moderated by relational capital between buyers and sellers. Data collected from 311 buyers on the TaoBao website provide strong support for the proposed model. The results indicate that information quality exerts a stronger impact on economic satisfaction than does service quality. Service quality exerts a stronger impact on social satisfaction than does information quality. System quality has no effect on economic or social satisfaction. Economic satisfaction can contribute to buyers’ repurchase intentions, but the impact of social satisfaction on repurchase intentions is insignificant. Furthermore, relational capital positively moderates the effect of social satisfaction on repurchase intentions, whereas it has no moderating role in the relationship between economic satisfaction and repurchase intentions. Our study advances the theoretical understanding of the information systems success model in the C2C e-commerce context. The results also inform online sellers that they should more strategically improve website quality dimensions according to different types of buyers’ satisfaction and take advantage of relational capital in order to facilitate buyers’ repurchase intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Trust transfer theory posits that trust can be transferred from the selling platform to the sellers and has been widely applied in the e-commerce environment. However, prior research has overlooked the boundary conditions under which trust can be transferred. Understanding of the general institutional mechanisms is necessary to ensure the trust environment underlying e-commerce. The present study identifies two key moderators that affect the relationships between trust-in-platform, trust-in-seller, and purchase intention in consumer to consumer (C2C) online shopping contexts: perceived effectiveness of e-commerce institutional mechanisms (PEEIM) and perceived website quality of the seller (PWQS). Using a sample of 294 online buyers from TaoBao (a major Chinese C2C portal), we find that trust-in-platform positively affects trust-in-seller; meanwhile, trust-in-seller positively influences purchase intention. In addition, PEEIM negatively moderates the relationship between trust-in-platform and trust-in-seller, whereas it positively moderates the relationship between trust-in-seller and purchase intention. PWQS positively moderates the relationship between trust-in-platform and trust-in-seller but negatively moderates the relationship between trust-in-seller and purchase intention. Our findings complement trust transfer theory by demonstrating how PEEIM and PWQS have different moderating effects on the trust transfer process. For C2C platform providers and sellers, the findings suggest that they should strategically build buyers’ trust according to different levels of PEEIM and PWQS in order to promote buyers’ purchasing behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]