Can social media influence trust in e-commerce?
(A2020-63632)

AUTHORS

Mohana Shanmugam, Uniten; Nick Hajli, Swansea University; Mina Tajvidi, Lecturer in Digital Marketing/Newcastle University

KEYWORDS

Social commerce; social media; trust

ABSTRACT

Social commerce through the proliferation of social media offers a feature-rich platform that drives commerce through community. These platforms through consumers’ participation help businesses drive sales as well as increases individual’s purchase experience. Building on trust through surface credibility and social media activities alongside e-commerce satisfaction, a research model to investigate the purchase intention of consumers in social commerce platform is established. Empirical analysis was conducted on data collected from selected Asia countries and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM). Our research findings suggest that trust and surface credibility positively correlates with e-commerce satisfaction which leads to purchase intention. In fact, surface credibility which is a novel predictor not tested in past research appears to be highly significant on ecommerce satisfaction. Elaborate findings of this research are discussed in the final section of the paper along with implications, limitations and recommended future research direction.