Why customers participate in social commerce activities? - A laddering analysis

A new phenomenon emerging within virtual communities is a blurring between social and commercial activities. This paper explores the motivations of customers who participate in social commerce, The chosen context is micro-businesses operated by members of a virtual community of Malay lifestyle bloggers. Observations were carried out and 21 participants were interviewed in order to build an understanding of the community. We used laddering techniques in order to answer the research questions, which is “what is the relationship between participation in virtual communities and their participation in social commerce?” We found that virtual community relationship was the main influential factor, and that virtual community relationship contributed to the sense of social support as well as customers’ trust in social commerce.