What Drives Social Commerce: the Role of parasocial Interaction

Social commerce (SC) has become a new business mode for e-commerce along with the increased popularity of social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Although SC has enormous business potential for practitioners and broadens research areas for scholars, existing studies on SC were limited. Little is known about the underlying processes and factors of consumers’ social sharing and social shopping behaviour in social commerce community (SCC). To fill the research gap, this study investigates the role of parasocial interaction (PSI) on consumers’ intention to engage in SC activities. An empirical research was conducted in Mogujie (www.mogujie.com), one of the most popular image-sharing SCCs in China, with a sample of 248 users. The results indicated that users’ PSI with other users significantly affects their social commerce intention (SCI). The task attraction and social attraction of SCCs positively affect PSI. However, the influence of physical attraction on PSI is insignificant. Moreover, social attraction is determined by the social-relevant features of SCCs (i.e., similarity, expertise, and likeability) and the task attraction is determined by task-relevant features of SCCs (i.e., information fit to task). The mood-relevant features of SCCs (i.e., visual appeal) positively affect physical attraction. This study has important implications for both information systems researchers and practitioners, especially for designers of SCCs.