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Does friendship quality matter in social commerce? An experimental study of its effect on purchase intention

Author

Listed:
  • Qi Li

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University)

  • Ni Liang

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University)

  • Eldon Y. Li

    (National Chengchi University
    Asia University)

Abstract

Friendship plays a critical role in social commerce in contemporary societies. This study aims to theorize and examine how friendship quality impacts purchase intention. Product-related risk is introduced to gain insight into its moderating effects on intention to purchase from three different seller groups. Through empirical evidence, we confirm that friendship quality has positively effect on purchase intention. In particular, friends with high friendship quality (i.e., good friends) are more conducive to selling high-price high-risk products. However, friends with low friendship quality (i.e., simple friends) are not as attractive as strangers having good user reviews (i.e., reputable strangers). In other words, people are more willing to buy from reputable strangers than from simple friends. Theoretically, these results contribute to a better understanding of the effect of friendship quality on purchase intention. Finally, this research offers several practical implications for developing successful businesses in social commerce.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi Li & Ni Liang & Eldon Y. Li, 2018. "Does friendship quality matter in social commerce? An experimental study of its effect on purchase intention," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 693-717, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:18:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s10660-018-9299-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10660-018-9299-6
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    2. Jianshan Sun & Rongrong Ying & Yuanchun Jiang & Jianmin He & Zhengping Ding, 2020. "Leveraging friend and group information to improve social recommender system," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 147-172, March.
    3. Cheng Liu & Cheuk-Kwan Sun & Yu-Chia Chang & Shang-Yu Yang & Tao Liu & Cheng-Chia Yang, 2021. "The Impact of the Fear of COVID-19 on Purchase Behavior of Dietary Supplements: Integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Protection Motivation Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Liu Yuan & Zhao Huang & Wei Zhao & Pavel Stakhiyevich, 2020. "Interpreting and predicting social commerce intention based on knowledge graph analysis," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 197-222, March.
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    6. Wang, Yichuan & Herrando, Carolina, 2019. "Does privacy assurance on social commerce sites matter to millennials?," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 164-177.

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