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Top1. Introduction
In the current era of huge numbers of people to the Internet, especially the rapid growth of Web 2.0 technologies has the opportunity to use social networking sites (SNS) such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (Truta et al., 2018; Kim & Lennon, 2018). The main purpose of SNS is to create an online environment where participants can share and pursue common experiences, activities and common interests (Zeng et al., 2009). SNS is a key source of social commerce because it enhances the quality of the relationship between suppliers and consumers, enhances trust, motivates them to purchase company products by listening to other SNS users' satisfaction (Kim & Park, 2013). The novel concept of social commerce and SNS is a mixed e-commerce and Web 2.0 technologies, such as it allows consumers to create content (Liang & Turban, 2011; Heinonen, 2011). Unlike traditional e-commerce, which focuses on improving the efficiency of online shopping, social commerce offers a rich social, interactive and collaborative online shopping experience (Yang et al., 2015; Kim et al., 2018).
Creating electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) in an online community is another essential tool of social commerce and can be important in business (Kozinets et al., 2010). Many prior studies have indicated that electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) is one of the most important information sources when consumers shop on the Internet (Liu et al. 2015). Cheung and Thadani (2012) found that 91% of users said they would like to refer to online reviews, blogs, and other forms of user-generated content before purchasing new products or services, while 46% of users indicated that these contents impacted their decisions. With the rapid development of Web 2.0, online user reviews come in many shapes and forms. Reviews can be provided locally on an individual product, Website, or platform, distributed on a company’s Facebook page, or in comparison services including platforms that exclusively present overall consumers’ assessments of goods and services, such as TripAdvisor or Yelp (Pettersen 2017). Reviews persuade others with useful information about products so that they can achieve the purpose of self-enhancement and identity-signaling (Berger 2014). However, one recent study argued that evaluation or reviewing systems were neither fully reliable nor transparent. Their effectiveness is therefore subject to serious doubt (Hausemer et al. 2017).
The emergence of social commerce has brought a new dimension to e-WOM by allowing users to communicate with their existing networks (Kaoud, 2017). Unlike other platforms in social commerce, users can exchange their opinions and experiences about products or services with familiar people. Familiar people refer to people they already know, such as friends or acquaintances (Kozinets et al., 2010). Indeed, recent research has shown that social commerce has increased the number of online reviews written by consumers (Trusov et al., 2010). Marketers have begun to participate in social media through their official accounts because of consumer interest (Galli, 2018). They consider these Web sites as opportunities to interact with current and potential customers (Michaelidou et al., 2011; Badsi et al., 2017). For this reason, online social environments are considered eligible for e-WOM (Knoll & Proksch, 2015).
Although the relevant studies have paid their attention to e-WOM as the experiences of social commerce in today's high-tech and experienced user world (Kaoud, 2017; Kozinets et al., 2010; Trusov et al., 2010; Galli, 2018; Michaelidou et al., 2011; Badsi et al., 2017; Knoll & Proksch, 2015), it is not clearly understood why e-WOM occurs in social commerce and its role in explaining the purchase intention in social commerce could not be examined. The purpose of this study is to examine what are the antecedents of e-WOM which influence consumers’ purchase intentions in social commerce. To do so, the research was conducted in two phases. First, this study will review literature based upon e-WOM behavior, and hypothesize the antecedents of e-WOM and the influence of e-WOM on purchase intention, Second, this study will use survey method for social commerce consumers and hierarchical regression to verify the hypothesis empirically in order to answer research questions. Third, this study will discuss the results and findings and position them within the existing e-WOM literature. Finally, this study will draw theoretical contributions and managerial implications for academics and practitioner.