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Social commerce, or the convergence of social networks and e-commerce, has emerged as a phenomenon of global interest to businesses and researchers (Baethge, Klier, & Klier, 2016; Liang et al., 2011). With the increasing penetration of social media in our daily life, social media has become an important source of influence on consumers’ purchasing decisions. Social commerce, therefore, has the potential to become a significant sales channel and growth engine for e-commerce in the future (Baethge et al., 2016).
Although there has been an increase in research/studies focusing on social commerce in recent years (Baethge et al., 2016), relatively little research, however, has been conducted under the developing countries context except a few pioneer works (e.g., Amelina & Zhu, 2016; Walden & Browne, 2007; Xiang, Zheng, Lee, & Zhao, 2016). Emerging and developing economies are home to eight-five percent of the world’s population and account for almost sixty percent of global GDP. They not only contributed more than eighty percent of global growth since the 2008 financial crisis, but also helped to save many jobs in these advanced economies (Lagarde, 2016). For developing countries, the introduction of the social element in e-commerce helps to enhance trust and intentions to buy (Hajli, 2015). Furthermore, social media serves as an e-commerce platform with readily-available features and easy-to-use functionalities, enabling business owners with limited technology expertise and resources to quick establish their business (Amelina & Zhu, 2016). As a result, e-commerce conducted on the social platform has seen exponential growth, or even developed into the dominant form of e-commerce in developing countries (Hassan, Shiratuddin, & Ab Salam, 2015; Redwing Asia, 2013).