Social Commerce and Its Impact on Online Impulse Buying

The present chapter was conducted with the aim of comprehending the amalgamation of social commerce and online impulse buying. The swift advancement in information and communication technologies and the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies have resulted in the development of novel social platforms. Consumers nowadays are devoting substantial amount of time on such social media platforms. They participate in discussions and create content on the internet. They share their product knowledge and information with their online friends, give reviews and ratings about the products and even refer them to their online friends. The aim of this research was to identify the factors linked to social commerce that trigger online impulse buying. The study was based on stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model proposed by Mehrabian and Russell. The survey was conducted for this study to collect primary data from the targeted respondents with sample size of 225 buyers using convenience sampling. To gather primary data from the respondents, a self-administered structured questionnaire was employed. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilized to analyse the data collected from buyers of Punjab (India). The use of Amos 28 software facilitated the implementation of SEM in the study. For the purpose of study, three stimulus constructs (reviews, referrals and recommendations and online forums and communities) were considered (their items were adapted from prior research studies). Online trust (organism) construct and its items highlighted the trust development in the recommended products and online retailers which ultimately leads to online impulse buying (response). The results show that the factors (reviews, referrals and recommendations and online forums and communities) have a significantly positive effect on online trust. Further, development of trust has a significantly positive effect on impulse buying.