Social Commerce and the Hedonic Utilitarian Nexus: An Empirical Analysis

The development of social networking sites has led to the appearance of social commerce using Web 2.0 to support social exchange activities. While this topic has received attention in the literature, research still lacks theoretical foundation tackling the relationships between hedonic, utilitarian motivations and social commerce purchase intentions. This study addresses this shortcoming, as it investigates these relations. A theoretical model was proposed and tested using a survey. Findings indicate that the higher the hedonic value derived from a social network, the more trustworthy this channel becomes and the higher the purchase intention. Furthermore, economic benefit exerts a positive and significant influence on trust and intent to purchase using the social commerce channel. The results offer several theoretical and practical implications. They highlight the significance of the utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations on social commerce adoption and ascertain the important mediating role of trust as well as the need to enhance economic benefits and enjoyment for customers.