Title: Cognitive and affective factors influencing customer adoption of social commerce: an empirical study

Authors: Shin-Yuan Hung; Hsin-Min Hung; Chia-Ming Chang; Jacob Chia-An Tsai

Addresses: Department of Information Management, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan ' Department of International Business, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan ' Department of Information Management, Shih Chien University, Kaohsiung Campus, Kaohsiung, Taiwan ' Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the determinants that influence a customer's adoption of social commerce. We seek a broader understanding from a cognitive and affective perspective to explain the formation of a customer's attitude. Based primarily on the theory of reasoned action, and supplemented by the cognitive, affective, and social influence, a sample of 446 customers of social commerce in Taiwan was tested. The findings show that perceived usefulness, communication quality, epistemic curiosity, affect-based trust, satisfaction, perceived playfulness, external influence, and interpersonal influence are critical determinants of a customer's attitude formation. The implications and recommendations for social commerce are discussed.

Keywords: social commerce; cognitive factors; affective factors; theory of reasoned action; TRA; information technology; IT adoption; customer attitudes; Taiwan; social influence; perceived usefulness; communication quality; epistemic curiosity; trust; satisfaction; perceived playfulness; external influences; interpersonal influence; electronic commerce; e-commerce; online social networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2015.069441

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2015 Vol.9 No.2, pp.154 - 178

Received: 04 Sep 2014
Accepted: 28 Nov 2014
Published online: 16 May 2015 *

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