Title: Perceived uncertainty and purchase intention in social commerce: analysis of the moderating role of seller's response time and returns policy

Authors: Renger Kanani; Goodluck Charles

Addresses: Department of General Management, University of Dar es Salaam Business School, P.O. Box 35046, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania ' Department of Marketing, University of Dar es Salaam Business School, P.O. Box 35046, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract: Although research on the uncertainty of online businesses has begun to attract scholarly attention, there are few studies on the effect of uncertainty on social commerce purchase intention and measures to mitigate it. To address this gap, this study examined the perceived effect of uncertainty on s-commerce purchase intention and the extent to which the seller's response time and lenient returns policy moderated buyers' perceived uncertainty. Using empirical evidence from 155 social commerce buyers, the study revealed that s-commerce purchase intention is negatively and significantly influenced by the perceived uncertainty of potential buyers. It is also revealed that the purchase intention is negatively and significantly influenced by the delayed response time, and is positively and significantly influenced by the lenient returns policy. In view of these findings, the study demonstrates that an effective response time and lenient returns policy can mitigate the effect of perceived uncertainty on s-commerce purchase intention.

Keywords: social commerce; social commerce purchase intention; perceived uncertainty; social commerce users; marketing communication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2025.145941

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2025 Vol.23 No.2, pp.274 - 295

Received: 01 Feb 2024
Accepted: 11 Feb 2024
Published online: 30 Apr 2025 *

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