The Driving Forces of C2C Social Commerce in Thailand: A Developing Framework

Social Networking Services (SNSs) allow individuals and small online retailers to engage in consumer-to-consumer social commerce (C2C s-commerce). It is a growing phenomenon in Thailand.  This article seeks to articulate the driving forces behind the massive growth of C2C s-commerce in Thailand. Our preliminary literature review and observation reveal a set of interrelated drivers or dimensions fueling this growth: personality and motivation, user-generated content, ICT, and virtual community management. We postulate that these drivers are the main building blocks for C2C s-commerce adoption in Thailand. Researchers and practitioners can refer to these dimensions as they seek to reexamine C2C s-commerce in the context of Thailand or other emerging economies.Keywords: consumer-to-consumer (C2C), s-commerce, driving forces, Facebook, motivation, personality, social networking sites, social commerce, virtual communit

A Conceptual Framework for the Evolution of C2C Social Commerce Business Models in Tunisia

Facebook is the preferred social networking service (SNS) platform among Tunisian users for social commerce (SC) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) commercial activities. This article aims to increase the understanding of the influencing factors of C2C SC activities and provide a new interpretation of the evolution of C2C SC models in Tunisia's fastest growing trend. In order to fulfill this goal, we performed a literature review to update existing multi-facet framework that combines four important dimensions with new fundamental components: incentive systems, information and communication technologies (ICT), participative web, and e-business rules and regulations. This study has shown that these influencing factors are the key ingredients driving the evolution of C2C SC business models in Tunisia and the consideration of the four dimensions founded in our study will aid ECOM professionals to enable the widespread occurrence of C2C SC activities and can drive the success of these business models in Tunisia

EXPLANATORY STUDY: THE IMPACT OF TRUST IN KASKUS ON KASKUSERS PURCHASE INTENTION

Big potential market in Virtual Communities (VCs) make Consumer to Consumer (C2C) websites focusing on increasing their customer bases by converting members of their VCs into C2C buyers and sellers. This phenomenon is called e-commerce based on social network (ESN). One of Indonesia’s website which apply ESN is Kaskus. The objective of this study is to propose a framework on the understanding of how trust in Kaskuser and trust in www.kaskus.co.id or vendors in Kaskus affect purchase intention. A questionnaire was adopted from Lu et al. (2010) for online survey. Non probability sampling method is used for collecting data. The sample consisted of 210 registered member of Kaskus. Data were analiyzed through descriptive statistics, SPSS, and LISREL. Result of the study finds the positive impact of trust in Kaskus on Kaskuser’s purchase intention. All antecedents of trust are proved have postive impact on both trust in members and trust in website/vendor’s which lead to intention to get information, and purchase intention thereafter. However, trust in Kaskuser shows negative impact on www.kaskus.co.id or trust in vendors. In addition, from all antecedents of trust, structural assurances has the greatest impact into Kaskuser’s purchase intention

The influence of online consumer reviews on purchasing intent

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing, Wits Business School, Johannesburg 2016The proliferation of social platforms in the digital and online space has given voice to millions of social media users and carved careers otherwise unheard of a few years ago, in the form of expert technology reviewers who enjoy mass online following and sponsorship from brands seeking to leverage millions of followers who log in daily. Social media has enabled access to information otherwise previously restricted to user guides and product manuals. Using the theory of planned behaviour, the study examines the effect that online consumer reviews have on product knowledge, social influence, trust, source credibility, brand image and purchase intent among urban South Africans falling in the Generation Y cohort. The methodology involved a self-administered online questionnaire adapted from past studies. A total of 255 questionnaires were collected from the identified sample. The study tested ten hypotheses using Structural Equation Modelling along with SPSS 22 software used for descriptive statistics and IBM Amos 22. Results indicate that all ten hypotheses have significant influence on purchase intent. All hypotheses displayed equally significant relationships per testing as findings revealed that online consumer reviews have a positive effect on product knowledge, trust, social influence, source credibility and brand image. Findings also revealed a significant relationship between product knowledge, trust, social influence, source credibility, brand image, and purchase intent. The study contributes to the literature and theoretical knowledge on online consumer reviews in the local South African context, and can be applied to similar developing markets. The theoretical implications in the study contributes to both limited, and existing research, literature, and knowledge on the effects that online consumer reviews have on the purchase intent of South African consumers. The study broadens knowledge in the ever growing influence of online consumer reviews and the significant theoretical contributions of the study will benefit academia and scholars. Managerial implications highlight that managers cannot afford to ignore the influence of online consumer reviews on intent to purchase, and that even though these reviews are not under the direct influence of organisations, marketers can indirectly influence these by ensuring quality products that meet both the brand and product promises. Recommendations, iii limitations of the study, and future research on the subject of online consumer reviews are also discussed. Keywords: Online consumer reviews, social influence, brand image, product knowledge, purchase intent, source credibilityGR201

Privacy in the Sharing Economy

Contemporary C2C platforms, such as Airbnb, have exhibited considerable growth in recent years and are projected to continue doing so in the future. These novel consumer-to-consumer marketplaces have started to obliterate the boundaries between private and economic spheres. Marketing personal resources online is inherently associated with the disclosure of personal and sometimes intimate information. This raises unprecedented questions of privacy. Yet, there is so far little research on the role of privacy considerations in the sharing economy literature. Leveraging the theoretical perspective of privacy calculus, we address this gap by investigating how privacy concerns and economic prospects shape a potential provider’s intentions to share via different communication channels. We relate privacy concerns back to the provider’s perceptions of the audience. We evaluate our research model by means of a scenario-based online survey, providing broad support for our reasoning

S-Commerce Transactions and Business Models in Southeast Asia: A Case Study in Thailand

Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Line have recently gained enormous popularity for commercial purposes among social media users, and is commonly known as C2C social commerce (SC). These new online businesses are continuing to flourish in Southeast Asia especially in Thailand where the C2C-SC market size is significant. To get a clear picture of C2C-SC in Southeast Asia, this study investigated the patterns of purchasing processes and business models being used in Thailand. The data was gathered from direct observations and an online survey. The findings revealed that the typical purchasing process of this channel consists of five basic steps: advertising, searching, negotiation and ordering, payment, and delivery. The business models can be categorized into five models: S-retailing, S-specific market, S-preorder, S-auction and S-reverse auction. The results may contribute to promote SC activities and value creation for the local business community in this region. Social networking users who wish to build their businesses on SC can reference our findings to provide transaction process effectiveness and promote more satisfactory services to their customers.Keywords: C2C Social commerce, business models, s-commerce transaction

An Investigation on the User’s Willingness to Pay on Hedonic Social Network Sites

In the current study, we investigated the effects of several factors on the user’s willingness to pay (WTP) on hedonic social network sites (HSNSs), which includes WTP for HSNSs and WTP online contacts on HSNSs. Integrating the hedonic system use perspective with the social capital based view, we find that a user’s WTP for HSNSs is significantly positively influenced by the user’s perceived value of online social connections and perceived ease of use of the system. A user’s WTP online contacts on HSNSs is significantly positively influenced by the user’s perceived value of online social connections and perceived playfulness. The findings provide a theoretical foundation for the future economic value research of HSNSs, and provide several implications to practitioners

Antecedents of Information Adoption of Sharing Mobile Social Commerce Experience: The Mediation Role of Trust

Despite the growing importance of mobile social commerce (Ms-commerce), little research has been conducted on the effects of informational-related factors on Ms-commerce and the role of trust in user willingness to share their experiences. Drawing on the Information Adoption Model, we examine the effect of information usefulness, quality, credibility, and need on information adoption and the effect of information adoption on trust and willingness to share Ms-commerce experience. Using data from 280 UK Ms-commerce users, we applied Partial Least-Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the model. The findings show that informational-related factors have a significant and positive impact on Ms-commerce information adoption. Moreover, the effect of information adoption on trust and willingness to share Ms-commerce experiences was found to be significant. More importantly, this study has also yielded support for the mediating role of trust on the relationship between information adoption and willingness to share Ms-commerce experiences