ABSTRACT Social commerce (s-commerce)—the use of social media to support electronic commerce—has become pervasive. This paper aims to investigate an important type of consumer behaviour that could generate considerable economic value: impulsive purchase behaviour. Specifically, we focus on the role of peer influence. Social influence theory posits that the process via which peers change a consumer’s behaviour can be interpreted along two dimensions: informational and normative. Furthermore, drawing from literature, source credibility and social support are proposed as the antecedent factors of the influencing processes in this context. We surveyed 303 s-commerce participants in Sina Weibo to empirically test the research model. The results indicate that peers’ expertise and trustworthiness are significantly related to both types of social influence that could exert an influence on a consumer. Further, consumers’ exchange of informational and emotional social support significantly facilitates social influence among them. This study contributes to both the s-commerce and the impulsive purchase literature by revealing the role of peer influence in consumers’ impulsive consumption behaviour in the s-commerce setting. The practical implications are also illustrated in the paper.

中文翻译：

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社交商务中的社会支持、来源可信度、社会影响和冲动购买行为

摘要 社交商务（s-commerce）——使用社交媒体支持电子商务——已经变得普遍。本文旨在研究一种可以产生可观经济价值的重要消费者行为：冲动购买行为。具体来说，我们关注同伴影响的作用。社会影响理论认为，同龄人改变消费者行为的过程可以从两个维度来解释：信息维度和规范维度。此外，从文献中提取，来源可信度和社会支持被认为是在这种情况下影响过程的前因因素。我们在新浪微博上对 303 名电子商务参与者进行了调查，以对研究模型进行实证检验。结果表明，同龄人的专业知识和可信度与可能对消费者产生影响的两种社会影响都显着相关。此外，消费者在信息和情感社会支持上的交流显着促进了他们之间的社会影响。本研究揭示了同伴影响在 s 电子商务环境中消费者冲动消费行为中的作用，从而对 s 商务和冲动购买文献做出了贡献。论文中还说明了实际意义。本研究揭示了同伴影响在 s 电子商务环境中消费者冲动消费行为中的作用，从而对 s 商务和冲动购买文献做出了贡献。论文中还说明了实际意义。本研究揭示了同伴影响在 s 电子商务环境中消费者冲动消费行为中的作用，从而对 s 商务和冲动购买文献做出了贡献。论文中还说明了实际意义。