Analysis of the effects of social support on trust in social commerce and its impact on intention to purchase and actual purchase: Trust-transfer perspectives

The popularity of social commerce leads to consumers' dependency on other consumers' shopping experiences. The exchange of informational and emotional support encourages the interaction among users hence the critical role of trust in social commerce. This study aims to determine the effects of social support (emotional and informational) on trust and its impact on the intention to purchase and the users' actual purchases. This study examines trust in social commerce from trust-transfer perspectives where trust-transfer occurs from the members to the platform and from the platform to the sellers. Using a quantitative approach by collecting data from consumers who have done transactions on social commerce through an online survey, 1, 366 valid data are processed with the CB-SEM method using AMOS 24.0 program. The results show that informational support has a significant impact on trust towards members and trust towards sellers and emotional support on trust towards members. However, emotional support has no significant effect on trust towards the sellers. This research also indicates that trust-transfer occurs from the members to the platform and from the platform to the sellers. In addition, trust has a significant effect on the intention to purchase, which also has a significant effect on consumers' actual purchase.