This research investigates the new stream in e-commerce; social commerce to offer better understanding of social commerce. In the present study, the author borrowed some constructs from technology acceptance model to explain social commerce constructs and its influence on intention to buy and trust. Social commerce constructs, namely, forums and communities, ratings and reviews and recommendations and referrals are the main constructs of the social commerce adoption model. A research model with four con- structs investigated the role of SCCs on intention to buy. It also validated the role and importance of trust. The findings of the research show that social commerce constructs are measured by forums and communities, ratings and reviews and recommendations and referrals and have been justified by?? (Is this correct?). The results of empirical testing, using PLS-SEM indicate the direct and significant effect of SCCs on intention to buy. The findings also show trust has a positive effect on intention to buy, consistent with many other TAM researches. Finally, the positive and significant effect of SCCs on trust is the other valuable result of the research. These findings give some highlights into the study of social commerce.
The main contribution of this research is that when empirically tested, social commerce constructs showed that social relation- ships and interactions of individuals in these platforms, which have emerged by Web 2.0 applications, influence consumer behaviour. The results also show that social commerce constructs give the opportunities for co-creation, participation, sharing information and collaboration between users, thus generating a value. These activities also have positive influence on intention to buy. The findings suggest to e-vendors that it is important to bring together and meet consumers by forming online communities. This enhances communication channels with customers and creates opportunities for marketing strategies that can benefit both vendors and consumers.