In addition, this study verifies that trust in a social networking
community plays a mediating role in the relationship between social
interactions and the intention to purchase from a social commerce
site. Whereas closeness was significant in the East Asia group,
familiarity was significant in the Latin America group in predicting
users’ purchase intention on social commerce sites. Our results also
provide evidence that (1) the differences in culture between
regions moderate the relationship between social interaction and
the intention to purchase from a social commerce site and (2) the
differences in culture between regions moderate the mediating role
of trust in a social network community differently in the relationship
between social interactions and the intention to purchase from a
social commerce site – i.e., a partial mediation of closeness’s direct
effect in the East Asia region and a complete mediation of
familiarity’s direct effect in the Latin America region. This finding
implies that the mediating effect of trust in a social network
community is relatively stronger within the LA region.