Revisiting the social commerce paradigm: the social commerce (SC) framework and a research agenda
Abstract
Purpose
Social commerce (SC) is a new genre in electronic commerce (e-commerce) that has great potential. This study proposes a new research framework to address deficiencies in existing social commerce research frameworks (e.g. the information model).
Design/methodology/approach
In the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 technologies and new social commerce (s-commerce) models, the authors believe that there is an immediate need for a new research framework. The authors analysed the progress of the s-commerce paradigm between 2003 and 2023 by applying longitudinal science mapping. The authors then developed a research framework based on the themes in the strategic diagrams and evolution map.
Findings
From 2003 to 2010, studies on s-commerce mainly focused on social networking sites, virtual communities, social shopping and analytic approaches. From 2011 to 2015, it shifted to s-commerce, consumer behaviour, Web 2.0, artificial intelligence, social technologies, online shopping, user studies, data gathering methods, applications, service-based social commerce constructs, e-commerce and cognitive factors. Social commerce remained the primary research paradigm from 2017 to 2023.
Practical implications
The SC framework may be analogous to popular research frameworks such as technology-organisation-environment (T-O-E) and stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R). Based on this SC framework, researchers may gain a better understanding by determining the factors of the social, commercial, technological and behavioural dimensions.
Originality/value
The authors redefined s-commerce and developed an SC framework. Practical guidelines for the SC framework and an exemplary research model are presented. Overall, this study offers a new research agenda for the extant understanding of s-commerce, with the SC framework as the next frontier of the theoretical advancements and applications of s-commerce.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported by the UCSI University under the UCSI World's Top 2% Scientist Research Grant under the project number T2S-2023/003.
Since acceptance of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliation(s): Keng-Boon Ooi is at the FORE School of Management, New Delhi, India and Faculty of Business, Design, and Arts, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Kuching, Malaysia. Nick Hajli is at the Loughborough Business School, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK. Garry Wei-Han Tan is at the FORE School of Management, New Delhi, India, Faculty of Business, Design, and Arts, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Kuching, Malaysia, College of Business Administration, Adamson University, Manila, Philippines, and Department of Business Administration, IQRA University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Citation
Leong, L.-Y., Hew, T.S., Ooi, K.-B., Hajli, N. and Tan, G.W.-H. (2023), "Revisiting the social commerce paradigm: the social commerce (SC) framework and a research agenda", Internet Research, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-08-2022-0657
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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