TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Effect of Social Commerce on the Purchasing Decision Process:
A Conceptual Model
AU - Abbas, Elmasry Mohamed 
JO  - Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
VL  - 14
IS  - 24
SP  - 9909
EP  - 9922
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1816-949x
DO  - jeasci.2019.9909.9922
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=jeasci.2019.9909.9922
KW  - Recommendations
KW  -Social platforms
KW  -Purchasing decisions
KW  -Reviews and ratings
KW  -Social Commerce
KW  -Forums and virtual communities
KW  -Web 2.0
AB  - The interaction of shoppers and the posts they make on the web generates an enormous amount of
information. Buying decisions through social commerce are influenced by the shoppers sharing of their
experiences and expertise in buying online as well as learning from other’s experiences. It is necessary to
understand the nature of virtual societies, so that, companies operating through social commerce can determine
the market and the type of shoppers, whether present or prospective in the market. With the rapid and
successive developments in information technology, investors and consumers who represent the supply and
demand sides are moving towards social commerce and this is what highlights the importance of social
commerce in recent times. In social commerce, consumers base their purchasing decisions on gathering
information across the web. Social commerce components include reviews and ratings, forums and virtual
communities and recommendations. These components are a major source of information and important
customer interaction tools for social commerce. This study aims to examine the relationship between the
components of social commerce and the stages of online purchase decision-making. The research model
contributes to a better understanding of the effect of the social commerce components on the stages of the
purchasing decision process. The results showed the weak effect of the social commerce components on the
need identification stage in the purchasing decision process. As for the rest of the decision-making stages, the
results showed that the social commerce components have a positive effect on the information search stage, the
alternatives evaluation stage, the purchase decision stage and the post-purchase stage in the purchasing decision
process. Based on the results of the paper, reviews and ratings are the most influential component of social
commerce in the purchasing decision process, followed by forums and virtual communities. Recommendations
are the least influential component of social commerce in the purchasing decision process.
ER  -