Investigating the Impact of Social Media Commerce Constructs on Social Trust and Customer Value Co-creation: A Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

Social media commerce has been one of the fastest-growing areas over recent years. However, only a limited number of studies have addressed the related issues of social media commerce. It was also noticed that extant literature did not explore or link the impact of social commerce constructs on social trust and how this could impact the customer value co-creation. Hence, the current research aims to identify this gap and to propose a conceptual framework that highlights the linkage between social commerce constructs, social trust, and customer value co-creation. In line with this, a number of exploratory interviews were conducted to gain further understanding about how the customer’s perception of customer value co-creation and social trust could be affected by the role of social commerce. Accordingly, the current model proposes that social commerce constructs (second-order; ratings and reviews, recommendations and referrals, and forums and communities) impact social trust, which in turn affects customer value co-creation dimensions (functional value, hedonic value, and social value) in social network sites (SNSs). Theoretical and practical implications are provided.