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In today’s business world, adopting social commerce for day-to-day operations has increasingly become an important phenomenon. Several factors have been identified by previous researchers regarding the adoption of social commerce, but academic research is scarce on the relationship between the factors influencing social commerce adoption and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the post-COVID-19 situation. This study aims to identify the impact of technological, environmental and entrepreneurial factors on the adoption of social commerce by SMEs in Sri Lanka.

A quantitative study utilised the deductive approach and collected data through a field survey by distributing a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to conveniently selected respondents from Sri Lankan SMEs. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used for the analysis of 384 responses.

The results revealed that technological factors [technology availability (TA) and cost-effectiveness (CE)], environmental factors [bandwagon effect (BE)] and entrepreneurial factors [attitude (AT), innovativeness (IN) and IT knowledge (IK)] have a significant impact on the social commerce adoption of SMEs in Sri Lanka. This study, as the first of its type, offers insightful information on the influence of variables on the adoption of social commerce after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similar to any research, this study also has inherent limitations. Due to time and financial restrictions, the study’s convenience sampling method was adopted. The study’s possible limitation is its narrow focus, which could mean that it only examines a select few social media (SM) networks. The study’s conclusions might be less generalised since it focused on the western province of Sri Lanka. Future studies should take a cross-cultural strategy to explore the influence of social commerce adoption to improve the generalisability of research findings.

This study provides an in-depth assessment of critical factors, facilitating policymakers, owners, leaders and managers (decision-makers) to gain insight into the real influencing factors on social commerce adoption and the significance of SM. The study helps them comprehend how outstanding governance and knowledge of influencing factors can boost SME success in various ways. For example, research reveals that various factors have a major influence on social commerce adoption.

There has been limited research conducted on social commerce adoption after the COVID-19 pandemic period; thus, this study looked at the variables influencing it amongst SMEs in a South Asian developing country like Sri Lanka after the pandemic lasted for two years. By placing a strong emphasis on the role of entrepreneurial characteristics and the available technology within one single framework in the context of SMEs and their involvement with social commerce adoption, this study contributes to the past literature by emphasising the role of several significant factors in SMEs' adoption of social commerce. Whilst previous studies looked at multiple factors influencing the adoption of social commerce globally, this study focussed on how these factors have a significant impact on SMEs in Sri Lanka.

This study developed a multi-perspective framework combining technological, environmental and entrepreneurial factors influencing SMEs to adopt social commerce. The study provides a contribution to the literature on social commerce adoption from the perspective of SMEs in a developing country like Sri Lanka after COVID-19. Exclusively, it examines the impact of entrepreneur-related factors on social commerce adoption.

As a derivative model of e-commerce, social commerce has received increasing attention in recent years. Empirical studies on social commerce have examined the key factors that influence users' attitudes or adoption intentions, but their conclusions are context-based and are not entirely consistent. This study aims to draw a general conclusion by systematically synthesizing the findings of previous studies and examine whether cultural differences play a moderating role in users' social commerce adoption.

A meta-analysis based on 11,786 independent samples from 39 empirical studies was conducted to integrate their results and develop a comprehensive conceptual model. A moderator analysis was carried out to investigate the moderating effect of culture by dividing the context into subgroups of individualistic and collectivistic cultures.

The results show that this comprehensive conceptual model can help better understand the adoption of social commerce. Meanwhile, the moderator analysis indicates that cultural differences have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between the determinants and the adoption of social commerce.

The findings of this paper have theoretical implications and make managerial contributions.

This study aims to examine the mechanisms underlying social media commerce by investigating the interplay between platforms, people and information. Drawing upon trust transfer theory, the research model proposes that the platform’s information provision enhances the credibility of the information source, leading to increased information usefulness, adoption and sharing, ultimately influencing purchase intention.

The research design used in this study was a quantitative approach using a cross-sectional survey method. The study developed a research model based on trust transfer theory and hypothesized relationships between the platform’s information provision, information source credibility, information-related responses and purchase intention. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the collected data and test the research hypotheses.

The findings supported most of the hypotheses and provided valuable insights into the role of information credibility in shaping consumers’ purchase intentions. Specifically, the study revealed that the platform’s information provision enhances the credibility of the information source, leading to increased information usefulness, adoption and sharing. Furthermore, information usefulness and adoption mediate the relationship between information source credibility and purchase intention.

The limitations of this research include the use of convenience sampling, which may not represent the broader population, and the cross-sectional design, which does not provide an in-depth understanding of the adoption process. The reliance on self-reported data and the limited scope of investigation with only six constructs are additional limitations. Future studies should consider national random sampling, longitudinal designs, multiple data sources and explore negative effects and other potential mediating variables. Despite these limitations, this research contributes to the understanding of social media commerce mechanisms and provides valuable insights for practitioners in the field.

The findings of this study provide valuable insights for platform providers and marketers in the social media commerce environment. First, the study emphasizes the importance of effective messaging in improving information credibility. Platform providers should focus on delivering accurate and trustworthy information to enhance consumers’ perceptions of product quality and increase purchase intentions. Second, marketers can leverage the information-related factors identified in this study, such as information usefulness and adoption, to optimize their marketing efforts. By understanding how consumers perceive and interact with information on social media platforms, marketers can tailor their strategies to effectively engage and influence potential customers. Overall, these practical implications can enhance success in the competitive social media commerce landscape.

The social implications of this study are significant for social media commerce practitioners. The findings highlight the importance of effective messaging and information provision on social media platforms in improving information credibility, thereby enhancing purchase intention. By understanding the mechanisms that drive consumer behavior in the context of social media commerce, platform providers and marketers can optimize their marketing efforts. This includes focusing on delivering trustworthy and useful information, fostering information adoption and sharing among users and ultimately increasing the likelihood of successful transactions. These insights provide valuable guidance for practitioners to navigate the competitive landscape of social media commerce and enhance their chances of success.

The originality of this research lies in its application of trust transfer theory to investigate the mechanisms driving social media commerce. By examining the interplay between platform, people and information, the study specifically focuses on the role of the platform’s information provision in enhancing information credibility and its impact on information-related responses and purchase intentions. This study extends the understanding of the trust transfer mechanism between customers and sellers/brands in customer-to-customer social commerce by emphasizing the importance of effective messaging and information credibility in shaping consumer behavior. The empirical findings contribute to the understanding of information trust transfer and provide a unique perspective on the underlying mechanisms that drive social media commerce.

The purpose of this paper is to construct a multi-relational network for an online sharing platform in the age of the sharing economy, to identify the factors impacting users’ product adoption behavior and to predict consumers’ purchases of user-generated products on the platform.

The study conducted multi-relational network analyses of five different sub-networks in identifying influential factors for e-book adoption. Meanwhile, the study adopted machine learning methods with different classification algorithms and feature sets to predict users’ purchasing behaviors.

The authors found that an individual’s adoption of a product was correlated with his or her purchasing habits and collaboration with others on the online sharing platform. Through the inclusion of network features, the authors were able to build a predictive model that forecasted consumers’ purchases of user-generated e-books with reasonable accuracy.

The interdisciplinary approach used in the study can serve as a good reference for identifying factors impacting the product adoption behavior of users in the online sharing platform, through employing different sociological and computational methods.

The outcome of the study has provided important managerial implications, especially for the design of social commerce platform in the age of the sharing economy.

The authors verified the social influence impacting consumers’ product adoption behavior and shed light on the value of collaboration in the age of the sharing economy.

The study was the first to identify user-generated e-book adoption on an online sharing platform from a multi-relational network perspective. The idea and the approach supplied a new method of behavioral analysis in the context of a sharing economy.

This study aims to examine the factors (Stimuli) enhancing perceived utilitarian, social and conditional values (Organisms) of social commerce (s-commerce) platforms and their impact on small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs’) behavioral intention (Response) to adopt s-commerce.

Survey data were gathered from 304 Indian SMEs using s-commerce platforms. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS 3 software.

The results indicated that perceived values significantly impact SMEs’ behavioral intention to adopt s-commerce. Among conditional, utilitarian and social values, the conditional value of s-commerce sites was found to be the strongest motivator for SMEs to adopt s-commerce.

This research contributes to the growing literature on s-commerce, explaining how perceived value influences the decision of SMEs to adopt s-commerce platforms.

Among the significant influencers, perceived usefulness and perceived reputation were found to be the most effective triggers that stimulate perceived values of s-commerce sites. The findings draw due attention from policymakers toward environmental cues such as the legal and regulatory environment, which are instrumental in creating the most important perceived value for SMEs, i.e. conditional value.

By employing the inputs from the theory of consumption values and the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, this original study looked beyond the technology factors and examined the role of perceived values of s-commerce platforms in shaping SMEs’ behavioral intention to adopt.

This study investigates the relationship between social commerce adoption determinants, perceived trust and purchase behaviour among pastry product consumers.

The research data were collected using a five-point Likert from 409 pastry consumers through an online survey. Partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was utilised to test the study model and hypotheses.

The study findings indicate that pastry consumers perceived social commerce as effortless, engaging, enjoyable, can be trusted, simple to use and time-saving, motivating them to consume pastry products via social commerce platforms.

This study provides insights and implications for social commerce researchers and marketers related explicitly to perishable products.

This study is one of the few studies that predict and explain the consumer acceptance of social commerce in the pastry products realm. As only a handful of research has endeavoured to research social commerce, this study findings contribute to the conceptualisation of technology acceptance theory by understanding the determinants of social commerce adoption among consumers.

Social relationships on the internet through the emergence of Web 2.0 applications created new opportunities for business. This is mainly because of the growth of social networking sites, which has also developed e‐commerce. The current development in e‐commerce opened a new stream, entitled social commerce, which is using social technologies to create an environment for generating social interactions. These social interactions can drive online social support in e‐commerce, which in turn is creating trust and an increased intention to use social commerce.

This research used social support theory and related theories on intention to use to propose a theoretical framework for the adoption of social commerce.

The model predicts that forums and communities, ratings, reviews, referrals and recommendations are helping to introduce new business plans for e‐vendors. The model also shows trust is an on‐going issue in e‐commerce and can be built through social commerce constructs.

There is limited research in the area of social commerce which this study seeks to redress. This study proposes a new model which can be extended by other constructs. However, the research needs to empirically test the constructs of the proposed model and their relationship.

This paper introduces social commerce constructs, namely; recommendations and referrals, forums and communities and rating and reviews. The bases of the model proposed in this research are IT adoption and literature in the area such as PU and intention to buy or trust. These highlight the key role of ICT in the behaviour of online customers. This can be a development for e‐commerce adoption models and the results signify that IS has a reference discipline for the behaviour of online consumers. This is an issue in marketing where not enough attention is paid to the importance of IT and IS.

The internet creates ample opportunities to start a mobile social commerce business. The literature confirms the issue of customer trust for social commerce businesses is a challenge that must be addressed. Hence, this study aims to examine the antecedents of trust in mobile social commerce by applying linear and non-linear relationships based on partial least squares structural equation modeling and artificial neural network model.

This study applied a non-linear artificial neural network approach to provide a further understanding of the determinants of trust in mobile social commerce based on a non-linear and non-compensatory model. Besides, a questionnaire was distributed to 340 social commerce customers in Malaysia.

The conceptual framework for investigating trust in mobile social commerce has various advantages and contributions to predicting consumer behavior. The results of the study showed there is a positive and significant relationship between social support, presence and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology2 (UTAUT2). In addition, UTAUT2 has fully mediated the relationship between social support, presence and trust in social commerce. Finally, the results concluded the relationship between UTAUT2 and trust in social commerce would be stronger when the diffusion of innovation and innovation resistance is high and low, respectively.

The current study provides a novel perspective on how customers can trust social m-commerce to provide real solutions to managers of encouraging e-marketing among consumers.

This paper shows how businesses can develop trust in social m-commerce in Malaysian markets. The findings of this study probably could be extended to other businesses in Asia or other countries. Because trust in social e-commerce has a dynamic role in consumer behavior and intention to purchase.

This study provided a new perspective on mobile social commerce and paid more attention to an investigation of such emerging commerce. The originality of this study is embodied by investigating an integrated model that included different theories that presented new directions of trust in mobile social commerce through social and behavioral determinants.

Developing countries are still challenged by infrastructural and cultural issues related to the adoption of e-commerce although with the emergence of social commerce, a new stream has been introduced. Iran is a developing country, in which the adoption of e-commerce by small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is challenged by such barriers; it is now applying models for the adoption of new technologies by SMEs. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This research attempts to develop a model, based on existing models of e-commerce, which can be applied in Iranian conditions. The study uses data gathered by a survey, together with existing models in this area, in order to propose a new model, which has been empirically tested.

The results of this research demonstrate that e-commerce barriers in Iran are related to a lack of awareness of the benefits of e-commerce adoption, as well as organisational issues related to its application. The paper also discusses the results and implications of this research, which can be applied to other developing countries. The paper also gives a better picture of Iranian market. Finally the paper discusses possible future directions of this research, as well as its limitations.

This study contributes to the theoretical basis of IS and e-commerce adoption studies by proposing and testing a pre-adoption model for e-commerce. The adoption of e-commerce in SMEs in Iran has not been substantially investigated. This is despite the fact that SMEs play an important role in all economies. The results demonstrate a significant relationship between organisational readiness and the adoption of e-commerce. It also shows that there is a positive relationship between awareness of e-commerce and its adoption.

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing consumers' continued social commerce (s-commerce) intention and its underlying mechanism.

The authors define continued s-commerce intention as consumers' intention to continually participate in s-commerce activities, namely, requesting and sharing commercial information. Grounded in the motivation theory, perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment are identified in this study as the motives behind consumers' continued s-commerce intention. Given the indispensable social facet of s-commerce, the authors include social support as another critical social factor motivating continuance intention. Furthermore, users' perceptions are affected by prior s-commerce outcomes, which concern the effectiveness of the commercial information exchange process. Research suggests that in such a context, the result of communication is jointly determined by source credibility and interactive relationships amongst individuals. Whilst source credibility determines the usefulness of the information transmitted, a social interaction supports this process. Therefore, source credibility and social interactions are crucial to the outcomes of s-commerce, which, in turn, affect consumers' perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and social support in s-commerce. Building on these arguments, the authors propose our research model and then test the hypotheses via a survey.

The authors find that consumers' perceived usefulness and informational social support of s-commerce directly affect their continued s-commerce intention. Moreover, perceived enjoyment leads to continued s-commerce intention via the mediation of perceived usefulness, whilst emotional social support influences continued s-commerce intention through the mediator of informational social support. In addition, source credibility is a significant antecedent of consumers' usefulness, enjoyment and social support perceptions, whilst a social interaction significantly impacts perceived enjoyment and social support.

Various consumer behaviours in s-commerce have been studied; however, the continuance intention to participate in the s-commerce activity remains unknown. This empirical study fills this research gap. Moreover, the authors initially reveal s-commerce participants' utilitarian orientation in the post-adoption stage: perceived usefulness and informational social support affect continuance intention more directly than perceived enjoyment and emotional social support. Further, prior studies on information systems continuance have mainly focused on technical features. By identifying the influence from social factors, i.e. social support, this work extends the literature on information systems continuance.