Social commerce has emerged as a prominent shopping destination, and the social and technical factors influencing it have become increasingly relevant post-COVID-19. These factors empower consumers to communicate and make informed purchasing decisions. However, as consumer preferences evolve, the impact of these factors requires continual reassessment. This study addresses the research gap by analyzing a conceptual model grounded in the causal chain framework to examine the effects of social presence, social influence and social commerce platform quality on the two dimensions of social commerce intention: social shopping intention and social sharing intention, with relationship quality as a mediating factor. An online survey was conducted with 472 users of social commerce websites across various cities in India. Partial least squares structured equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to test the model. The results demonstrate that social influence and social commerce platform quality positively impact both social shopping and sharing intentions, whereas social presence does not have a significant effect. These effects are mediated by relationship quality. The findings offer valuable insights into the factors affecting consumer behaviour in the post-COVID-19 era, providing businesses with information to better adapt their marketing strategies to meet customer needs.
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