The Antecedents of Instagram Store Purchase Intention: Exploring the Role of Trust in Social Commerce

Abstract

Social media platforms are now serving the dual purpose of social interaction as well as commercial transactions. It is an extension of e-commerce on social media, leveraging social support for shopping purposes. This study has taken selected community-related factors and vendors-related factors to investigate their impact on purchase intention from Instagram store. Acknowledging that social commerce possesses a different environment than that of e-commerce, we have also tested the mediating role of trust in determining consumer purchase intention from an Instagram store. The present study used the Stimulus–Organism–Response model along with trust transference theory and psychological reactance theory to propose a theoretical framework to understand purchase intention with regard to the Instagram store. This study has tested the impact of physical shopping constraint on purchase intention which had previously not been tested empirically with regard to social commerce. Taking empirical data from 304 Instagram users, the study revealed community factors to have a more significant impact than vendors attributes. The findings of the study advance our understanding of how purchase intention is formed on Instagram store and highlight the importance of trust in this mechanism.