Entrepreneurship Strategy through Social Commerce Platform: An Empirical Approach Using Contagion Theory and Information Adoption Model

Entrepreneurship is the readiness and ability of an organization, primarily a new business, to develop, organize, and conduct its business to make a profit despite uncertainties. Social commerce (s-commerce) assists consumers to buy products online. However, few studies have investigated the influence of entrepreneurship and online platform capability on consumers’ online purchase decisions. Academicians, researchers, and practitioners are also increasingly interested in understanding how the s-commerce environment influences entrepreneurship and online purchase decisions. Against this background, this study set out to examine this phenomenon. Using information adoption models and contagion theory as well as the input from the literature review, a theoretical model was developed. Such a model was tested with a factor-based PLS-SEM approach by analyzing the responses of 342 respondents. The results find that electronic WOM (e-WOM) credibility, predicted by online e-WOM content and platform credibility, and impacted by online reputation, could significantly influence consumers’ online purchase decisions. The study also finds that both positive and negative valance of eWOM as well as entrepreneurship significantly influence eWOM credibility, which in turn positively influences consumers’ purchase decisions when using online platforms.