What motivates customers to participate in social commerce? The impact of technological environments and virtual customer experiences

• A research model is proposed to examine the factors that influence participation behavior of a customer in social commerce.
• Social commerce intention is determined by customers’ virtual experiences, namely, social support, social presence and flow.
• Customers’ virtual experiences are influenced by perceived interactivity, personalization and sociability features of the social commerce environment.
• The results of the model tests using Renren and SinaWeibo samples are significantly different.

Social commerce, as a relatively new phenomenon, has attracted little research attention. This study aims to provide initial insights into the dynamics of customer participation in social commerce. Based on the stimulus–organism–response paradigm, this study develops a model to investigate the effects of technological features (perceived interactivity, perceived personalization and perceived sociability) of social commerce on customers’ virtual experiences (social support, social presence and flow) and subsequently their participation intention. The results indicate that social commerce intention is determined by social support, social presence and flow experiences. These experiences, in turn, are influenced by perceived interactivity, personalization and sociability features.