Social commerce development in emerging markets

This study explores the development of a new form of social commerce in emerging markets from three interlocking aspects, namely, social (trust and familiarity), technical (governing form factor and technological utility), and socio-technical (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and word of mouth). As social commerce is proliferating and evolving across many emerging markets, we explore how these above-stated constructs manifest themselves in these markets. Our findings show the importance of governing form factors such as mobile system in the development of social commerce in emerging markets. Furthermore, familiarity and trust play a major role in mediating exchange between sellers and buyers and its positive effects in buyers' perceived usefulness of each social commerce platform. Finally, Word of Mouth plays a vital role in building trust and helps in increasing buyer propensity and intention to search for products on these social commerce platforms.