COVID-19 impact on Facebook-based social commerce in Bangladesh

Popular social media Facebook-oriented social commerce (S-commerce), commonly known as Facebook commerce (F-commerce) has progressed towards a bevy business in Bangladesh. Many young people, especially at the age of 20-28, are now in this industry. The pandemic situation due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) forces people to buy more from the online market because of the safety issue. People are getting more interested in the new trend of buying from an online store. The current study aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 on F-commerce, particularly in Bangladesh. It uses the non-probability purposive sampling method and collects 181 usable responses through an online questionnaire. A research model is developed following the social commerce acceptance model (SCAM), and structural equation model partial least square (SEM-PLS) using SmartPLS 3.0 is applied to find out and justify the result. Likert five-point scale for determining the independent variables, including COVID-19 awareness (CA), consumer behavior (CB), and purchase intention (PI), is used. The study result confirms that these three variables have a positive impact on F-commerce. The survey covers other measurable items that indicate some assumptions, which reflect F-commerce consumers’ behavior. The researchers recommend that F-commerce businesspeople must emphasize on mitigating trust issues and provide enhanced home delivery service.

Social media entrepreneurship as an opportunity for women: The case of Facebook-commerce

This paper examines a new type of entrepreneurship conducted via social networking sites named as social media entrepreneurship. In Tunisia, the number of women entrepreneurs operating on social media platforms such as Facebook is noteworthy. Thus, in this study it is aimed to determine the factors that prompted women to develop businesses on Facebook, and how this social network is a venue for female entrepreneurship. Particular attention is paid to identify individual-related (push/pull entrepreneurial motivation), technology-related and institutional factors that bear on the use of social media. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 24 female entrepreneurs. The research findings provide relevant information and support the idea that social media has opened up new horizons and entrepreneurial opportunities for women to pursue their entrepreneurial intention. Pull motivations are really behind the decision to start up social commerce. Facebook advantageous features have empowered women to create customer networks, used nature marketing tool at no cost and acquire positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. Finally, although the informal nature of business on Facebook is attractive, formalization remains a challenge for the majority of women. It seems that ambition to grow their businesses brings them to formal economy.

Investigating the Impact of Situational Influences and Social Support on Social Commerce during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Without question, 2020 was an unprecedented period for all businesses and consumers in the world, especially for social commerce businesses. Growing online shopping during the pandemic has proliferated the appetite of social commerce websites. Drawing on the situational influences’ theory and social support theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of situational influences during the COVID-19 pandemic on online purchase intention across the big five personality traits. The data were collected via online survey. The sample consisted of 349 social commerce website users in the UK. The model was tested using Partial Least Squares-Structured Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results showed the different cohorts of buying intention on social commerce websites. Social support does not impact online purchase intention, while other situational factors do. Moreover, the model varied across the big five personality traits. The study substantially contributes to social commerce by investigating the social support and situational influences across different types of personality traits on online purchase intention during the pandemic.

The Effect of Flow on Users’ Social Shopping Intention

The application of mobile technologies such as 4G has triggered social commerce development. However, due to the perceived uncertainty and risk, users may obtain a poor experience when conducting social shopping. Integrating both perspectives of social support and network externality, this research examined users’ flow experience associated with social shopping. The results indicated that both emotional support and network externality affect flow, which in turn affects identification and social shopping intention. The results imply that companies need to create a supportive climate and utilize network externality to improve users’ experience and facilitate their shopping behaviour.