The Buffering Effects of a User's Perceived Past Negative Experience on Social Commerce Engagement

Abstract

The purpose of this study is not only to examine the five antecedents of community users’ social commerce engagement (SCE), but is also to probe the buffering effects of a user's perceived past negative experience (PPNE) on the users’ affective reactions in social commerce – SCE link. 349 valid samples are collected from the target population in Taiwan and analyzed data by two-step structural equation modeling and SPSS PROCESS to examine a conceptual model and 13 hypotheses. Of these hypotheses, ten hypotheses were supported. Not only do the findings not only confirm the antecedents of community users’ SCE, but also identify PPNE as the moderating role in the users’ affective reactions – SCE chain. Moreover, the study confirms that trust/PR promoted/lowered by social media interactivity and perceived information credibility in the community is unable to completely transfer to a sense of trust/PR in social commerce, because the two factors insufficiently provided a mechanism between users and sellers.