This document discusses a study examining how social learning theory can explain customers' purchase decision-making processes in social commerce. The study developed a model showing that learning from forums/communities and ratings/reviews positively influences customers' cognitive and affective appraisals, and these appraisals drive purchase intention. Specifically, cognitive appraisal has a stronger impact on purchase intention than affective appraisal, indicating customers make rational purchase decisions on social commerce platforms. The study provides insights into how social commerce components can shape customer attitudes and purchasing behaviors.

1. CUSTOMERS’ PURCHASE DECISION-MAKING
PROCESS IN SOCIAL COMMERCE: A SOCIAL
LEARNING PERSPECTIVE
Patrick Murphy
ECMM 6040

2.  Commerce in a social landscape
 A new customer purchase decision making process
 Various factors have affected customer purchase decision making
processes
 Social learning theory can explain this

3.  Modelling how customers learning behavior along three social commerce
components affects attitude
 Attitude affects the overall social commerce purchase intention as
cognitive and affective appraisals power purchase intention/decision
 Lessons learned from this research

4.  E-commerce: merchant and individual factors impact consumer purchase
decision
 Social Commerce: purchase decision aided by participation in online social
media for knowledge acquisition

5.  Social knowledge and experiences aide in the social commerce
purchasing decision
 SCC’s are the vehicle
 How SCC’S facilitate a customers purchase decision is not fully
understood

6.  Activities on the two major forms of social commerce:
1. E-commerce with social add-ons
2. Social networks with commercial features
 Online forums, rating, reviews, recommendations etc.

7.  Forums and communities
 Ratings and reviews
 Social recommendations

8.  People learn new information and behavior by observing others
 Learning and basic human development with a social element
 Social commerce is social learning from the knowledge and experience of
others we know/trust
 SCC’s provide the environment to develop purchase decisions

9.  External interaction is the social dimension of interacting with
SCC’s
 Internal psychological process combines cognition and emotion
 The internal psychological process is determined by the external
interaction
 Cognitive and affective appraisal’s depict cognitive and emotional
dimensions of the customers learning process

10.  Cognitive: utilitarian aspect of attitude
 Affective: evaluations based on feelings,
emotions, and reactions

11.  H1. Learning from forums and communities is positively associated
with a customer’s cognitive appraisal.
 H2. Learning from ratings and reviews is positively associated with
a customer’s cognitive appraisal.
 H3. Learning from social recommendations is positively associated
with a customer’s cognitive appraisal.

12.  H4. Learning from forums and communities is positively associated
with a customer’s affective appraisal.
 H5. Learning from ratings and reviews is positively associated with
a customer’s affective appraisal.
 H6. Learning from social recommendations is positively associated
with a customer’s affective appraisal.

13.  H7. Cognitive appraisal is positively associated with a customer’s
purchase intention on a social commerce website.
 H8. Affective appraisal is positively associated with a customer’s
purchase intention on a social commerce website.

14.  3 variables:
1. Person: cognitive and affective appraisals depict psychology
2. Behavior: purchase intention
3. Environment: provided by social commerce components
 Measuring learning behavior trough three formative items:
1. Frequency
2. Duration
3. Material quality

15.  Active users on Taobao in China
 Social media tools on e-commerce
 243 users recalling shopping experience
 Aged 20-29

16.  Learning from forums/communities is positively related to cognitive
( p<0.05) and affective appraisal (p< 0.01)
 Supporting H1 and H4
 Learning from ratings and reviews was also found to have positive
relation to cognitive ( p<0.001) and affective appraisal ( p<0.05)
 Supporting H2 and H5

17.  Cognitive (p<0.001) and affective (p<0.05) appraisal were both
positively associated with purchase intention
 Supporting H7 and H8

18.  The relationship between learning from social recommendations and
cognitive (p> 0.05) and affective appraisal ( p>0.05), was not
significant
 H3 and H6, were not supported

19.  Cognitive and affective appraisals influence customers purchase
intention
 Cognitive appraisal plays a larger role in driving purchase intention
than affective appraisal
 Customers on social commerce websites are rational
 Purchases based on beliefs and knowledge, not based on emotions
and feelings

20.  Learning from forums and communities affects customers attitude
 With affective appraisal being more prominent than cognitive
 Engagement is based on their interests and this can provide social
support, satisfying emotional needs

21.  Learning from ratings and reviews influences customers attitude
 Impact on cognitive appraisal is larger than affective appraisal
 Due to the content being product quality, seller quality, or
experience related
 Utilitarian content, which reduces uncertainty

22.  Learning form social recommendations has no significant influence
on cognitive or affective appraisal in this model
 The information in social recommendations is not as rich as the
other two SCC’s
 Media richness theory, lack of richness limits acquisition of
information

23.  Increases understanding of social commerce decision patterns
 Shows how SCC’s affect attitude and can influence purchase
decision
 Customers on social commerce platforms are rational
 Extends social learning theory to social commerce and purposes it as
the essential psychology

24.  Website features
 Improved managerial understanding of
resource allocation for SCC’s
 Affections have their place, but need to
come after cognition

25.  Explore more social commerce components
 Not using self response, due to recall bias
 Learning behavior related to SCC’s is still a black box
 Include multiple types of social commerce platforms

26.  Cognitive appraisals have a higher predictive power in relation to
purchase intention than affective appraisals
 Forums, communities, ratings, and reviews engage customers
cognitively, leading to rational purchases
 Social recommendations are not as useful from a business
standpoint in social commerce as we think

27.  Questions??