Influence of Platform Characteristics on Purchase Intention in Social Commerce: Mechanism of Psychological Contracts

Social commerce is an emerging platform that entails different social features to attract the attention of online consumers. Borrowing insights from the psychological contract theory, this study examines the characteristics of social commerce platforms, such as platform interactivity and rating and reviews that influence the consumers’ purchase intentions. An online survey of 430 consumers was conducted on a popular social commerce site in China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy sets qualitative comparative analysis techniques are used to analyze this mediation model. The results reveal the positive relationships between (1) psychological contract and purchase intention; (2) platform interactivity and relational contract; and (3) rating and reviews and transactional contract. Besides, partial mediating effects of relational contract, on the relationship between platform interactivity and purchase intention, and transactional contract, on the relationship between rating and reviews and purchase intention, are also observed. Moreover, fuzzy sets qualitative comparative analysis validates the robustness of platform characteristics with psychological contracts and purchase intentions. Overall findings suggest that the platform characteristics have the potential to transform consumers’ purchase intentions through psychological contracts. The study provides new insights on consumers' behavior in social commerce milieus, along with its theoretical and practical implications.