Investigation of the relationship between social support, relationship quality and social commerce

The emergence of social network sites and increasing popularity of social network sites have risen to a new electronic commerce stream, called social commerce. In social commerce individuals share their information and experiences about products and services, creating a friendly and supporting online environment. This study based on social support and relationship quality theories considered as a model to investigate the relationship between social support, relationship quality and social commerce intention. In this regard after reviewing the relevant literature, a research model introduced by Hajli in 2014 with some modifications selected as the research model. A questionnaire of 22 items adopted from previous literature applied to data collection. The research conducted on two popular social network users in Iran, Facebook and Telegram. A sample consists of 384 volunteers filled out the questionnaires. Pearson correlation analysis method and partial least square applied to test the model. The results indicated that social commerce intention is directly related to both social support and relationship quality. The research findings emphasize on technological changes in electronic commerce and provide new strategies to firms and sellers to adopt innovation and serve social networks in their business