Effect of Social Presence on Intention to Purchase in Social Network Environment

A lack of social presence and interactivity elements is claimed to be one of the major weaknesses that hinders the growth of traditional e-commerce. With its interactive features, social network site enhances buyers’ perception of social presences and interactivity in an online environment.  That is the reason social commerce is widely recognized in current literature. Based on the social presence theory, this study develops a model to investigate the effects of perceived social presence on other variables. Our results indicate that (1) perceived social presence has an effect on both interactivity and trust of seller, (2) interactivity has an effect on familiarity and trust of seller, (3) familiarity has no effect on trust of seller but has an effect on purchase intention and (4) trust of seller has a smaller effect on purchase intention than on familiarity