Understanding and mitigating risks in social commerce: an empirical study from the perspective of signalling theory

ABSTRACTThis paper constructs a risk reduction model based on signalling theory to investigate how the platform- and user-oriented signals affect perceived risks, which in turn affect users’ actual engagement and purchase behaviours in social commerce. The moderating effects of perceived effectiveness of social commerce institutional mechanisms (PESIM) on the relationships between signals and perceived risks are also considered. Longitudinal data from 226 users of Xiaohongshu were collected to test the proposed hypotheses. We identify signals oriented from platforms and users significantly influence users’ perceptions of commerce and participation risks. We also demonstrate that commerce and participation risks influence users’ actual engagement and purchase behaviours, respectively. Furthermore, we also verify that PESIM negatively moderates the relationship between signals and perceived risk.KEYWORDS: Signalriskperceived effectiveness of social commerce institutional mechanismspurchaseengagement AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72271072, 71801069, and 72071190), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JZ2023HGPA0294). Ruolin Ding and Shaobo Wei are co-corresponding authors.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Correction StatementThis article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the articleAdditional informationFundingThis work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72271072, 71801069, and 72071190), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JZ2023HGPA0294).Notes on contributorsXiayu ChenXiayu Chen is an Associate Professor in the School of Management at the Hefei University of Technology. She received the Ph.D. degree in Information Systems from the University of Science and Technology of China and the City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include electronic commerce and social media. She has published papers in journals such as Journal of Operations Management, Information Systems Journal, Journal of Information Technology, Decision Sciences, Information & Management, International Journal of Electronic Commerce and Computers in Human Behaviour. Xiayu Chen currently serves as an Associate Editor for Information Systems Journal and International Editorial Review Board of International Journal of Information Management.Ruolin DingRuolin Ding is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Management at the Hefei University of Technology. Her research focuses on retail and market operations, user-generated content, electronic commerce and social media.Shaobo WeiShaobo Wei is a Professor in the School of Management at the Hefei University of Technology. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Information Systems from the University of Science and Technology of China and the City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on supply chain integration, IT business value creation and social media. He has published papers in journals such as Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Decision Sciences, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Journal of Information Technology, Information & Management, and International Journal of Electronic Commerce.Panpan WangPanpan Wang is a Lecturer in the School of Management Science and Engineering at Zhejiang Gongshang University. She received the Ph.D. degree in Information Systems from the University of Science and Technology of China and the City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include electronic commerce and social media. She has published papers in journals such as Information Technology & People and Internet Research.