Rajat Sharma

Bio: Rajat Sharma is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Virtual community & Intermediation. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 3 citations.

What motivates members to transact on social C2C communities? A theoretical explanation

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the consumer motivation to buy products on consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communities on social networking sites (SNSs). These transactions involve no intermediation or payment of fees by any party. The phenomenon is in contrast with the traditional C2C transactions, on websites such as eBay, where the company website facilitates the transaction between consumers, charges a fee to sellers and provides limited information about buyers and sellers.,Drawing from media richness theory and social capital theory, this paper thus proposes and empirically tests a theoretical model developed using data collected from people making transactions on these communities that synthesize the motivations behind consumers’ intention to buy.,The results indicate that the media richness of the Facebook platform increases the social capital and sense of virtual community among users, which further impacts the purchase intentions of users. Social capital alone does not lead to purchase intention and indirectly impacts purchase intentions through the trust dimension.,This study contributes to theorizing the role of the platform, social capital and sense of virtual community in buying behavior on SNSs and provides valuable new insights into these constructs for the brand managers on social media sites.,Existing research on social commerce does not hold true for C2C communities on SNSs. This paper provides a new perspective into these communities through the lens of media richness and social capital constructs as antecedents of purchase intentions on these communities.

Assessing advertisement quality on C2C social commerce platforms: an information quality approach using text mining

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to test relevance of the information quality (IQ) framework in understanding quality of advertisements (ads) posted by ordinary consumers.,The main objective of this study is to assess quality ads posted on customer-to-customer (C2C) social commerce platforms from an IQ framework. The authors deployed innovative text mining techniques to generate features from the IQ framework and then used a machine learning (ML) algorithm to classify ads into three categories ‐ high quality, medium quality and low quality.,The results show that not all dimensions of IQ framework are important to assess quality of ads posted on the platforms. Potential buyers on these platforms look for appropriate amount of information, which is objective, concise and complete, to make a potential purchase decision.,As the research focuses on specific product categories, it lacks generalisability. Therefore, it needs to be tested for other product categories.,The paper includes recommendation for C2C marketplaces on how to increase quality of ads posted by consumers on the platform.,This study has focused on the user-generated content posted by ordinary consumers on the C2C commerce platform to sell used goods. Though C2C model has been developed on ads posted on C2C platforms, it can be established for brands as it provides them with an insight into latent dimensions that a consumer shall look for in an ad on social commerce platforms.

The impact of a sense of virtual community on online community: does online privacy concern matter?

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between a sense of virtual community (SOVC), community satisfaction, community involvement, community commitment and alternative attractiveness in the online fan community context.,This study gathered and empirically analyzed data from 277 members of the online Super Junior fan community with frequency, reliability, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 and AMOS 24.0.,The findings of SEM indicated that community satisfaction was significantly influenced by the four dimensions of SOVC, while community involvement was significantly affected by membership and fulfillment of needs. Also, community commitment and alternative attractiveness were significantly impacted by community satisfaction and community involvement. Lastly, privacy concern moderated the paths from influence to community satisfaction and from community satisfaction to community commitment, respectively.,The findings of this study should help online fan community administrators to reduce members' perception of alternative attractiveness (other fan communities) and to understand how privacy concern influences members' attitudes toward the online community.,In light of the findings, a greater understanding of the determinants of community commitment and alternative attractiveness along with privacy concern is critical in retaining virtual fan communities' members over the long-term.

The role of perceived value, trust and engagement in the C2C online secondary marketplace

Abstract: In light of a growing interest in alternative consumption channels, this study proposes a conceptual framework that examines the relationship between repeat online consumers’ perceived value of used products and their re-purchasing intention from a secondary marketplace platform. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 aims to test the conceptual model, and Study 2 validates the model with two product types (hedonic vs. utilitarian). With fundamental societal marketing theory at heart, trust and engagement toward the seller and the consumer-to-consumer online secondary market platforms are hypothesized to mediate consumers’ perceived econ-centric functional value and their re-use intentions of the platform. The results show that all serial mediations (trust and engagement) are significant when the trust is directed toward the company that facilitates the platform, but not all serial mediations were significant when the trust is toward the seller. This study highlights the implications of trust and engagement and how these factors impact consumers’ intention to re-use a C2C online secondary marketplace platform.

Impacts of different interactions on viewers’ sense of virtual community: an empirical study of live streaming platform

Abstract: ABSTRACT With the rapid development of the Internet and the widespread adoption of mobile devices, live streaming has become a new social medium in the last few years. Hence, the continuous usage of live streaming platforms has become an important issue. Based on social exchange theory, this study investigates how different kinds of interactions affect viewers’ sense of virtual community (SOVC) and in turn facilitate their continuous watching intention. Empirical results (N = 423) reveal that both viewer-broadcaster interaction and viewer-viewer interaction positively affect viewers’ SOVC, which further enhances their stickiness. Furthermore, viewer-platform interaction positively moderates the effects of interactions between viewers and broadcasters on their SOVC, whereas the moderating role of gift-giving behaviour is insignificant. Finally, the effects of viewer-broadcaster interaction and viewer-viewer interaction on stickiness are partially mediated by SOVC. This study contributes to in-depth research on the relationships between different specific interactions and viewers’ continuous watching intention, which enriches the existing study on live streaming and deepens our understanding of viewers’ stickiness. The empirical findings of this study suggest that social media developers and managers take actions to encourage interactions that increase viewers’ stickiness.

Customer Experience in Social Commerce: Thematic and Intellectual Structure Mapping Using Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract: The customer experience (CX) in Social Commerce (SC) as a research area gained momentum in two decades after scholars discovered its influential role in loyalty, repurchase intention, competitive advantage, and overall firm performance. Importantly CX, despite being a frequently studied topic, a thorough bibliometric study of the CX construct in the context of SC has never been studied; we look to cover this lacuna in literature. Specifically, this study aims to use bibliometric evaluation to gain a comprehensive interpretation of CX in the SC context. We collated one hundred sixteen articles from Scopus and Web of Science. Then, we combined bibliographic coupling and keyword analysis to map the scientific evolution of the CX construct in SC. We found five clusters using a bibliographic coupling, following a meticulous content analysis; they included: (1) CX and group buying, (2) CX and Swift guanxi, (3) CX and information support, (4) CX and emotional support, and (5) CX and Impulse buying. We believe that the findings would be helpful for decision-makers and policymakers who desire to improve their understanding of CX in SC, in addition to scholars working in the SC field.