Without question, 2020 was an unprecedented period for all businesses and consumers in the world, especially for social commerce businesses. Growing online shopping during the pandemic has proliferated the appetite of social commerce websites. Drawing on the situational influences’ theory and social support theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of situational influences during the COVID-19 pandemic on online purchase intention across the big five personality traits. The data were collected via online survey. The sample consisted of 349 social commerce website users in the UK. The model was tested using Partial Least Squares-Structured Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results showed the different cohorts of buying intention on social commerce websites. Social support does not impact online purchase intention, while other situational factors do. Moreover, the model varied across the big five personality traits. The study substantially contributes to social commerce by investigating the social support and situational influences across different types of personality traits on online purchase intention during the pandemic.

This study aims to investigate the role of User-Generated Content (UGC) in customer engagement by identifying the factors that influence customer engagement on social commerce sites. Data (n=307) were collected through an online survey. The data analysis was done through factor analysis and multiple regression. The research model was developed using Ducoffe’s [1] model. The result of data analysis reveals that Informativeness, Credibility, Relevancy, and Irritation of the UGC influence people’s perception of the value of the UGC, which will eventually lead to customer engagement intention. Entertainment was not able to contribute to the perceived value of UGC. The finding of this study will help marketers develop a strong brand by identifying the factors that encourage customers to participate in creating UGC. This study was the first study that used Ducoffe's [1] model to examine the role of UGC on customer engagement.

This research investigated and critically evaluated Jordanian university students' smartphone buying intentions. It critically reviewed relevant literature and conducted a focus group (Study 1), which empirically yielded a streamlined list of smartphone purchase criteria. Data for the primary study (Study 2) was obtained from university students (n = 427). The primary research hypotheses and significant factors were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM). Social impact (influence), product price, brand image, product features, perceived utility (usefulness), ease of use, and product support service were all found to influence the intention to acquire a smartphone, but at different strengths. Social impact (influence) had the least effect, whereas ease of use, product support service, and product price had the most significant effect. The current findings implied that rationality was likely to characterize Jordanian customers' smartphone purchases. These findings may enhance smartphone marketers' efforts to improve their products and promotional activities. Technology-based product purchases showed a sensible trend among Jordanian university students as this was bolstered by paying less attention to "social influences" on such buying behavior. Clearly, Jordanian university students were using logical thinking when making technology-based product purchases. Furthermore, consumer culture and demographics' effects on technological product purchases should be studied in the future research.

This study applies the Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) Theory to examine the impact of brand heritage of social commerce sites on consumers' perceived privacy risk, and the impact of this perceived risk on brand equity and brand advocacy. This study extends brand heritage research by exploring brand heritage in a new context (social commerce sites). To test the hypotheses, an online survey was conducted, and a total of 321 responses were collected from Amazon users in the US. The data were analyzed by using the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings revealed that the brand heritage of social commerce sites has a significant negative influence on consumers' perceived privacy risk, which in turn has a significant negative impact on brand equity and brand advocacy.

This study investigates the factors affecting consumers' attitudes toward proximity marketing and their participation intention. An online survey was conducted in the USA to test the research hypotheses, and the data were collected through crowdsourcing via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The collected data (n=301) were analyzed using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that consumers' privacy concerns, level of knowledge, perceived benefits, and trust have a significant positive effect on their attitude toward proximity marketing, and the results also verified that consumers' attitude has a significant positive effect on their intention to participate in proximity marketing. This study is a pioneering work as it is one of the few research papers examining consumers' intention to participate in proximity marketing by measuring the effect of several variables that were not investigated adequately in the proximity marketing context.