An Exploratory Descriptive Analysis of Millennial Consumers’ Behaviour in Social Commerce

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Introduction
Within the last decade, social media has grown and progressively infiltrated the livelihood of consumers and marketers alike and a new category of e-commerce, identified as social commerce, has emerged due to the increased acceptance and use of social media (Al-tit, Omri & Hadj, 2020).Social commerce influences how businesses identify, engage and connect with their consumers and this affects their purchasing intentions, preferences and decisions (Hajli, Wang, Tajvidi & Hajli, 2017).While there are numerous explanations of social commerce, the collective view is that social commerce is "an internet based commercial application, leveraging Web 2.0 and social media technologies" (Huang, 2016), IJIRMPS E-ISSN: 2349-7300 encouraging social interaction and user-generated content, assisting consumers in their decision making and purchasing processes, for procuring products and services on 'online' platforms (Huang, 2016).
Social commerce constructs are tools generated from social commerce such as ratings and reviews, recommendations and referrals and forums and communities (Dashti et al., 2016).Each of these tools have been responsible for altering consumer experiences and perceptions towards purchasing and embraces a unique feature of the multifaceted dimension of social media information sharing, which when integrated provides a more inclusive overview of social commerce (Hajli, Wang, Tajvidi & Hajli, 2017).Consumers use social commerce constructs to share information, their experiences and to reveal sentiments regarding products and services thus having a significant impact on social commerce intentions (Sheikh, Yezheng, Islam, Hameed & Khan, 2019).Consumers are increasingly turning to social commerce constructs in order to assist them with their purchasing decisions, hence influencing their purchase decisions (Lal, 2017; Al-Adwan & Kokash, 2019).For example, findings from Statista (2016) revealed that consumers considered reviews and comments as influential factors impacting their purchase decisions.
Only a few studies have looked at social media explicitly with respect to its ability to generate purchase intention, and even fewer have looked at Millennials, who are the most frequent users of social media (Jacobsen & Barnes, 2017).According to Falke, Schroder, and Hofmann (2022), millennials are gradually transitioning from being educated to employed and therefore represent a significant market.Thus, the aim of this study is to explore how ratings, forums, communities, reviews, recommendations and referrals influence Millennials who participate in social commerce using Facebook.

Literature Review
Social commerce varies from e-commerce in various ways including consumer interaction, communication, system connection, design, value creation, technology platforms and system interaction (Baghdadi, 2013).Social commerce, for example, is sustained by Web 2.0, a platform that aids social media and permits interactions whereas e-commerce is sustained by Web 1.0, a platform where communication is unilateral.In addition, with regard to the paradigm of marketing, the emphasis of ecommerce is on capitalising on shopping effectiveness by providing product collections, one-click buying, advanced searches and product commendations whereas with social commerce the emphasis is on socialising, collaborating and networking with an auxiliary emphasis on shopping (Huang & Benyoucef, 2015).
Chen and Shen (2015) assert that social commerce represents a shift in consumers thinking from individual decisions which is a characteristic of e-commerce to collaborative decisions which is present in social commerce, confirming that purchase decisions have become more collective and cooperative in nature in social commerce (Akman & Mishra, 2017).Social commerce constructs are "tools derived from social commerce and include ratings and reviews, recommendations, referrals, forums and communities" (Dashti, Sanayei, Dolatabadi & Moshrefjavadi, 2016; Hettiarachchi, 2017).Social commerce constructs were defined by Al-Tit et al. (2020), as Web 2.0 platforms utilised in social media, that allow consumers to generate and share their own content, including their opinions and experiences.Consumers are increasingly relying upon content generated by other consumers when making purchases (Chen, 2017 Social commerce constructs are enticing consumers to have social interactions as well as create content over social platforms (Hajli, 2015).Consumers utilise these social commerce constructs for the aforementioned social activities, resulting in a higher level of trust and intention to purchase (Hajli, 2015).
Several researchers have advocated the significance of social commerce constructs in enhancing social commerce intentions (Lal, 2017 Social interactions offered via social commerce constructs strengthen and support 'online' social support in e-commerce, resulting in increased trust and inclination to adopt and use social commerce (Shanmugam et al., 2016).According to Hajli (2015) cited in Lal (2017), social interactions provided through social commerce increases the level of consumer trust and reduces perceived risks, which increases the likelihood of consumer purchasing.Social commerce constructs enable unrestricted social interactions of consumers and these interactions lead to consumers becoming closer to each other, which increases trust and social support among consumers and results in an increased intention to use social commerce (Hajli, 2015  It has been asserted by several researchers that consumer trust is one of the most significant aspects in determining purchase intention in an 'online' environment (Hajli et al., 2017;Che, Cheung & Thandani, 2017;Manzoor et al., 2020).Trust is an imperative factor which affects the acceptance of e-commerce (Hajli, 2015) and social commerce (Basha & Lal, 2019).
Consumers regard social commerce platforms as more trustworthy than traditional promotional features (Schivinski & Dabroski, 2016), since they allow for direct networking, immediate feedback, and more authentic material provided by consumers through social commerce frameworks (Manzoor et al., 2020).When it comes to buying intentions, trust is a key factor to consider (Basha & Lal, 2019), as trust is linked to a higher likelihood of making a purchase (Hasbullah et al., 2016).Trust is increased by social commerce, as social commerce comprises of consumers' social interactions, which increases trust (Hajli et al.;2017;Maia et al., 2017).Through interactions provided by the social commerce constructs, consumers are enabled to produce and share content, offer advice and utilise other consumers' information which provides 'online' social support.Hence, social commerce constructs have a significant impact on social support, which ultimately builds consumers' trust, thereby impacting purchase intentions (Shanmugam, 2016;Hidayatulloh, 2018).
Within a social commerce framework, social support constructs are regarded as intangible in nature and hence consist of informational support and emotional support (Shanmugam et al., 2016).According to Hidayatullah (2018), both informational and emotional support influence consumers' participation in 'online' communities.In 2015, Hajli cited in Hidayatullah (2018) advocated that informational and emotional support meaningfully influenced consumers to continue participating in 'online' communities, given the supportive environment established through the social interactions, sharing of experiences, IJIRMPS E-ISSN: 2349-7300 knowledge, and information with peers.Emotional support exists in social commerce when consumers see themselves to be cared for or empathised with information given by others.
According to Che, Cheung and Thandani (2017) trust is essential for 'online' purchasing since it makes consumers feel more at ease and decreases the dangers connected with purchasing from web-based sellers.According to studies, consumers are more inclined to exchange information, make purchases, and engage with others when they trust an 'online' store (Lim et al., 2002  In comparison to any other 'online' media, retail sales generated from social media such as Facebook is the fastest growing.Facebook is deemed as the most influential social network when it comes to buying habits, since 35% of consumers stated that Facebook is a significant factor in deciding which retailers to patronise (Boyle, 2019).Facebook is the most dominant and influential social media platform, heightening the importance of understanding Facebook and its applications and related consumer activities.In spite of the increasing usage of social commerce, insufficient academic research exists which examines how South African marketers could utilise social commerce in order to influence consumers and harness the power of their social networks in order to positively influence their purchase intentions.While some studies have examined the key reasons for consumers embracing and accepting social commerce, the collected works lack a comprehensive grasp of the factors that influence consumers'' willingness to participate in social commerce, implying that new studies are needed on this subject (Lal, 2017;Al-tit et al., 2020).In light of the above, this study will analyse the impact of social commerce on the purchase intentions of Millennials who are using Facebook for shopping purposes.Researchers in the field of social commerce have for years tried to understand the factors that drive the purchase intentions of 'online' consumers.Thus, understanding these factors has positive implications for practice.

Methodology
A quantitative research approach was used, and data was collected via an 'online' survey, guided by its advantages as postulated by Hair, Celsi, Ortinau & Bush (2003).The target population was young adults between the ages of 25 to 34 years residing in KwaZulu-Natal, who are referred to as Millennials and comprise the largest group of users on Facebook (Jocobsen & Barnes, 2017.Since a greater percentage of Millennials in KwaZulu-Natal will have disposable income compared to those in other provinces (Stone, 2018), KwaZulu-Natal was selected as the location of the study as income impacts purchase intentions (Imelia & Ruswanti, 2017).
Non-probability sampling, particularly snowball sampling, where the sample increases as the study proceeds (Pandey & Pandey, 2015), was adopted in this study.The initial participant was selected based on convenience, and this participant was requested to recommend individuals within similar demographics and 'online' purchasing behaviour.Hence, through social networks, the researcher was able to reach participants who would otherwise be challenging to recognise.In addition to its IJIRMPS E-ISSN: 2349-7300 effectiveness, snowball sampling is also efficient, as it assists the researcher in finding the right persons with a minimum amount of time, money, and effort (Cohen & Arieli, 2011).
An 'online' calculator (Raosoft, 2004) was utilised to ascertain the study's sample size based on Krejice and Morgan's recommendations (1970).The primary data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire.An 'online' survey was selected as a data collection mechanism since it requires less time and effort to manage; it is cost-effective and has minimal risk for bias.The data was analysed primarily by using descriptive statistical techniques.
The questionnaire consisted of 57 questions, separated into six sections.The first two questions which formed section one were screening questions that asked respondents if they had an active Facebook account and what age group they belonged to.The second section of the questionnaire consisted of three questions about a respondent's social media usage patterns.Sections three, four, five and six were designed on a five-point Likert scale, with pre-coded responses ranging from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree'.The questions attempted to understand why a respondent made purchases using information obtained from social commerce constructs.

Findings
Although 386 respondents were targeted, 309 responses met the conditions for inclusion in the data analysis.This translated to an 80% response rate, which is generally satisfactory for web-administered questionnaires (Saunders & Lewis, 2016).From Figure 1, it is evident that respondents in the 29 -32year category were in the majority (39.5%), followed by those who were between the ages of 24 and 28 (30.4%) and 33 and 35 (30.1%).reveals that more than half of the respondents indicated that they agreed (55.7%) or strongly agreed with the statement referred to as item 6.3 "I use ratings and reviews for acquiring product information over Facebook."The mean score for items pertaining to the social commerce construct of ratings and reviews ranged from 3.54 to 3.84, signifying a general agreement to the items on the social commerce construct of ratings and reviews.The highest mean was reported for item 6.4, "I browse through ratings and reviews before making any purchase decisions over Facebook".The lowest mean was reported for item 6.6 "I contribute to ratings and reviews" (mean = 3.54, SD = 1.070, p < 0.001).The results suggest that there is a significant agreement to all the items under the ratings and reviews construct.
For the referrals and recommendations construct, the highest mean was reported for item 7.1 "Using referrals and recommendations has been a good experience for me" (mean = 3.84, SD = 0.718, p < 0.001) and item 7.2 "I recommend using referrals and recommendations on Facebook" (mean = 3.84, SD = 0.749, p < 0.001).The range of the mean scores for items pertaining to referrals and recommendations was between 3.58 and 3.83.This suggests that there was a significant agreement with each of the items pertaining to referrals and recommendations, indicating that the respondents interact with and use the information from referrals and recommendations on Facebook.From the findings reported in Table 1, it may also be surmised that there was a significant agreement with each of the items pertaining to forums and communities, indicating that the respondents at least use information obtained from forums communities on Facebook during their purchasing journey.
Table 1 reflects that the mean score for items pertaining to structural capital ranged from 3.43 to 3.7, signifying a general agreement to the items on the social commerce construct of ratings and reviews.The highest mean was reported for item 9.1 "I have an ongoing relationship with individuals on Facebook" (mean = 3.7, SD = 0.965, p < 0.001).The lowest mean was reported for item 9.4 "I feel a strong connection with individuals on Facebook" (mean = 3.43, SD = 1.047, p < 0.001).The T-test was applied to each social capital dimension to determine if there was a significant agreement or disagreement to each of the statements.As shown in Figure 3, the mean item scores are all greater than 3, suggesting a significant agreement to each of the statements across all three social capital constructs at 95% confidence.Source: Primary data Table 4 reveals that the mean scores for items pertaining to trust were between 3.35 and 3.67.The lowest mean was recorded for item 13.5 "If I need a product, I would like to purchase it from Facebook" (mean = 3.35, SD = 1.168, p < 0.001), and the highest mean was recorded for item 13.1 "I have a positive attitude with regards to purchasing products on Facebook" (mean = 3.76, SD = 1.009, p < 0.001).The results indicate that there is a significant agreement between each of the statements relating to purchase intentions.

Discussion
The influence of reviews on purchase intentions is explained in terms of the value of user-generated content to communicate effective information about products and services for the benefit of other potential consumers (Hajli, 2015).On the other hand, ratings immediately communicate the perceived value of the standard of a product or service (Hettiarachci, 2017).The influence of ratings and reviews has been recognised by some brands which are open to requesting consumers to share their reviews about their products and services on social media, to leverage the role of existing consumers acting as active communicators and content creators who create, engage and contribute to product and service ratings and reviews (Onete, Albastroiu & Dina, 2017).Increased engagement with ratings and reviews is recognised as being responsible for communicating more social cues to other actors on social networks to support their purchase intentions (Hajli, Wang, Tajvidi & Hajli, 2017).
Referrals and recommendations extend the role of consumers in accelerating information sharing in social commerce, allowing others to rely more on other consumer's experiences through their referrals and product recommendations (Hajli et al., 2017).Hettiarachci's (2017) assertion that recommendations are personalised product and service endorsements support the notion that consumers are becoming more socially influenced when making decisions over social commerce (Erkan and Evans, 2016).
Forums and communities allow participation in dedicated communities, groups or forums on a social platform where consumers can participate in group discussions and share social and commercial-related information (Goel, Johnson, Junglas & Ives, 2013 cited in Hajli, Wang, Tajvidi & Hajli, 2017).Forums and communities are significant resources for consumers searching information about specific products, IJIRMPS E-ISSN: 2349-7300 brands and services, and therefore play a significant role in supporting their purchase decisions (Hettiarachci, 2017).
Referrals and recommendations on Facebook provide social cues that appear as endorsements, therefore positively impacting trust in the recommended products and services.The trust generated will consequently have a positive influence on consumer purchase intentions in social commerce.The structure provided by forums and communities supports systems of common meanings among members of the 'online' communities.The knowledge-sharing that ensues generates trust in the individuals sharing the information and provides informational support that allows consumers to trust their purchase decisions.
Lee's (2017) distinction of the two dimensions of structural capital expands the concept firstly to, referent ties which motivate the consumption of products and services used by social referents such as friends and family.It follows then that reviews by referent ties are likely to be held at high value by potential customers due to the intimate social relationships they possess.Secondly, majority ties motivate decisions that are supported by the pursuit of a sense of belonging to the mainstream, which can be achieved by consuming products and services that are enjoyed by the majority and getting involved in engagements and discussions taking place in the mainstream (Lee, 2017) As such, engagement in the group activities of the forums and communities will work towards achieving the group's common goals.

Conclusion
This study sheds light on the role of social commerce constructs on the purchase intentions of Millenials using Facebook.Social media sites can be considered as platforms for creating networks, providing interconnectedness through social interactions between parties.In the context of social commerce, information sharing over social commerce constructs and consumption of information constitute the engagement and interconnectedness linking individuals in a network.
In contrast to traditional physical store environments, social commerce allows more open links among consumers as they can engage amongst themselves and share information through user-generated content.More connections can be made 'online' than in physical retail spaces because 'online' engagements and interconnectedness in 'online' environments circumvent physical, geographical, and time restrictions limiting interactions in the physical world.In addition, open and reciprocal links also exist between consumers and brands who engage with consumers via social commerce constructs, contrasting the directional links prevalent with traditional marketing media such as television and print, where the communication is directional from the brand to the consumer.The creation of more open links amongst consumers and between consumers and brands results in more cohesive networks, where cohesion refers to the degree of interconnections amongst nodes in a network.
The implications for social commerce are that the information shared over social commerce constructs in more cohesive networks is likely to have a stronger influence on the consumers' decisions than in less cohesive networks.Therefore, this justifies recommending that businesses should monitor the quality and content of the engagements around their brands on social media as information sharing in social commerce has a significant impact on influencing consumers' decisions, particularly purchase intentions.
In addition, businesses should embrace social commerce constructs and encourage existing customers to post reviews, recommendations, ratings and refer other consumers.User-generated content can help establish reciprocal interconnections with and amongst consumers in cohesive networks that can strongly influence customer behaviour and positively impact purchase intentions.
The Social Network Theory provides insights into the role of social media influencers in social commerce.The phenomenon of influencers has taken shape in recent years giving rise to influencer marketing.Influencer marketing is a form of the social media marketing that provides an avenue for brands to leverage the influence of individuals with large followings on social media to endorse products and services with their followers in a bid to influence their decision.Engagement with social commerce constructs and the interactions in social networks amongst consumers and influencers can thus provide social reinforcement that promotes the contagion process of information sharing.
Defining social capital as the potential to secure benefits by virtue of membership and participation in social structures enables a possible explanation for incentives that encourage information sharing behaviour in social networks.The effect is evident with both influencers and ordinary consumers because information sharing is a way to generate social capital.Engagement with social commerce constructs generates informational and emotional support that can eventually influence purchase IJIRMPS E-ISSN: 2349-7300 intentions.The implications for businesses are that participation and engagement with social commerce constructs can also generate new customers, trust and reinforce relationships with existing customers.
; Makmore & Alam, 2017; Yadav et al., 2013 cited in Sheikh, Yezhang, Islam, Hameed & Khan, 2019; Manzoor et al., 2020).Additionally, social commerce constructs are considered as a key source of social support (At-Tit et al., 2020).While social commerce constructs have similar purposes in supporting the distribution of information and establish social support platforms, they vary in their practical competences (Hajli et al., 2017).

PercentageFigure 1 :PercentageFigure 2 :
Figure 1: Gender and Ages of the Respondents Source: Primary data

9. 1 IFigure 3 :
Figure 3: Social Capital Constructs Source: Primary data ). Dashti et al. (2016) stated that consumers highly value and depend upon social commerce constructs to make purchase decisions.

Table 3
reflects the descriptive statistics for items pertaining to trust revealing the frequencies of the responses to each of the items, the means, standard deviations, and the t statistic for all the items.

Table 4 : Descriptive Statistics for Purchase Intentions
(Andiani & Alversia, 2017)arani et al., 2020;Ramanathan et al., 2017)ews indicate endorsement by the mainstream consumer groups and are likely to be perceived as having high standards, thereby positively influencing consumer behaviour.Other studies have also shown that such referent ties play a significant role in influencing behavioural intentions (Verkantesh & Bala, 2008 cited in Andiani & Alversia, 2017), whereas several researchers(Sheikh et al., 2019;Ghahtarani et al., 2020;Ramanathan et al., 2017)confirm the role of majority ties on information sharing and engagement.Relational capital incentivises consumers' behavioural intentions in relation to information sharing, due to the potential benefits that can be drawn from the expectations of a personal relationship that has developed through interactions with others(Andiani & Alversia, 2017).Social motives emanating from aspects such as trust, friendship, respect, warmth, honesty, and support are known to affect consumer behaviour which can be developed through social commerce constructs (Andiani & Alversia, 2017; Sheikh et al., 2017).Ghahtarani et al. (2020) consider these social motives as assets created and applied through social relationships, making it plausible to conclude that relational capital can positively affect consumer information and knowledge-sharing behaviour when making referrals and passing recommendations, due to the perceived benefit of the potential assets that can be drawn from such interactions.It was postulated that cognitive capital positively influences consumer information and knowledgesharing behaviour on forums and communities.Cognitive capital was considered in terms of knowledgesharing behaviour on forums and communities because of its focus on self-disclosure, which is defined as the information, feelings, and thoughts people reveal or disclose (Chen, Beaudoin and Hong 2016).
Forums and communities are social commerce constructs that allow consumers to share information and perspectives, create content and engaging with others.Cognitive capital, therefore, results in a structure that supports systems of common meanings among groups, incentivising knowledge-sharing over forums and communities, since individuals belonging to those groups share a common understanding among each other and share collective goals (Zhao, Tang, Liu & Liu, 2016;Ghahtarani et al., 2020:196).IJIRMPS E-ISSN: 2349-7300