Social commerce constructs and purchase intention on social commerce sites: investigating the role of affective and cognitive attitudes in managing digital marketing challenges

Literature on the sequence of relationships between social commerce constructs, attitudes, and behaviors is disputed. According to earlier scholars, behavior is followed by attitude, conversely, recent evidence suggests a slight relationship. To explore this phenomenon in digital marketing, the aim of the current study is twofold: to examine a parallel mediation of cognitive and affective attitudes between social commerce constructs and purchase intention followed by sequential meditation of cognitive and affective attitudes in the relationship between social commerce constructs and purchase intention. Data for the study was collected using Google Forms from individuals who have used social commerce sites for making purchases over the last six months. The hypothesized model was analyzed using PROCESS macro. The finding of the study revealed that the composite influence of Social Commerce Constructs (SCCs) on online Purchase decisions is significant. Interestingly, our empirical findings support the view of recent scholars that behavior in the social commerce context is not followed by attitude but the cumulative relationship is significant and small. In parallel mediation, the mediation effect of affective attitude between SCCs and purchase intention is considerable. This finding indicates that to grab the attention of current and prospective customers in the era of digital marketing, marketers must focus on emotional content in online reviews.