USER ACCEPTANCE OF SOCIAL SHOPPING SITES
Social Comparison and Trust
Jia Shen and Lauren Eder
College of Business Administration, Rider University, 2083 Lawrenceville Rd., Lawrencevill, NJ, U.S.A.
Keywords: Social shopping, Social comparison, Trust, Privacy, Technology acceptance.
Abstract: This paper describes a study on user acceptance of an emerging e-commerce technology: social shopping
websites. Leveraging the power of social networking technologies with online shopping, social shopping
sites have emerged in recent years to address the fundamental nature of shopping as a social experience.
Despite tremendous business interest and anticipated potential benefits, some central issues remain such as
whether users will adopt such websites and the factors that affect the adoption. Incorporating social science
theories, this study extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with social factors such as an online
shopper’s tendency to social comparison, and trust in information privacy and data security. Results provide
significant support of the extended model. Directions for future research are discussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Online social networking and social media
technologies continue to gain recognition in the
popular press (Vascellaro et al. 2011). Seeking to tap
into the potentials of these technologies for E-
commerce, businesses are exploring ways to
combine the power of social networking with online
shopping for better service and new business
opportunities. For example, there is an upward trend
of merchants creating ads and retails pages on
Facebook and Myspace, with the intention of
attracting online social network users and their
friends (Needleman 2010). Additionally, a new
wave of start-up firms are developing text mining
algorithms to track "social relationship data"
between online users, that can be used to target
behavior-oriented ads. However the evidence is still
inconclusive that these are the best online platforms
to increase sales using social networking.
Social shopping sites have emerged as another
platform to combine online social networking with
online shopping. Gathering people in an online place
to exchange shopping ideas, social shopping sites
offer features similar to social networking sites such
as personal blog and profile webpage, with the
addition of E-commerce tools and software to allow
users to easily copy product pictures and post them
on their web pages. Users can also post product
recommendations, create wish lists, comment on
items, and make purchases. The result is the creation
of online social shopping communities. Examples of
social shopping sites include Kaboodle.com,
ShopStyle.com, ThisNext.com, and Wists.com, all
launched between 2006 and 2007.
Social shopping aims at addressing the
fundamental nature of shopping as a social
experience. Despite tremendous business interest
and anticipated potential benefits, some central
questions remain. Will consumers adopt social
shopping technology? What are the factors that lead
to the adoption? Although technology adoption in
general and e-commerce adoption in particular are
both well studied, the specificity of social commerce
clearly calls for further theoretical development.
Such understanding will also better inform business
managers who make strategic decisions regarding
the integration of social networking and online
commerce. Additionally, system designers will have
important insight that may lead to improved
functionality, design, and use of such systems.
2 CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
To answer these questions, this research utilizes the
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis
1989). TAM has been recognized as one of the most
powerful models in examining the acceptance of
219
Shen J. and Eder L..
USER ACCEPTANCE OF SOCIAL SHOPPING SITES - Social Comparison and Trust.
DOI: 10.5220/0003416802190224
In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS-2011), pages 219-224
ISBN: 978-989-8425-56-0
Copyright
c
 2011 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

new IT. Adapted from the Theory of Reasoned
Action (TRA) model, TAM posits that two beliefs –
perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived
usefulness (PU) - determine one’s behavioral
intention to use a technology. While the parsimony
of TAM makes it easy to apply to a variety of
situations, the leanness of the model is also
considered as its key limitation. The model lacks the
ability to help business managers or system
designers to understand the factors that contribute to
the adoption or abandonment of new IT. As a result,
a number of studies have been conducted to examine
additional antecedents to IT use (e.g., cultural
dimensions (Mao and Palvia 2006)).
This study proposes two additional constructs as
key antecedents to the adoption of social shopping
sites: tendency to social comparison (TSC) and trust.
Social comparison is an essential social phenomenon
where human beings compare themselves with
others for self-evaluation and information seeking.
Rooted in social science, the original theory of social
comparison treated social comparison as a secondary
choice when objective information to evaluate
oneself is not available (Festinger 1954). Subsequent
research suggests that social comparison is a central
feature of human social life (Buunk and Gibbons
2007). In this study, tendency to social comparison
is defined as the degree to which an individual tends
to compare his or her opinions with others, and be
influenced by others. Recent studies have found that
individuals differ quite a bit in their tendency to
compare themselves with others (Buunk and
Gibbons 2007). A related yet different construct that
has been examined in extended TAM research is
social influence (Hsu and Lu 2004), which is defined
as the degree to which an individual perceives that it
is important that others believe he or she should use
the new system. While social influence measures an
individual’s compliance with social norms under
pressure, the tendency to social comparison factor
operates through an individual feeling bond with
likable sources, and accepting information from
outside sources.
The second construct, trust, is important in
business transactions and the adoption of new
technologies. Studies have shown that trust is
particularly important in E-commerce because of the
limited human interactions between the shopper and
the vendor (Palvia 2009). In online shopping,
previous studies have found that factors contributing
to consumers’ trust in online stores are related to
personal information privacy and data security.
Research suggest that privacy is the number one
consumer issue facing Internet use, and continues to
be the main concern affecting online behavior such
as website personalization (Chellappa and Sin 2005)
and online trading (Lee 2009). Data security
concerns such like security breaches of online
vendor’s information systems and interception of
transactional data are also important in customer
trust. Prior studies suggest that when privacy and
data security are perceived to be low, consumers are
reluctant to give out personal information over the
web (Chen et al. 2004).
3 RESEARCH MODEL AND
HYPOTHESES
Based on TAM and the two additional variables
described above, a research model is proposed with
five variables: Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU),
Perceived Usefulness (PU), Tendency to Social
Comparison Online (TSCO), Trust, and Behavioral
Intention to use social shopping sites (BI). Figure 1
shows the research model.
H5
H2
H1Perceived
Ease of Use
Tendency to
Social
Comparison
Online
Behavioral
Intention
Perceived
Usefulness
H3
Trust
H4
Figure 1: Research Model.
According to TAM, the hypothesized
relationship among PEOU, PU, and BI are specified
below
• H1: Perceived Ease of Use will positively affect
Perceived Usefulness of social shopping websites.
• H2: Perceived Usefulness will positively affect
Behavioral Intention to use social shopping
websites.
Given the social nature of shopping, tendency to
social comparison is postulated to have an impact in
user’s adoption of social shopping sites. Empirical
studies of online shopping suggest that the provision
of recommendations and consumer reviews increase
the perceived usefulness of the website (Kumar and
Benbasat 2006). These findings are consistent with
marketing research indicating that consumers are
influenced by other consumers in their decision
making process, such as information seeking,
alternative evaluation, and choice (Friedman and
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Fireworker 1977). Given the social nature of
shopping and the features specific to social shopping
websites, it is postulated that people who are more
likely to compare and be influenced by others are
more likely to find the social shopping sites useful
(H3). Thus the hypothesis is:
• H3: Tendency to Social Comparison Online will
positively affect Perceived Usefulness of social
shopping websites.
Many studies have shown that trust is crucial in
business and social interactions that are
characterized by a dependency on another party
combined with a lack of control over that party.
Empirical studies have demonstrated that trust
significantly affect perceived usefulness of
information systems such as E-commerce and ERP
systems (Gefen 2004). In particular, research
indicates that consumers’ trust is determined by their
concerns about information privacy and security
measures of online stores (Chen et al. 2004). In this
study, we measure trust in terms of privacy concerns
and security measures in social shopping sites, and
hypothesize that increased level of trust with the
social shopping site will be associated with
increased level of perceived usefulness of the
website and intended use of the website.
• H4: Trust in the sites will positively affect
Perceived Usefulness of social shopping websites.
• H5: Trust in the sites will positively affect
Behavioral Intention to use social shopping
websites.
4 DATA COLLECTION
Data were collected through a survey conducted in
spring 2008 and spring 2009. The survey was given
to undergraduate business students at a university in
the northeastern region of United States. Subjects
were instructed to use a specific social shopping site,
Kaboodle.com, and to explore its various features.
Kaboodle.com was chosen for this study given it is
the leading social shopping site at the time of the
research, with about 2.5 million visitors each month
as of spring 2009 (Kasteler 2009) and presently over
14 million monthly visitors as of April 2011
(www.kaboodle.com/zm.about). The site provides
many features supporting social shopping activities.
The features subjects were instructed to explore
include unique features on social shopping sites such
as shopping soul mates and compatibility tests,
shopping groups, and featured shoppers, as well as
traditional E-commerce functions such as browsing
by brands and searching. Subjects were then asked
to write up and submit a short essay reflecting on the
features provided on the website. Extra course
credits were awarded for subjects’ participation in
the survey. The precise purpose of the study and the
research model were not discussed with the subjects.
After completing the assignment, students were
given the URL to participate in the online survey. In
constructing the questionnaire, the PEOU, PU, and
BI items were adapted from Davis (Davis 1989).
Items for the Tendency to Social Comparison scale
were adapted from Gibbons and Buunk (Gibbons
and Buunk 1999) study. The trust scale was adapted
from Chen et al. (Chen et al. 2004) on perceived
trust of virtual stores in terms of information privacy
and data security. All items were measured on a
seven-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1)
to strongly agree (7).
5 DATA ANALYSIS
AND RESULTS
Among a total of 157 students, 117 valid responses
were collected, resulting in the response rate of
74.5%. To examine the hypotheses and research
model, the data were analyzed using Structural
Equation Modeling (SEM) and SmartPLS software
(Ringle et al. 2005). This approach allows
simultaneous analysis of the measurement model
(factors), and the structural model (path analysis),
and has been widely used. In the measurement
model, the reliability of the constructs as measured
in the AVE and composite reliabilities of the
different measures all exceed the recommended 0.70
level, indicating that the measures are robust. Tests
on convergent validity and discriminant validity
were conducted, and the results supported the
measurement model. Analysis on the mean and
standard deviation (SD) for each of the main
constructs in the model reveal that subjects reported
overall positive attitude towards the social shopping
site, and found it easy to use, useful, trustworthy,
and are likely to use it in their shopping tasks in the
future (mean varies between 4.20 and 4.99 and SD
varies between 1.15 and 1.57). Details on the
measurement model are not discussed due to space
limitations.
Figure 2 shows the results of the structural
model. The test yields results of path coefficients
(β), which indicates the positive and negative
relationships between the constructs, the strength of
USER ACCEPTANCE OF SOCIAL SHOPPING SITES - Social Comparison and Trust
221

the relationships, and their statistical significance.
The test also yields squared multiple correlations
(R
2
) values, which indicate the amount of variance
of the dependent construct that can be explained by
the independent constructs.
Figure 2: Research Model Results.
Overall the model accounts for 51% of variance
in behavioral intention and 49% in PU. PEOU is a
strong antecedent to PU (β= .50, p<.001), and PU
has a strong effect on BI (β= .72, p<.001). Tendency
to Social Comparison Online has a significant effect
on PU (β= .30, p<.001). Trust affects PU (β= .17,
p<.05), but not BI directly.
Thus hypotheses H1-H4 were supported. H5 was
not supported.
6 DISCUSSIONS
This study examined factors associated with one’s
intention to use social shopping websites. The
significant relationship between perceived
usefulness and the intention to use these kinds of site
for online shopping has important practical
considerations. As the use of social media continues
to grow among Internet users and consumers, our
results strongly suggest that businesses should
consider the potential power associated with
integrating online social networking technologies
with their e-commerce strategies.
The study revealed that trust affects PU (with a
coefficient of .17), suggesting the importance of
protecting user’s privacy and strengthening data
security to build trust. Individual user’s tendency to
social comparison affected how much they
perceived the website as useful (with a coefficient of
.30), pointing to importance of designing features
that support easy comparison with other online
shoppers.
One interesting result is that trust did not affect
BI directly. The effect was through PU. This result
indicates that in the context of social shopping, trust
does not lead directly to the acceptance of such
websites, although it does lead to perceived
usefulness of the sites. An explanation for this may
be that the online consumer may already have a
certain level of trust associated with the usefulness
of online shopping activities, therefore the difference
between an online storefront and a social shopping
site is not a differentiating factor.
In the open-ended questions, study participants
reported that one of the main reasons they would
adopt the website in future shopping activities is
because of the social interactions with other
shoppers online: “I would use Kaboodle over other
online shopping sites because it has a more
personable feel and the recommendations for other
products come from people instead of computer
generated outputs.” “What I liked best is the ability
to meet people. It allows for a more personal
connection and a more trusted opinion.” “Amazon is
also more of an individual experience while
shopping online. Kaboodle being a social shopping
website makes shopping a little bit more fun.”
The social features of the website not only enable
social interactions among web users, but can also
serve other purposes such as making new
discoveries of products online. “I find the people
functions of Kaboodle the most useful. The
shopping soul-mates and compatibility test really
helped me discover new gift ideas and it was neat to
see other people's profile lists and similar tastes that
they had to me.” “I would (use the website in the
future) because it would allow me to see what
people with shopping habits similar to mine to see
what they like and purchase, and can help me decide
on gifts and purchases in the future.”
When asked about concerns that prevent them
from using the site in the future, privacy concerns
topped the list. “I may have privacy issues because it
is very interactive with others, which I believe could
create easier access for other to hack into my
account and learn about my information.” “I am not
able to limit what others see on my profile.” Another
issue that was pointed out was the trust in other
shoppers. “For me, shopping has always been a
social activity. I go with my family or my friends to
get their input on certain items. I found it difficult to
trust the opinions of the other online shoppers at
Kaboodle.com simply because I did not know
them.” This suggests that for social shopping sites to
be truly useful, the credibility of the website and its
users are critical.
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7 CONTRIBUTIONS AND
FUTURE RESEARCH
This research is among the first to empirically
examine the merging of social networking with E-
commerce technologies for consumer online
purchasing. Theoretically, this research contributes
by extending the Technology Acceptance Model
with factors extracted from social comparison theory
and trust theory. The two additional factors:
tendency to social comparison and trust were
significant in the model in addition to PEOU and
PU. A new scale, tendency to social comparison,
was developed and empirically tested as reliable.
Understanding consumer perceptions and
intentions to use a social shopping website have
direct management implications. A recent study
empirically confirmed the economic value
associated with online user reviews and product
sales through an investigation that used text mining
algorithms (Ghose and Ipeirotis 2009). In the study,
a clear relationship emerged between user-generated
product information and reviews and online product
sales. The combined empirical evidence from their
study with this one, which shows overall favorable
attitudes towards the adoption of web sites that go
beyond consumer reviews and enables consumers to
enjoy the social aspects of shopping online,
demonstrates that the strategic integration of online
products sales with online social networking is very
important.
From a practical perspective, the current research
model suggests that in addition to focusing on ease
of use and usefulness, the site should allow users to
easily compare their shopping experiences and
opinions with others, while also fostering a sense of
trust by protecting privacy with strong data security.
The result can produce a greater likelihood that
consumers will find the site useful, use the site, and
increase product sales. Regarding trust on privacy
and data privacy, firms that experiment with ways to
combine social networking with E-commerce may
face information privacy violations if they are not
transparent in their data collection activities (Steel
2010). Some companies are addressing the privacy
concerns by providing users with more information
and controls on the data that being tracked
(Valentino-Devries 2010). The potential value of the
social shopping website is that users voluntarily
create shopping profiles to aid in their own
shopping. Because the profile data is not personally
identifiable, the relevant value of the content can be
shared and integrated with other users without
violating personal information privacy.
One possible direction for future research is to
examine the type of online shopping tasks that are
most suitable for social shopping websites. Will
users prefer using social shopping sites than
traditional E-commerce site for certain shopping
activities, such as browsing or searching (Hong et al.
2004)? Will they prefer the site when they are more
involved with the product, i.e., when the product is
more relevant to them? Also, will the strength of the
social ties affect users’ trust of such shopping sites,
such as family and friends vs. other online shoppers?
With the growing popularity of social media and E-
commerce technology integration, research in this
area is timely and important.
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