The influence of social Q&A systems on consumers' purchase intention: an empirical study based on Taobao's “Ask Everyone”
Information Technology & People
ISSN: 0959-3845
Article publication date: 24 February 2022
Issue publication date: 21 March 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Social question and answer (Q&A) systems have been rapidly developed on many e-commerce websites. The purpose of this paper is to explore how social Q&A systems influence consumers' information processing and purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors design this research based on the information adoption model (IAM). First, the auhors consider the impacts of the central route (information factor) and peripheral route (social factor) on consumers' perception of information usefulness in Q&A systems. Then, the authors verify the influence of information and social aspects on purchase intention and empirically test the model with structural equation modelling (SEM) using 428 effective data samples.
Findings
On the whole, the authors prove that purchase intention is influenced by information and social aspects, which are two paths in Q&A systems. Specifically, both answer quality and social presence positively influence information usefulness. Interestingly, respondent credibility and answer consistency do not significantly impact information usefulness. Moreover, information usefulness positively affects information adoption, which positively affects consumer purchase intention.
Practical implications
This paper provides insights on social Q&A system mechanism design.
Originality/value
First, this paper is a useful complement to the research on social Q&A systems on e-commerce websites. Second, the authors provide a new theoretical lens through which the impacts of social Q&A systems on e-commerce websites are understood by extending the IAM. Third, the authors add answer consistency into original information process routes, which obtains a finding that is different from those of prior research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the editors for their guidance and to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions. The work described in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 72171187).
Citation
Yang, R., Ai, S., Li, N., Du, R. and Fan, W. (2023), "The influence of social Q&A systems on consumers' purchase intention: an empirical study based on Taobao's “Ask Everyone”", Information Technology & People, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 477-499. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-10-2019-0568
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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