| dc.description.abstract | As social commerce gains momentum, users are transitioning from being customers to becoming individual sellers, unveiling a realm of personal business opportunities. Amidst a multitude of homogeneous competitors, namely other individual sellers, individuals ought to differentiate themselves by establishing a distinctive competitive advantage. To achieve this, cultivating a robust social commerce capability is of utmost importance for individual sellers. While existing literature in social commerce primarily focuses on examining the influence of various factors on individual purchase intentions from the customer’s perspective, scant attention has been given to understanding the formation of social commerce capabilities specifically for individual sellers. This study aims to bridge this research gap by investigating the mechanisms that drive the development of individual sellers’ social commerce capabilities for individual sellers. Drawing inspiration from organizational learning theory, we explore the impact of both exploratory learning activities (such as functions application, opportunities discover, knowledge enhancement) and exploitative learning activities (including functions utilization, goods adjustment, experience judgement) on the establishment of social commerce capabilities. Additionally, we shed light on how these capabilities influence their relationship and sales performance, illuminating a comprehensive understanding of their journey towards achieving remarkable outcomes.
The survey data from 453 individual sellers were collected through the convenience sampling method using electronic questionnaires. The collected data were then analyzed using partial least squares analysis. The findings showed that the pivotal role of two key components within exploratory learning activities—functions application and knowledge enhancement—which exhibited a significant and positive influence on the development of their social commerce capabilities. Similarly, functions utilization and experience judgement were found to have a notable impact on social commerce capabilities. However, both opportunities discover and goods adjustment did not manifest their anticipated effects on the social commerce capabilities. Furthermore, our study demonstrated the strong and positive association between social commerce capabilities and relationship performance as well as sales performance. By providing valuable insights and practical implications, this research contributes distinct perspectives to the existing social commerce literature, elevating the understanding and strategic management of this evolving field. | en_US |