Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383

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Decision Support Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dss

S-commerce: Influence of Facebook likes on purchases and T

recommendations on a linked e-commerce site
Samadrita Bhattacharyyaa, Indranil Boseb,
⁎

a
Information Systems & Analytics, Jindal Global Business School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Haryana 131001, India
b
Management Information Systems, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata, India

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Social networking site (SNS) driven e-commerce, the latest social commerce (s-commerce) phenomenon, gains
Social commerce prominence with the introduction of the call-to-action feature. The call-to-action feature on any sponsored
Facebook likes post or advertisement on SNS redirects the user to a linked e-commerce website that offers the product.
Social networking site (SNS) Information cues available on the SNS are expected to influence user decision making on the linked e-com­
Social proof
merce site. Set in the context of Facebook driven e-commerce, this study explores how likes on Facebook
Attitude transfer
Controlled experiments
influence user's purchase and recommendation decisions on a linked e-commerce website. Using controlled
experiments we find that a higher volume of likes on Facebook leads to a higher likelihood of purchasing and
recommending a product on the linked e-commerce site. This effect is found to be mediated by the user's initial
product attitude formed on Facebook. An additional analysis examining the strength of the influence reveals
that the mere presence of likes is not sufficient to impact the user's decision making. In fact, a low volume of
likes elicits user behavior similar to absence of likes. The influence is effective only if the number of likes is
substantially high. The findings of the study add to the s-commerce literature by establishing the inter-site
influence of Facebook likes on user's purchase and post-purchase decisions and providing empirical evidence
of the efficacy of SNS-driven e-commerce.

1. Introduction
Recently marketers have started leveraging social networking sites
(SNSs) not only to promote their products but also to facilitate com­
mercial transactions through the channel, giving a boost to social
commerce (s-commerce). S-commerce, the newest paradigm of e-com­
merce, refers to the convergence of e-commerce and social networking
sites that facilitates “the delivery of e-commerce activities and trans­
actions via social media environment” [1]. SNSs such as Facebook,
Pinterest, Instagram, etc., have extended their capabilities from merely
hosting advertisements to providing avenues to carry out commercial
transactions through their sites. The latest call-to-action (e.g., shop now,
subscribe now) feature on sponsored posts and advertisements on SNSs is
an example of the extended capabilities in this regard. The call-to-ac­
tion feature redirects users from SNSs to a linked e-commerce site that
sells the product, giving rise to SNS-driven e-commerce purchases.
Users browsing their accounts on SNSs get exposed to advertisements or
sponsored posts about products and services. After an initial evaluation
of the products on the SNS they may choose to click on the call-to-
action button to visit the linked e-commerce site where they can finally
evaluate the product. The initial evaluation of the product on the SNS
and the final evaluation of the product on the e-commerce site are
expected to be impacted by the information cues available on the SNS.
One of the most common information cues on SNSs is one-click
social cue such as like (on Facebook) or love (on Instagram).1 Although
non-lexical or symbolic in nature [2], such one-click social cues convey
positively connoted user opinion [3,4] and indicate user preference or
interest [5] for the ‘liked’ item. Thus, it can serve as an indirect form of
recommendation and act as a source of social influence [6,7]. Facebook
like, a common form of one-click social cue, has gained a considerable
amount of attention in the academic research recently. This is due to
the fact that Facebook is the most popular SNS among individuals and
organizations [8,9]. As of 2020, Facebook has more than 1.7 billion
daily active users accounting for 37% of global internet users.2 It is also

Corresponding author.
⁎

E-mail addresses: samadritab14@iimcal.ac.in (S. Bhattacharyya), bose@iimcal.ac.in (I. Bose).

1
Facebook likes, Instagram's love, etc. are similar in terms of informational value. They are one-click social cues conveying users' liking or preference about a
content or post. In this study we limit our scope to Facebook likes only. However, the insights should be applicable to one-click social cues on other SNSs as well.
2
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/facebook-statistics; accessed on 5th August 2020.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2020.113383
Received 24 January 2020; Received in revised form 13 August 2020; Accepted 13 August 2020
Available online 24 August 2020
0167-9236/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose
a popular medium among marketers with more than 86% of marketers
in the US using Facebook for advertising in 2019.3 Due to its popularity
in practice, academic research has started showing interest in under­
standing the role of Facebook likes in users' perceptions and actions,
particularly in users' consumption decisions [6,10–16]. However, sev­
eral gaps still exist in this field of knowledge.
First, the role of Facebook likes in user decision making in inter-site
setting such as SNS-driven e-commerce has not been investigated. Most
of the existing studies have investigated the effects of likes for intra-site
purchases only, i.e., display of likes and users' purchasing decisions are
restricted to the same platform, e.g., a retailer's website [10], or a group
buying website [6]. However, in reality, users often come across likes
on a product on Facebook but make the final purchase decision on a
different site. Therefore, it is important to examine whether Facebook
likes exert any influence in inter-site settings. Second, the findings of
prior studies are contradictory with some claiming significant positive
effect of likes on users' consumption decisions [6,10,13,17], while some
questioning its effectiveness in persuading users (e.g., [14]). Third, most
of the previous studies have merely established association between the
number of likes and sales [6,15], without providing any evidence about
the causal effects of likes on the outcomes. Finally, studies have pri­
marily looked into the influence of likes on individuals' purchasing
behavior only [6,12,15,17], overlooking individuals' social sharing
behavior (e.g., spreading word of mouth, recommending a product to
others, etc.) which is an important aspect of s-commerce [18,19]. To
address these gaps, in this study we investigate the causal effects of
likes on Facebook on purchases and product recommendations on a
linked e-commerce site, delineating the inter-site influence of likes on
user decision making. Thus, this becomes one of the few studies to
empirically examine the causal influence of social cues on e-commerce
purchases, thereby assessing the value of s-commerce. Also, to the best
of our knowledge, this study is a novel attempt to identify the inter-site
influence of social cues by simulating the real s-commerce phenomenon
of Facebook-driven e-commerce. Specifically, we seek to answer the
following research questions:
In SNS driven e-commerce, how do likes on SNS influence user's product
evaluation on the SNS itself? How do likes on SNS influence a user's
decision to visit the linked e-commerce site that offers the product? In
SNS driven e-commerce, how do likes on SNS influence a user's final
decision to purchase and recommend4 a product on a linked e-commerce
site that offers the product?
We theorize our study based on the social proof heuristic, a psycho­
logical phenomenon in which individuals' decisions are impacted by
preferences and behaviors of peers [20,21], and the attitude transfer
hypothesis [22], a theory that expounds how individuals' attitudes get
transferred from one entity to another related entity. Combining the
concepts of social proof and attitude transfer we posit that users' initial
product attitude on Facebook, their intention to visit the linked e-
commerce site, and their final purchase and recommendation decisions
on the e-commerce site will be positively shaped by Facebook likes. The
conceptual model of our research is presented in Fig. 1.
Using controlled experiments, we substantiate the findings of extant
research by establishing a positive causal influence of Facebook likes
and the outcomes. We find that likes on Facebook exert a significant
and positive inter-site influence on users' likelihood to purchase and
recommend a product on the linked e-commerce site. The influence of
likes on users' final decisions (to purchase and to recommend) on the e-
3
https://www.emarketer.com/content/why-facebook-provides-scale-but-
instagram-and-pinterest-offer-relevance-for-social-commerce; accessed on 5th
August 2020.
4
Among different types of social sharing behaviors, in this study, we focus on
product recommendation as it directly nudges the receiver to purchase the
product.
2
Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383
+ Likelihood of
purchase on
linked e-
Product attitude commerce site
on Facebook +
+
Facebook likes Likelihood of
recommendation
on linked e-
+
Intention to visit commerce site
linked e-
commerce site
Fig. 1. The conceptual model.
commerce site are found to be mediated by the initial product attitude
formed on Facebook. Additionally, we conduct a post-hoc study to
determine whether SNS driven e-commerce provide any considerable
leverage to the marketers as compared to direct e-commerce.5 Hence,
we compare the results of our main experiment with the results of a
baseline experiment that captures users' likelihood of purchase and
likelihood of recommendation when visiting the e-commerce site di­
rectly. We find that both outcomes are significantly higher in case of
SNS driven e-commerce transactions than direct e-commerce transac­
tions if the volume of likes is substantially high. In case of a low volume
of likes, there is no significant difference between SNS driven e-com­
merce and direct e-commerce.
In terms of theoretical contributions, our study establishes the inter-
site influence of Facebook likes in shaping users' decision to purchase
and recommend a product on a different site. Specifically, it demon­
strates the causal impact of Facebook likes on users' attitude towards a
product not only on the same website (i.e., Facebook), but also on a
separate yet related website (i.e., the linked e-commerce site). It also
contributes to the literature by combining the concepts of attitude
transfer and social proof to explain the inter-site influence of social
cues. Further, by comparing SNS driven e-commerce to direct e-com­
merce purchases, the study provides empirical evidence about the role
of s-commerce. It offers insights on the strength of Facebook likes and
add to the literature on likes and other types of one-click social cues.
From a practitioner's point of view, our study examines the effective­
ness of likes in SNS driven e-commerce and provides implementable
insights to marketers who are contemplating to advertise their offerings
on SNSs. The findings of the research can help them devise effective
means of attracting more traffic to the linked e-commerce sites and
maximizing sales.
2. Literature review
A thorough review of existing literature reveals the relationship
between Facebook likes and users' product evaluation and consumption
decisions in different online settings. Prior studies have reported a
positive association between Facebook likes received on deals on group
buying websites and their quantity of sales [6,15], a positive effect of
likes on product's quality perception [10], brand evaluation and pur­
chase likelihood [23,24], also and a positive effect of likes on con­
sumers' impulse buying tendency [12]. Studies have also found a po­
sitive impact of peer liking behavior on user's consumption decisions for
experience products such as online music [13] and movies [17,25].
However, there still exist a few important gaps in extant literature. First,
majority of these studies have employed correlational analyses on
secondary data to find the association between number of likes and
group deal sales [6,26], limiting any causal claim. A few studies that
5
Direct e-commerce transactions are not driven by social networking sites. In
such cases, users directly visit the e-commerce sites to make purchases.
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose
have investigated the causal relationship between likes and users' pro­
duct perception [10] and tendency of impulse buying [12] through
experiments, have done so by restricting the likes and the purchase to
take place on the same platform. The inter-site influence of Facebook
like is rarely investigated. We intend to address the gaps by conducting
a controlled experiment to establish the causal influence of likes re­
ceived by a product on Facebook and users' intention to buy and re­
commend the product on a linked e-commerce site. Second, researchers
have mainly focused on purchase or sales as the outcomes when
studying the influence of likes [5,6,12,15,17]. For instance, some of
them have examined the impact of likes on group-deal purchases
[6,15], whereas others have checked the effect on Facebook consumer-
to-consumer and second-hand marketplace purchases [5,12], and
movie ticket sales [17]. We notice a lack of attention to identification of
the effect of likes on users' social sharing behavior, one of the critical
aspects of s-commerce [18]. We intend to advance the research by
examining the effect of Facebook likes on users' social sharing behavior
in terms of their intention to recommend a product in the linked e-
commerce site. Finally, although a few studies have underlined the
economic value of social media or SNSs as marketing and transactional
channels in e-commerce purchases [27–30], there is a paucity of studies
that provide empirical evidence of the value of social cues in SNS-
driven e-commerce. Also, there is a lack of studies that empirically
examine the additional value of s-commerce over e-commerce. In our
study, we not only investigate the role of social cues (on SNS) in SNS-
driven e-commerce but also compare it with direct e-commerce pur­
chases to demonstrate the additional value that SNSs offer in s-com­
merce transactions. Table 1 depicts the summary of related literature
and the gaps in them.
3. Theoretical background
The theoretical foundation of our study is based on the concepts of
social proof [21] and attitude transfer [22]. The central tenet of this study
is that a social cue such as Facebook like acts as a social proof that
positively impacts users' perceptions and actions including their inter-
site purchase and recommendation decisions. Further the transference
of this influence of likes from Facebook to another site (the linked e-
commerce site) is mediated by the initial product attitude formed on
Facebook, as expounded by the attitude transfer hypothesis.
3.1. Social proof heuristic
Social proof heuristic is a socio-psychological concept that explains
the human tendency to follow opinions or actions of others while un­
dertaking any decision. Rooted in the works of Cialdini, social proof is a
form of social influence that leads to the tendency of a large group of
individuals conforming to a particular choice, also known as herd be­
havior [21]. Social influence can be either normative or informational.
Normative social influence implies conformity to be liked or accepted by
others [31], whereas informational social influence occurs under un­
certainty where we seek information from others in order to decide or
Table 1
A summary of related literature and key gaps in the literature.
Major themes Description and key literature
Association between Facebook likes and Positive association of Facebook likes with sales [6,15,17], product's
user outcomes in e-commerce quality perception [10], brand evaluation and purchase likelihood
[23,24], and consumers' impulse buying tendency [12]
Relationship between Facebook likes
and e-commerce purchases or sales
Effect of Facebook likes on group-deal purchases [6,15], movie-ticket sales
[17], and Facebook C2C and marketplace purchases [5,12]
Value of SNSs in e-commerce Economic value of social media as a marketing channel in e-commerce
[27–30]
3
Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383
act [21]. Thus, social proof is essentially informational social influence
that leads to genuine acceptance of others' actions or opinions [32].
Research suggests that the strength of social proof depends on a number
of factors, such as the number of information sources, and the nature of
the information source. The same information coming from multiple
sources is perceived to be more credible and has a higher propensity to
be accepted [21]. Social proof becomes stronger if the information is
shared by reputed or trustworthy sources or peers rather than un­
familiar sources [20]. For example, studies show that information (e.g.,
online reviews) shared by reputed sources (reviewers) are of higher
quality and exert greater social influence on others [33]. Social proof
comes into play in case of online purchases where consumers are un­
certain about the quality of the product or the credibility of the mar­
keter. In such cases people seek information from fellow consumers in
their network as social proof.
3.2. Attitude transfer hypothesis
Individuals' perceptions and attitudes can be transferred from one
entity to other related entities. It is referred to as the attitude transfer
hypothesis [22]. For instance, attitudes can be transferred from an ad­
vertisement (source) to advertised product (target) and parent brand
[34], or from retailers' physical stores (source) to their online shopping
websites (target) [35]. The attitude transfer hypothesis has been widely
used in social psychology for explaining the formation of impression
[35,36]. Studies have shown that congruity between the source and the
target increases the chance of attitude transfer. When two entities are
closely related or the target entity is identified to a previously defined
source, attitude transfer is more pronounced. For example, [35] have
shown that congruity between a retailer's known offline store and the
online website increases the influence of prior attitudes on consumers'
evaluation of the website. Our current research context involves the
evaluation of a product on two closely related entities: Facebook and a
linked e-commerce site. We expect transference of product attitude
from Facebook to the linked e-commerce site during product evaluation
and subsequent purchase decision. In the context of our study, we ex­
pect Facebook like to act as a social proof as it indicates fellow con­
sumers' preference for a product. When users observe a product on
Facebook being liked by many of their peers, they are likely to form a
favourable attitude towards the product. When they visit the linked e-
commerce site, we expect the initial product attitude to be carried over
(attitude transfer process) to the e-commerce site and shape their final
product attitude. The conceptualized process is shown in Fig. 2.
4. Hypotheses development
4.1. Effect of likes on product attitude on Facebook and likelihood of
purchase on a linked e-commerce site
According to the social proof heuristic, individual's perceptions and
actions are influenced by the opinions and actions of others [20,21].
For example, the effect of e-WoM on sales of movie tickets [37], sales of
Gaps in literature
• AThecausal influence of Facebook likes is not established
• inter-site influence of Facebook likes is not explored
• The effect of Facebook likes on social sharing
behavior (e.g., recommendations) is rarely studied
• Empirical evidence of value of social cues in SNS-
driven e-commerce is not provided
• Lack of empirical investigation of additional value of s-
commerce over conventional e-commerce
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose
digital microproducts [38], etc. Facebook likes being a form of peer
opinion [6] can act as social proof and influence prospective buyers.
The fact that likes are provided by real users, some of them being fa­
miliar sources such as friends and acquaintances, further strengthens
the influence [20]. The social proof heuristic also suggests that in­
dividuals give more credence to the same information generated by
multiple sources [21]. Since a user can like a content only once, each
like indicates opinion from a unique user. Therefore, a higher number
of likes for a product indicates preference of a higher number of in­
dividuals, creating a higher degree of social proof. This will translate
into a positive attitude towards the product on Facebook. Thus, we
propose the following hypothesis:
H1a. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead
to a more favourable attitude towards the product on Facebook as compared
to a lower volume of likes.
A higher degree of social proof, resulting from a higher number of
likes is likely to amplify user's tendency to click on the call-to-action
button and visit the linked e-commerce site. Hence, we propose the
following hypothesis:
H1b. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead
to a higher likelihood of visiting the linked e-commerce site that offers the
product as compared to a lower volume of likes.
Furthermore, studies indicate a positive relationship between social
proof and online purchases (e.g., [38]). Therefore, we posit that a
higher degree of social proof resulting from a higher volume of likes on
Facebook will increase user's propensity to buy the product on the
linked e-commerce site. This leads us to the following hypothesis:
H1c. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead
to a higher likelihood of purchasing the product on a linked e-commerce site
as compared to a lower volume of likes.
4.2. Effect of Facebook likes on likelihood of product recommendation on a
linked e-commerce site
Individuals' intention to recommend a product to their peers is pro­
pelled by various social and psychological motivations, such as intention
to help others, expressing own choices, or even reduction of one's post-
purchase dissonance or anxiety [39]. However, recommendation beha­
vior involves costs such as time and effort expended in providing the
recommendation and the risk of reputation loss [39]. Although online
channels have reduced the time and effort involved in providing re­
commendations, the risk of reputation loss still exists. If a receiver is
dissatisfied with a purchase resulting from the recommendation, the
relationship between the recommender and the receiver suffers [40].
Thus, while recommending, users become cautious about the quality of
the product and tend to seek social proof to alleviate the uncertainty
involved in the process. Therefore, we can say a higher number of likes
on Facebook elicits a higher likelihood of product recommendation
among users. This leads to the following hypothesis:
H2. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead
to a higher likelihood of recommending the product on a linked e-commerce
site as compared to a lower volume of likes.
4
Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383
Fig. 2. Underlying process.
4.3. Mediating role of product attitude on Facebook
Prior research on attitude transfer has shown that formation of at­
titude towards an entity is influenced by previously developed attitude
towards the same or other related entities [22]. Several studies have
applied attitude transfer hypothesis in online settings. For example,
studies have demonstrated how initial attitude towards a company's
website leads to attitudinal responses towards the company itself
[35,36], or how positive attitude towards e-WoM services transfers to
mobile-WoM services [41]. Accordingly, in our context, when users
visit a linked e-commerce site from Facebook, they carry the initial
attitude towards the product formed on Facebook to the e-commerce
site. Due to the relatedness of Facebook and the linked e-commerce site,
the initial product attitude is expected to influence the formation of the
final product attitude on the linked e-commerce site, which in effect is
expected to shape users' purchasing and recommending decisions [42].
Thus, we can say that product attitude on Facebook will mediate the
inter-site influence of likes on users' likelihood of purchase and like­
lihood of recommendation through the process of attitude transfer.
Hence, we propose the following hypotheses:
H3a. Users' attitude towards the product on Facebook will mediate the effect
of likes on the likelihood of purchasing the product on a linked e-commerce
site.
H3b. Users' attitude towards the product on Facebook will mediate the effect
of likes on the likelihood of recommending the product on a linked e-
commerce site.
5. Research methodology
Existing research has predominantly used secondary data for ex­
amining the influence of likes (e.g., [6,15,17]), that has weaker causal
claims. To establish causality and increase the accuracy of con­
ceptualization of constructs, we conducted scenario-based controlled
experiments, as used in many previous studies (e.g., [43,44]). A ran­
domized controlled experiment is the best method to establish causality
as it minimizes the problems created by confounding variables and self-
selection bias6 [45]. Also, the scenarios used in the experiments emu­
late the case of real-life SNS driven e-commerce as closely as possible,
evoking responses that are more realistic.
5.1. Design of experiment
We created a simulated online shopping scenario where participants
were exposed to an advertisement on Facebook with a ‘shop now’
button which redirected them to a linked e-commerce site offering the
product. The number of likes on Facebook was manipulated using two
6
Randomized controlled experiments are ideally immune to endogeneity
problems as the treatments are directly under the control of the researchers.
The random assignment of subjects to different treatment conditions ensures
that any systematic variation in the outcome variable, potentially caused by any
unobserved factors, is countered. Moreover, controlled experiments ensure that
the occurrence of the outcome is temporally preceded by the treatment, thus
ensuring the treatment to cause the outcome and not the other way round.
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383

levels: low and high, to test the impact of likes on the outcome variables. Table 2
The aggregated product rating on the simulated e-commerce site was Treatment conditions.
also manipulated using two levels: low and high. Since aggregated Treatment no. T1 T2 T3 T4
product rating plays an important role in users' purchase decisions
[46,47], we examined whether our proposed relationships would hold Facebook likes x Aggregate High x High x Low x Low x
product rating High Low High Low
good under conditions of high and low product rating. This resulted in a
2 (Facebook likes: low and high) x 2 (Aggregated product rating: low and
high) full-factorial experimental design. The experiment was conducted
Table 3
in such a manner that each participant went through all four treatment
The Latin-square design of the experiment.
conditions, making it a within-subject design. Within-subject design is
more sensitive to the treatment than between-subject design and de­ Selfie-stick Travel adapter Power bank Headphones
mands a smaller number of respondents to produce reliable results. To Sequence 1 T1 T2 T3 T4
alleviate the problem of demand effect [48], a Latin-square design Sequence 2 T4 T1 T2 T3
approach is used. In Latin-square design each subject goes through all Sequence 3 T3 T4 T1 T2
the treatments, with the sequence of the treatments being randomized Sequence 4 T2 T3 T4 T1
among subjects [49]. Table 2 shows the treatment conditions mapped
to different combinations of input factors.
Each treatment condition was coupled with a unique product to Table 4
Pre-tested values for likes.
form a sequence which was varied across groups to ensure randomi­
zation. The four products selected for the experiment were: selfie-stick, Product Threshold value Number of likes Number of likes
travel adapter, power bank, and headphones. All the products were for Facebook likes considered as low considered as high

chosen to be utilitarian, low-involvement, and gender-neutral in nature Selfie-stick 1200 76 8138

to minimize any possible bias. Table 3 shows the Latin-square design
resulting from the different combinations of products and sequences.
The subjects who were randomly assigned to Sequence1 of the experi­
ment were first shown a scenario with high Facebook likes and high
aggregated product rating (T1) for a selfie-stick which was followed by
high Facebook likes and low aggregated product rating (T2) for a travel
adapter, and so on.
5.2. Preparation of stimuli
We conducted two rounds of pre-tests to prepare the stimuli for the
experiment, i.e., values required to operationalize the levels of both
Facebook likes and aggregated product rating. In the first pre-test 11
doctoral students at a university were asked to indicate the number of
likes they would consider sufficient to click on the ‘shop now’ button on
Facebook and visit the linked e-commerce site for each of the products
(selfie-stick, travel adapter, power bank, and headphones). Using these
values as threshold we operationalized the low and high number of likes.
A number substantially above the threshold was considered as high,
whereas a number substantially below it was considered as low. Table 3
presents the threshold value of Facebook likes indicated by the subjects,
and the values we used to operationalize low and high likes for each
product. We also asked them to report the minimum product rating at
which they would consider purchasing each product. The results sug­
gested an aggregated product rating of 3.8 out of 5 to be the threshold.
A rating below the threshold was considered as low and a rating above
the threshold was considered as high. The second round of pre-test,
conducted with a separate group of 12 doctoral students, confirmed the
values we used for operationalization of Facebook likes (as shown in
Table 4).
5.3. Subjects
In November 2018 we conducted the main experiment with in­
dustry professionals who were participants of an executive program in
digital marketing at a university. 60 executives were invited for the
experiment, and 42 of them completed it. 16 of these 42 respondents
were female. The average age of the respondents was 31. They re­
presented a population of Internet users and online shoppers who were
familiar with SNSs and e-commerce sites. More than 90% (37 out of 42)
were very familiar with online shopping, and around 68% (28 out of
42) respondents were very familiar with the ‘call-to-action’ (shop now)
feature of Facebook.
Travel adapter 1000 103 5326
Power bank 1500 96 4387
Headphones 2000 82 7643
5.4. Experimental procedure
The respondents were sent a link to the experiment via an e-mail
and were instructed to fill out a scenario-based survey. A lecture on
digital marketing, a part of their executive curriculum, preceded the
experimental session. The purpose of the experiment, as stated to the
participants, was to understand how SNSs facilitated e-commerce
transactions. After a brief introduction and sharing of general instruc­
tions for filling the survey, the respondents were randomly assigned to
one of the four sequences. A scenario was presented to set the context of
the experiment which read: “Imagine you are planning to go on a trip
within the next few days. Before your travel you need to purchase some
travel accessories such as selfie-stick, travel adapter, power bank, and noise-
cancelling headphone. You have casually browsed a few online shopping
sites to check the items but haven't made a purchase yet. Now, you log-in to
your Facebook account as a part of your usual routine and notice sponsored
advertisements with the items from a linked e-commerce site named The
Travel Store which specializes on travel gears and accessories. You notice a
‘shop now’ button on the advertisement which enables you to visit the
shopping website directly from Facebook, and there you can purchase the
item if you want to do so. You are requested to carefully go through each of
the scenarios and answer the following questions.” A fictitious website with
a generic name ‘The Travel Store’ was created for the experiment to
eliminate any prior attitude towards the website [43]. Also, unknown
or fictitious brands were used to insulate the experimental results from
the participants' existing bias. Each of the participants were subjected to
all treatments presented in a random order as a part of one of the se­
quences. Fig. A1 and Fig. A2 of Appendix present the layouts for the
first treatment condition of Sequence1 i.e., high Facebook likes and high
aggregated product rating condition coupled with selfie-stick. Each
treatment consisted of two layouts: the first part was a layout of Fa­
cebook with an advertisement of the product, and the second part was
the linked e-commerce site.
The value of likes on Facebook layout was manipulated using the
pre-tested values. After careful inspection of the page, the participants
were asked to indicate their agreement to the following statements on a
7- point Likert scale: “I have a favorable attitude toward the product”
(1 = “Strongly disagree” to 7 = “Strongly agree”), and “I would click on
‘shop now’ to get redirected to the e-commerce site” (1 = “Strongly

5
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose
disagree” to 7 = “Strongly agree”). These two statements were used to
capture the participants' attitude towards the product on Facebook.
Next, the participants visited the layout of the fictitious online store
‘The Travel Store’ where the product was displayed along with in­
formation cues such as aggregated product rating, price, brief descrip­
tion, and the number of customer reviews. The objective was to make
the layout look realistic. Only aggregated product rating was varied
across scenarios using the respective pre-tested values while controlling
for other elements of the layout.
Following each treatment condition, the participants were re­
quested to respond to a set of questions which included the measure­
ment of two dependent variables (DV) pertaining to their behavioral
intention: likelihood of purchasing the product and likelihood of re­
commending the product to their friends. The DVs were measured using
standard one-item scales adapted from previous studies [50,51]. The
respondents were required to rate their agreement to the statements on
a 7- point Likert scale: “I would purchase this product” (1 = “Strongly
disagree” to 7 = “Strongly agree”), and “I would recommend this product
to my friends” (1 = “Strongly disagree” to 7 = “Strongly agree”). Along
with the main responses, the participants were asked to answer a set of
questions for manipulation check. After four treatment conditions and
the corresponding set of questions, a general section was presented to
capture the respondents' demographics (age and gender), their famil­
iarity with s-commerce and their susceptibility to informational and
normative social influence. Finally, they were debriefed and thanked
for their participation. 42 respondents going through 4 treatments re­
sulted in 168 unique data points.
6. Analysis and results
6.1. Manipulation checks
To check whether our manipulation had worked as intended, we
asked the participants questions regarding their perception about the
number of Facebook likes: “According to you the number of likes the
product got on Facebook is:” (1 = “Extremely low” to 7 = “Extremely
high”). The perception about aggregated product rating was also cap­
tured using the question: “According to you the rating of the product is:” (1
= “Extremely low” to 7 = “Extremely high”). A comparison of mean
values using a t-test revealed that participants perceived low and high
Facebook likes differently (MLow = 2.59; SD = 1.65 & MHigh = 4.96;
SD = 1.81; t (162) = 8.72, p < 0.001). Similarly, a t-test for product
rating also indicated a significant difference between its low and high
values (MLow = 2.30; SD = 1.70 & MHigh = 5.26; SD = 1.63; t
(162) = 11.33, p < 0.001). From the observed values we concluded
that the manipulations worked as intended. Since these questions were
administered after each treatment, to avoid any possibility of hy­
potheses guessing two filler questions regarding the participants' per­
ception about the product's price and number of customer reviews were
also asked for each product. Responses to the filler questions were not
analyzed.
6.2. Results of the main experiment
The Latin-square design with repeated measurements on each re­
spondent introduced the possibility of correlation between observa­
tions. To address the issue, we used linear mixed model analysis to
analyze our data. It is a generalized and flexible approach that allows
correlation between observations and handles the issue of missing data
[52]. To test hypotheses H1a and H1b linear mixed model-based ana­
lyses were carried out with product attitude on Facebook and intention to
visit linked e-commerce site as the outcome variables and number of likes
as the independent variable. Product type, participants' age, gender,
familiarity with s-commerce, and susceptibility to informational and
normative social influence were used as control variables in the model.
The results showed a positive significant effect of likes on users' product
6
Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383
attitude on social media (F (1, 149.34) = 7.60, p < 0.01), and in­
tention to visit e-commerce site (F (1, 150.67.34) = 13.08, p < 0.001).
Thus, hypotheses H1a and H1b are supported. Table A1 of Appendix
shows the results.
To test the next set of hypotheses, similar analyses were conducted
with likelihood of purchase and likelihood of recommendation as outcome
variables and number of likes and aggregated rating as the independent
variables. Product type, participants' age, gender, familiarity with s-
commerce, and susceptibility to informational and normative social
influence were again used as control variables in the model. Table A2
and A3 of Appendix presents the results. We observe a positive sig­
nificant effect of Facebook likes on both likelihood of purchase (F
(1,149.79) = 7.74, p < 0.01) and likelihood of recommendation (F
(1,148.86) = 7.07, p < 0.01) for the product. The interaction effect of
Facebook likes and aggregated product rating turned out to be insig­
nificant for likelihood of purchase (p = 0.84) as well as likelihood of
recommendation (p = 0.79). This indicated that the effect of Facebook
likes was independent of the aggregated product rating. Hence, hy­
potheses H1c and H2 are supported. To identify the differences in the
outcome variables for different scenarios we compared their estimated
marginal means. Table 5 shows the estimated marginal means of like­
lihood of purchase and likelihood of recommendation, respectively.
Next, we explored whether the effects of Facebook likes on the
outcome variables were mediated by the participants' product attitude
on Facebook. We used the three-step procedure of Baron and Kenny for
mediation analyses [53]. The first step of this method required that the
independent factor (i.e., Facebook likes) to be significantly related to
both the outcome variables and the proposed mediator. Since each
subject went through repeated treatments, to handle the correlation of
standard errors within measurements we used regression analysis with
clustered standard errors that allowed for intragroup correlation, re­
laxing the usual requirement of the observations to be independent. The
analysis revealed that number of likes had a positive influence on the
mediator i.e., product attitude on Facebook (β = 0.67, t = 2.22,
p < 0.05), and also on the outcomes: likelihood of purchase (β = 0.71,
t = 2.83, p < 0.01) and likelihood of recommendation (β = 0.67,
t = 3.31, p < 0.01). The second step required that the outcome
variables be regressed on the mediator variable (product attitude on
Facebook) and the independent factor (Facebook likes). The regression
analysis revealed that likelihood of purchase was significantly predicted
by product attitude on Facebook (β = 0.29, t = 3.62, p < 0.001) as
well as the independent variable (β = 0.51, t = 2.19, p < 0.05).
However, the effect of the independent variable on purchase likelihood
became less salient after the introduction of the mediator. Similarly, the
likelihood of recommendation was significantly predicted by product
attitude on Facebook (β = 0.19, t = 2.14, p < 0.01) and the in­
dependent variable (β = 0.53, t = 2.83, p < 0.01). Sobel-Goodman
tests were conducted to check whether the direct effect of the in­
dependent variable (Facebook likes) significantly reduced when adding
the mediator (i.e., product attitude on Facebook) to the models. Indeed,
Table 5
Estimated marginal means for likelihood of purchase and likelihood of re­
commendation.
DV: Likelihood of purchase DV: Likelihood of
recommendation
Mean (Std. error) Mean (Std. error)
Likes Likes
Low High Low High
Aggregate product 2.27 (0.25) 3.03 2.18 (0.19) 2.81 (0.21)
rating low (0.28)
Aggregate product 4.84(0.26) 5.49 4.37 (0.23) 5.02 (0.22)
rating high (0.22)
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose
we found a significant reduction in the direct effect when the mediator
variable was introduced (likelihood of purchase: z = 2.2, p < 0.05;
likelihood of recommendation: z = 1.86, p = 0.05). Thus, as hypothe­
sized in hypotheses H3a and H3b the effects of Facebook likes on
likelihood of purchase and likelihood of recommendation were (par­
tially) mediated by product attitude on Facebook.
Baron and Kenny's mediation analysis has been criticized by some
scholars lately [54], as the method does not provide specific indirect
effects of the mediators. Therefore as a robustness check, we followed
the approach of mediation analysis suggested by Zhao et al. [54]. This
method has been followed in several other IS studies (e.g., [55]). It
suggests that a significant indirect effect is the sole basis of mediation,
and if an indirect effect is detected then we check the direct effect.
Depending on the significance of the direct effect a full or a partial
mediation can be claimed [54]. We ran two mediation analysis using
Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with maximum likelihood esti­
mation to check if product attitude on Facebook mediates the effects of
Facebook likes on purchase and recommendation likelihood. We found
significant indirect effect of Facebook likes on likelihood of purchase
with a value of 0.22 (p < 0.05). The direct effect of Facebook likes on
likelihood of purchase was also significant (β = 0.495, p < 0.05. So
we claim partial mediation. Similarly, a significant indirect effect of
Facebook likes on likelihood of recommendation was detected with a
value of 0.17 (p < 0.05). The direct effect of Facebook likes on like­
lihood of recommendation was found to be significant (β = 0.523,
p < 0.05), justifying partial mediation. The results of the robustness
check corroborate the results of the Baron and Kenny method in our
case, supporting hypotheses H3a and H3b. Table 6 presents the sum­
marized results of testing for all hypotheses.
7. Additional analysis
As an extension to our main study we verified whether individuals
showed any differences in their decision making about e-commerce
facilitated by Facebook and e-commerce by visiting the site directly. To
accomplish this, we needed to measure likelihood of purchase and like­
lihood of recommendation in case of a direct visit to an e-commerce site,
which constituted the baseline condition. In a separate experimental
setting, a group of 24 respondents were randomly assigned to one of the
two sequences presented in Table 7. They were exposed to the fictitious
e-commerce site (The Travel Store) directly and were instructed to
evaluate the products. The layouts of the e-commerce site were similar
to the second part of the main experiment, where the aggregated pro­
duct rating was manipulated across scenarios while controlling for
other information such as price, product description, and the number of
customer reviews. The participants rated their likelihood of purchase
and likelihood of recommendation for each case. 24 respondents going
through 4 treatments resulted in 96 unique records. Next, we compared
the values of outcomes for the baseline condition with the values ob­
tained in the main experiment.
Table 6
Summarized results of hypotheses testing.
Proposed hypotheses
H1a. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead to a more favourable attitude towards the product on Facebook as
compared to a lower volume of likes.
H1b. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead to a higher likelihood of visiting the linked e-commerce site that
offers the product as compared to a lower volume of likes.
H1c. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead to a higher likelihood of purchasing the product on a linked e-
commerce site as compared to a lower volume of likes.
H2. A higher volume of likes for a product advertised on Facebook will lead to a higher likelihood of recommending the product on a linked e-
commerce site as compared to a lower volume of likes.
H3a. Users' attitude towards the product on Facebook will mediate the effect of likes on the likelihood of purchasing the product on a linked e-
commerce site.
H3b. Users' attitude towards the product on Facebook will mediate the effect of likes on the likelihood of recommending the product on a linked e-
commerce site.
7
Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383
Table 7
Treatment conditions for the baseline experiment.
Selfie-stick Travel adapter Power bank Headphones
Sequence1 High rating Low rating High rating Low rating
Sequence2 Low rating High rating Low rating High rating
A comparison of means using the t-test revealed that likelihood of
purchase was not significantly different between the baseline condition
and low Facebook likes condition, irrespective of product rating.
However, there was a significant difference between the baseline con­
dition and high likes condition, as shown in Table 8a. The results for
likelihood of recommendation also followed the same pattern, as shown
in Table 8b. Our findings indicated that product evaluation under the
low likes condition was essentially the same as the conditions when
likes were absent. The presence of Facebook likes only exerted sub­
stantial influence when its number was sufficiently high. Fig. 3 shows
the likelihood of purchase and likelihood of recommendation, respec­
tively for baseline, high likes, and low likes conditions.
8. Discussion and conclusion
8.1. Summary of results
SNS driven e-commerce has given rise to the possibility of users'
purchase decisions getting impacted by likes on the SNS. In this study,
we theorize and test the effect of likes on Facebook on users' product
attitude on Facebook, and purchase and recommendation decisions in a
linked e-commerce site. The results indicate that Facebook likes exert a
positive inter-site influence on users' likelihood of purchase and re­
commendation on the linked e-commerce site, through the initial pro­
duct attitude developed on Facebook. Further, as an additional analysis
we compare our results with the case of direct transactions on the e-
commerce site. We find that the strength of Facebook likes becomes a
decisive factor in users' e-commerce purchases and recommendations.
Low number of Facebook likes does not demonstrate sufficient strength
to sway users' decisions. This implies that mere presence of a social cue
(Facebook likes) does not provide any extra leverage over direct e-
commerce, and the value of SNS-driven e-commerce can truly be reaped
if the volume of the social cue on the SNS is significantly high.
We attempt to provide a possible explanation of the observed results
using the information integration theory. According to the theory in­
dividuals combine several co-acting information from different sources
to produce a response, in terms of attitudes, preferences, behavior, etc.
[56]. Multiple information cues are integrated on the basis of their
respective valence (positive or negative) and weight (strong or weak)
[57]. Information has a positive valence if its presence strengthens in­
dividuals' existing attitude and a negative valence if it contradicts that
attitude. The weight relates to the degree of influence. A piece of
Results of hypotheses testing
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383

Table 8a 8.2. Contributions to IS research

A comparison between the results of the main experiment and the baseline
condition for likelihood of purchase for low and high likes on Facebook. This study contributes to the IS research in many ways. First, it adds
DV: Likelihood of Mean (Std. Mean (Std. Difference (B- t-Value to the s-commerce literature by establishing the inter-site influence of
purchase error) error) A) Facebook likes, particularly in a unique setting of SNS-driven e-com­
merce. Despite discrete anecdotal evidences suggesting the role of
Baseline (A) Low likes (B)
Facebook likes in the success of SNS driven online purchases, to the best
(N = 48) (N = 42)
Low product rating 2.34 (0.20) 2.28 (0.24) −0.06 −0.18 of our knowledge, our study is the first one to investigate it by simu­
High product rating 4.46 (0.22) 4.68 (0.27) 0.22 0.64 lating the phenomenon in a controlled experimental setting. It also
Baseline (A) High likes (B) expands the existing research that mainly investigates the effects of
Low product rating 2.34 (0.20) 3.08 (0.28) 0.74⁎ 2.18 Facebook likes in intra-site settings, i.e., Facebook likes appearing on
High product rating 4.46 (0.22) 5.5 (0.23) 1.04⁎⁎ 3.21 same the site where users make their purchases, e.g., group buying sites
[6,15] or a retailer's website [10] displaying Facebook likes on an item.
⁎
p < 0.05.
In our research we focus on the inter-site influence of Facebook likes
⁎⁎
p < 0.01.
that is becoming increasingly relevant with SNSs and e-commerce sites
getting heavily interconnected, amplifying the possibility of social cue
Table 8b
on SNS to impact users' decisions on linked e-commerce sites. Second,
A comparison between the results of the main experiment and baseline condi­
using controlled experiments we successfully establish the causal effects
tion for likelihood of recommendation for low and high likes on Facebook.
of Facebook likes on users' product attitude, and purchase and re­
DV: Likelihood of Mean (Std. Mean (Std. Difference (B- t-Value commendation decisions. The results of our study not only corroborate
recommendation error) error) A)
the findings of prior studies that show a positive relationship between
Baseline (A) Low likes (B) Facebook likes and users' perceptions and actions [6,10,13,17], but also
(N = 48) (N = 42) extends extant research that has predominantly established mere as­
Low product rating 2.02 (0.20) 2.17 (0.21) 0.15 0.52 sociation between Facebook likes and sales [6,15,17]. Thus, our study
High product rating 4.25 (0.21) 4.26 (0.28) 0.01 0.03
also contributes to the broader area of research on the role of SNSs in
Baseline (A) High likes user decision making [58,59]. Third, we add to the literature of s-
(B) commerce by establishing Facebook likes as a potent source of social
Low product rating 2.02 (0.20) 2.78 (0.26) 0.76⁎ 2.39
High product rating 4.25 (0.21) 5.02 (0.28) 0.77⁎ 3.21
proof. This expands the existing literature that has primarily considered
online reviews and ratings as the dominant forms of social proof
⁎
p < 0.05. [38,60,61]. We also extend the concept of attitude transfer in the do­
main of s-commerce. Any s-commerce purchase typically involves
information is assigned a higher weight if it is considered more cred­ multiple social sites (e.g., social media, blogs, etc.) apart from the
ible. According to the theory individuals' attitudinal response is a ‘buying and selling’ website. Thus, various information cues from dif­
function of the weighted sum of all information cues received by her. ferent sites are expected to shape users' attitude, leading to the possi­
For a user visiting an e-commerce site from Facebook, besides the usual bility of transference of attitude from one site to another. The attitude
effect of product ratings (displayed on the e-commerce site), an addi­ transfer hypothesis can help us understand shaping and reshaping of
tional positive effect of likes can be observed on the formation of their users' product attitude and thereby their final purchase decisions in s-
attitude. The weight of likes is determined by its degree of credibility. A commerce that involves myriad social information cues from various
higher number of likes imply higher weightage as the credibility of the websites. Finally, by comparing SNS driven e-commerce to direct e-
same information increases when it is generated from multiple sources commerce, our study provides empirical evidence on the value of SNSs
[21]. Thus, additional effect of likes is visible only when its weight is in e-commerce purchases. It shows that if sufficient in number, social
sufficiently high. A low number of Facebook likes on the SNS cannot media cues (Facebook likes) can create business value by shaping users'
significantly uplift users' attitude towards the product. In such a case decisions in a positive way. The comparison helps in demonstrating the
the product attitude is determined by the aggregated product rating additional value that SNSs bring into s-commerce transactions. Thus, it
only. Therefore, in the “low likes” scenario, we observe that users' advances the stream of research that examines the economic value of s-
purchase likelihood and recommendation likelihood is similar to their commerce, specifically of SNSs as commercial and advertising channels
baseline values, i.e., a low number of Facebook likes essentially has [27,28], contributing to the research on business value of SNSs [62,63].
similar influence as absence of likes. Also, the increase in the influence Our additional analysis offers deeper understanding about strength of
exerted by Facebook likes is not completely linear with respect to its Facebook likes, which is an underexplored area of research. We observe
increase in number, and is only significant after reaching a certain that, similar to conventional forms of e-WoM (online reviews, ratings,
threshold. etc.) [37], the strength of Facebook likes is also determined by its
number, but is only functional after crossing a certain threshold value.

Likelihood of purchase Likelihood of recommendation

5.5 5.02
4.46 4.68 4.25 4.26
3.08 2.78
2.34 2.28 2.02 2.17

Baseline Low 'likes' High 'likes' Baseline Low 'likes' High 'likes'

Low product rang Low product rang

High product rang High product rang

Fig. 3. The likelihood of purchase and likelihood of recommendation for baseline, low likes, and high likes conditions.

8
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383

Table 9
Key contributions of the study vis-à-vis the gaps in extant literature.
Gaps in literature Key contributions of this study

The inter-site influence of Facebook likes is not explored
The causal influence of Facebook likes is not established
The effect of Facebook likes on social sharing behavior is rarely
studied
Empirical evidence of value of social cues in SNS-driven e-
commerce is not provided
Lack of empirical investigation of additional value of s-commerce
over conventional e-commerce
Simulate SNS-driven e-commerce scenarios examining the effects of Facebook likes on purchase and
recommendation outcomes on a linked e-commerce site, establishing the inter-site influence of Facebook
likes
Establish the causal influence of Facebook likes on product attitude, and purchase and recommendation
decisions through controlled experiments
Establish the effects of Facebook likes on likelihood of recommendation
Provide empirical evidence of the value of social cues such as Facebook likes in SNS-driven e-commerce
transactions
Offer deeper understanding about the value and strength of Facebook likes
Compare SNS-driven e-commerce purchases to direct e-commerce purchases

Table 9 summarizes the key contributions of this study along with the on SNSs. Advertising on SNSs has a significant cost. Thus, marketers
research gaps that it addresses. should focus only on the products that are highly popular and have the
potential to garner a higher number of likes.
8.3. Implications for businesses
8.4. Limitations and future research directions
Our study helps e-tailers with practical insights on how to tailor
The study has certain limitations that can be addressed through
their social media strategies for enticing more users to their sites and
future research. First, we theorize and test our hypotheses for a single
creating positive attitude towards their offerings. First, the study shows
type of social cue, i.e., Facebook likes. Our findings can be general­
that Facebook likes, a common social cue, positively influences users' e-
izable for other forms of one-click information on other social media
commerce decisions including their intention to purchase and re­
sites such as love reaction on Instagram, +1 on Google Plus, etc. Future
commend a product. E-commerce sites should leverage this type of
research can validate our findings in other social media facilitated e-
social cues to their advantage by either integrating Facebook likes into
commerce transactions, especially Instagram driven e-commerce as
their websites, or by posting advertisements from their business pages
Instagram is becoming increasingly popular among users, particularly
on Facebook to garner additional social proof. In this regard, we ac­
the millennials, and companies as well. Moreover, as we know that
knowledge the recent initiative of some of the SNSs (e.g., Instagram) to
information from multiple sources exert greater social influence it
hide the actual number of likes on posts and show only an approximate
would be interesting to examine how Facebook likes and Instagram love
number in order to reduce unhealthy social comparison among users
reactions simultaneously influence SNS-driven e-commerce, and whe­
and improve users' mental well-being.7 While we appreciate the in­
ther they have differential impact, i.e., whether the influence of each
itiative, it testifies the undeniable social power of likes which should
type of social cue is contingent upon different purchase situations (e.g.,
not be missed out by the marketers and s-commerce retailers. There­
purchase timing, product involvement, etc.). Second, as with any ex­
fore, we recommend the SNSs to hide the exact number of likes in case
perimental research, the external validity of our study is potentially
of personal posts only and continue displaying the information on
limited. Using four different products in the experiments improve
sponsored posts and advertisements. Thus, marketers would be able to
generalizability to some extent, and also counter the carry-over effects.
enjoy the power of likes for commercial purposes only, without com­
However, all products that we chose for the experiments were utili­
promising people's mental health. Second, since a higher number of
tarian and low involvement in nature. Carrying out the experiment with
Facebook likes is observed to supplement the effect of aggregated
hedonic or high involvement products may generate additional in­
product rating on users' product evaluation, it can benefit products that
sights. Also, field experiments on real SNSs and e-commerce sites can be
have low ratings on e-commerce sites. We observe that Facebook likes
carried out to get insights that are even closer to the reality. Third,
can somewhat mitigate the unfavourable product attitude formed due
additional analysis reveals that a lower number of Facebook likes fails
to low product ratings. Therefore, for products suffering from the vi­
to uplift individuals' likelihood of purchase and recommendation as
cious cycle of low aggregated rating and hence low sales, may break the
compared to the baseline (no like) condition, whereas a higher number
cycle by the leverage provided by a higher number of Facebook likes.
of Facebook likes significantly boost individuals' likelihood of purchase
However, the number of Facebook likes should be sufficiently high to
and recommendation. Therefore, a threshold value of likes should exist,
drive users' attitude and purchase decision significantly. Third, e-tailers
above which Facebook likes exhibit considerable power in influencing
expecting more footfall on their websites through SNSs should strive to
users' decisions. Future research may identify the threshold value of
increase the social validation of their products and proactively seek
Facebook likes and provide a more nuanced understanding of its
avenues to garner more likes on their offerings. One of the ways could
strength. Fourth, in this study we do not hypothesize effects of intention
be by increasing visibility on the SNS, frequently posting advertise­
to visit the linked e-commerce site on purchase and recommendation
ments of their offerings, and soliciting likes from users through ap­
decisions as the conversion of visit into purchase (and hence post-
pealing content or messages. Finally, since we find that a lower number
purchase) behavior is not straightforward and depends on many factors
of Facebook likes fails to provide extra edge over the “no likes” con­
including customer type, visit type, individuals' purchasing threshold,
dition, products receiving a smaller number of likes on SNSs may not
etc. [64]. Future research may explore this relationship after taking into
drive enough traffic and, in turn, enough sales on the linked e-com­
account these factors. Finally, this study underlines the value of s-
merce site. Marketers are therefore recommended to be judicious about
commerce by establishing the effects of Facebook likes on e-commerce
the selection of products that they intend to display as sponsored posts
purchases at an individual level. Researchers may take it one step ahead
and ascertain the value of s-commerce at an organization level. Future
7
https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2020/01/the-truth-behind-the- studies may compare organizational outcomes, such as sales, for e-
removal-of-likes-on-instagram-and-facebook.html; accessed on 21 May 2020. commerce companies before and after they adopt SNS-driven e-

9
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383

commerce strategy. This will help us understand whether users' pur­
chase intention, induced by social media cues, actually translates into
sales.
In conclusion, this study shows that social cues on SNSs, such as
likes on Facebook, if sufficient in number, can create business value by
affecting users' initial product attitude, their intention to visit a linked
ecommerce site, and more importantly, their product purchase and
recommendation decisions. Therefore, we can say that Facebook likes
do matter. The study makes a novel attempt to establish the inter-site
influence of social cues, thus underlining the significance of SNSs in e-
commerce and substantiating the recent success of s-commerce.
Authors contribution
The authors do not wish to include any author contribution state­
ment for the paper.
Acknowledgments
The second author gratefully acknowledges the support received
from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in the form of a
Category I grant with work order number RP:ITRRLROCC/3809/2019-
20 for conducting this research.

Appendix

Scenario

Volume of likes

Fig. A1. First part of the experiment layout for Treatment 1 of Sequence 1.

10
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383

Fig. A2. Second part of the experiment layout for Treatment 1 of Sequence 1.

Table A1
Effect of likes on product attitude on Facebook and intention to visit the linked e-commerce site.

Factors DV: Product attitude on Facebook DV: Intention to visit the linked e-commerce site

Df Denominator df F p-Value df Denominator df F p-Value

Intercept 1 150.884 0.021 0.885 1 151.638 0.005 0.945

Likes 1 149.337 7.605 0.007⁎⁎ 1 150.675 13.080 < 0.001⁎⁎⁎
Product type 3 150.332 2.232 0.087 3 151.177 0.752 0.523
Age 1 150.724 8.025 0.005⁎⁎ 1 151.488 4.283 0.040⁎
Gender 1 151.028 0.000 0.988 1 151.953 0.614 0.434
Familiarity 1 150.662 0.557 0.457 1 151.456 1.145 0.286
ISIa 1 150.901 0.437 0.509 1 151.590 0.346 0.557
NSIb 1 151.433 2.996 0.086 1 152.220 4.056 0.046⁎
⁎
p < 0.05.
⁎⁎
p < 0.01.
⁎⁎⁎
p < 0.001.
a
ISI: Susceptibility to informational social influence.
b
NSI: Susceptibility to normative social influence.

Table A2
Effect of likes on likelihood of purchase and likelihood of recommendation on the linked e-commerce site.

Factors DV: Likelihood of purchase DV: Likelihood of recommendation

df Denominator df F p-Value df Denominator df F p-Value

Intercept 1 149.278 0.54 0.46 1 148.033 0.34 0.56

Likes 1 149.790 7.73 0.006⁎⁎ 1 148.857 7.06 0.009⁎⁎
Aggregate product rating 1 151.081 96.98 0.000⁎⁎⁎ 1 149.488 78.4 0.000⁎⁎⁎
Likes⁎ Aggregate product rating 1 149.89 0.04 0.839 1 148.889 0.06 0.799
Product type 3 148.970 0.21 0.888 3 147.475 0.37 0.769
Age 1 149.180 3.07 0.082 1 147.910 1.25 0.265
Gender 1 149.513 0.09 0.757 1 147.979 0.35 0.553
Familiarity 1 149.112 0.003 0.956 1 147.813 1.03 0.310
ISIa 1 149.461 0.26 0.609 1 148.310 0.64 0.422
NSIb 1 149.970 2.81 0.097 1 148.598 10.7 0.000⁎⁎⁎
⁎⁎
p < 0.01.
⁎⁎⁎
p < 0.001.
a
ISI: Susceptibility to informational social influence.
b
NSI: Susceptibility to normative social influence.

11
S. Bhattacharyya and I. Bose
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Samadrita Bhattacharyya holds a PhD in Management
Information Systems from the Indian Institute of Management
Calcutta. She holds B.Tech in Electronics and Communication
Engineering from West Bengal University of Technology and
M.Tech in VLSI Design from Indian Institute of Engineering
Science and Technology Shibpur. Her research interests in­
clude social commerce, online reviews, online communities,
and data analytics. Her research articles have appeared in
Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision
Support Systems, and Information & Management. She pre­
sented her work in reputed conferences such as Hawaii
International Conference on System Sciences, Australasian
Conference on Information Systems, and Workshop of e-
Business. At present she is Assistant Professor of IS & Analytics
in Jindal Global Business School of O.P. Jindal Global University.
13
Decision Support Systems 138 (2020) 113383
Indranil Bose is Professor of Management Information
Systems at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
(IIMC). He acts as the Chairperson of Doctoral Programs at
IIMC He was the Founder and Co-ordinator of IIMC Case
Research Centre from 2012-2020. He holds a BTech from
the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, MS from the
University of Iowa, and MS and PhD from Purdue
University. His research interests are in business analytics,
digital transformation, information security, and manage­
ment of innovation. His publications have appeared in MIS
Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Communications of the ACM,
Communications of AIS, Computers and Operations
Research, Decision Support Systems, Electronic Markets,
Ergonomics, European Journal of Operational Research, Information & Management,
International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Organizational Computing and
Electronic Commerce, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and
Technology, Operations Research Letters, Technological Forecasting and Social Change,
etc. He serves as Senior Editor of Decision Support Systems and Pacific Asia Journal of
AIS, and as Associate Editor of Communications of AIS, Information & Management, and
Journal of AIS.