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Summer 7-19-2017

Filipino Consumers' Decision-Making Model in

Social Commerce
Jypzie M. Catedrilla
De La Salle University Manila, jypzie_catedrilla@dlsu.edu.ph

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Catedrilla, Jypzie M., "Filipino Consumers' Decision-Making Model in Social Commerce" (2017). PACIS 2017 Proceedings. 112.
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 Filipino Consumers’ Decision-Making Model in Social Commerce

Filipino Consumers’ Decision-Making

Model in Social Commerce
Completed Research Paper
Jypzie M. Catedrilla
De La Salle University
Manila, Philippines
jypzie_catedrilla@dlsu.edu.ph
Abstract
The proliferation of the social activities in the social media platform in the
Philippines created an avenue for business entrepreneurs to take advantage of the
opportunity to expand their markets and to attract online consumers, thus social
commerce has emerged as the new era of e-commerce. The importance of social
commerce has been widely explored in recent literature in understanding the several
factors influencing the intention of the consumer to purchase online. However, there
is a lack of studies here in the Philippines on how social interactions affect the
intention of the individuals to engage in social commerce specifically in a Facebook
platform. The study aims to examine the social interaction of Filipino consumers as
for how this would affect their online purchasing behavior by conceptualizing the
constructs of WOM communication and observing other consumer’s purchases and
examining their impacts on the intention to purchase, actual purchase and post-
purchase behavior. The study collected 125 responses from the surveyed online
consumers. The study resulted that the positive valence WOM and observing other
consumer’s purchases significantly affect consumers’ intention to purchase a
product, leading to the opportunity of actual purchase and sharing of product
information with peers on social commerce platform.

Keywords: social commerce, Facebook, eWOM communication, consumer behavior

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 Filipino Consumers’ Decision-Making Model in Social Commerce

Introduction
Nowadays, consumer decision on purchasing products online is influenced by opinions and
reviews of peers who are also engaged in the social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, twitter,
etc. Consumers tend to look for reviews and recommendation before dealing with any purchase
transactions as they seek for advises and opinions from their peers. The study of Wang & Yu (2015)
highlighted the effects of social interaction by conceptualizing the word of mouth communications
along with the observing other’s purchase behavior in influencing purchase decisions on social
commerce sites. This study was resulted from the rise of social media sites as a platform not only in
maximizing consumer’s browsing activities for products and services but also in sharing buying
experiences and to some extent, to raise some issues on the social commerce.
As more Filipinos shop online, Facebook can be considered as the best platform supporting
social commerce that strongly upholds a strategic driver in capturing the potential market of online
shoppers. It has become a game changer for various entrepreneurs to gain a competitive advantage in
the virtual market because of the country’s high penetration rate of 41 percent (“Philippine E-
Commerce Roadmap,” 2015) making the Philippines as one of the crucial markets for e-commerce.
Thus, many business startups are taking advantage of the social media sites in launching their
businesses for its user-friendliness and wide connectivity platform. An encouragement for both the
private and the government sectors for continuous expansion and investment of the internet and
network infrastructure in providing better connectivity and online presence among Filipino People.
Filipino consumers would likely to discuss products and services as what the E-commerce
Chatter on Social Media Geography (2014) revealed, that the Filipino netizens valued the opinions
and expressions on products and services in helping them in their informative purchasing decisions.
Gantuaco (2015) highlighted that to have a successful social commerce site, aside from the valuable
products and services, it must also have its own social community to be built and relationships to be
established for harmonious social interactivity. However, the rise of using an online medium to shop
and the rise of people looking for goods and services on a social media platform needs a better
understanding about those social interactions that ignite Filipino consumers to engage in social
commerce. Although, the role of social interaction in social commerce were already defined in the
previous studies using various social commerce sites, but then the link between social interaction and
consumer intention and behavior has not been examined and studied in the Philippine settings
because of its vagueness and lack of adoptability of its concepts. The objective of this study is to reveal
how social interaction activities such as electronic word-of-mouth communication (eWOM) and
observing other consumers’ purchases influence the intention to purchase, and whether these
activities, in addition, increase the probability of making an actual purchase in the social commerce
environment.
Review of Related Literature
Social Commerce Definition
Since social commerce is an emerging field in a wide range of both academic and industry
discipline, as of this writing, there is no confirming social commerce definition. Various studies of
social commerce are becoming more diversified and fragmented. Social commerce term was first
introduced by Yahoo! in November 2005 which defines as a “set of online collaborative shopping
tools such as shared pick lists, user ratings and other user-generated content-sharing of online
product information and advice” (Beach and Gupta, 2005). Other studies have a varying definition of
a social commerce, however, despite the absence of an agreed-upon definition, the following are the
working definitions collected from major literatures.
Marsden (2011) collected 24 different definitions of social commerce emphasized the use of
social media in an online collaborative environment that allows users to assist in trading of
products and services. Busalim & Hussin (2016) provided a list of eleven collected definitions of
social commerce including of that social commerce is “a form of commerce facilitated by social
media involving convergence between the online and offline environments” (Zhang, 2012). Based on
this definition, social commerce can be classified as offsite and onsite. Onsite social commerce refers
to the traditional e-commerce platform that incorporate social sharing features and functionality on
their website while the offsite social commerce includes transactional activities that occur beyond of
the sellers’ website. The latter includes Facebook storefronts, posting products on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and other social media sites wherein it gained substantial number of previous studies (K.
Z. Zhang & Benyoucef, 2016).

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 Filipino Consumers’ Decision-Making Model in Social Commerce

The social commerce is an evolution from e-commerce mediated by the social media platform
supporting user-generated content and social interaction among its members (Kim, 2013). IBM also
provides a definition of social commerce that is, “social e-marketing that runs through an e-
commerce” (Dennison, Bourdage-Braun, & Chetuparambi, 2009). A more applied definition defined
social commerce as an “exchange-related activities that occur in, or are influenced by, an individual’s
social network in computer-mediated social environments, where the activities correspond to the
need recognition, pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase of a focal exchange” (Yadav, et.al,
2013). This definition according to Zhang & Benyoucef (2016) excluded the websites such as Amazon
and Groupon for the lack of a social platform where the presence of a personal connection and
sustained social interaction among members is needed.
Decision Making Process and Behavioral Intention in Social Commerce
Several models and framework can be applied to explain the behavioral intention of the
consumer engagement in social commerce. The purchasing decision process is one of the major
components in analyzing consumer purchasing intentions. It is composed of several phases and each
phase consists of consumer decision-making behavior towards on social commerce sites. This
behavior illustrates the different constructs influencing the consumer engagement in social commerce
(K. Z. Zhang & Benyoucef, 2016). These constructs include; needs recognition, consumer’s
information browsing behavior, evaluation, purchase and after-purchase behaviors. These phases
may be done in sequence or may occur in an iterative or non-linear way on a certain social media site.
There are a considerable number of supporting theories and studies to explain consumer
behavior intention in social commerce given the strong influence of peers, family, and other consumer
purchasing decisions. (Liang, Ho, Li, & Turban, 2011). The action and planned behavior, along with
the culture-related theoretical standpoints are frequently adopted in the IS or IT literature (Ng, 2013;
Smith, Zhao, & Alexander, 2013). Some contributing factors like in social psychology would include
the personality, attitudes, motivations and individual characteristics. The most common theories that
have been observed in recent studies are the social capital, the social influence, and the social support.
The social influence considered how strong the connections between the individuals; the greater the
connection, the stronger the influence (Wang & Yu, 2015). This would describe that consumers are
more interested in participating in social commerce if they are part of the community where friends
and family are involved. On the other hand, the social capital deals more on the value gained created
from the connections among individuals within the social network. It examines the different
individual dimensions such as cognitive, relational and structural that is embedded on each of the
participants in the online communities. Another one is the social support that seeks to explore the
perception of social group compassion and support, and how this will affect individual participation
but also the continuance use of social media sites (Liu, Cheung, & Lee, 2016; Liang et al., 2011).
Other reviews also show that culture-related factors in social commerce have attracted
substantial attention in several types of research. The study shows that the levels of acceptance,
adoption, trust, and eWOM behavior on social media sites are likely to vary across cultures. Culture is
considered to have a mediating effect on consumers' purchase decision (Ng, 2013). The influence of
culture on social commerce behavioral intention is relative and may vary between countries or
regions. This would lead to an understanding that applying social commerce must adhere to the
culture of the consumers in respect of their locality.
Social Commerce in the Philippines
As of September 2015, the Philippines rank 16th worldwide and 3rd in Southeast in terms of the
number of internet users. This implies that Filipinos are one of the world’s most active and
participative online users, being tagged as the “social media capital” of the world creating huge
opportunities for the booming online commerce industry in the digital economy (“The horizons of e-
commerce in the Philippines,” 2015). According from Alexa.com (2015), Filipino internet users have
visited and shopped regularly on the internationally-based e-commerce website, namely Amazon,
Lazada, Metro Deal, Alibaba, Ali Express, Ebay and Zalora. This would highlight that Filipino internet
users now are taking advantage of the social commerce unique shopping experiences that can happen
anytime and anywhere using only their mobile devices.
To date, the study regarding social commerce in the Philippines is limited regardless that it is
already widespread and there is increasing number of Filipino consumers in a social commerce with
the advent of Facebook. Although the study of Wang and Yu (2015) used the WOM communication
and other consumer’s purchase behavior towards e-commerce but it does not capture the behavioral
intention in totality since it is only based on the behavior of the respondents which consists of

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 Filipino Consumers’ Decision-Making Model in Social Commerce

undergraduate students in southeastern United States. The study also used social commerce sites as
channel but Facebook is not included.

Theoretical Framework

Fig. 1. Theoretical Model

The theoretical framework was adopted from Wang & Yu (2015) to test the applicability of the
model to the Philippine settings. The social interactions in social commerce environment was
operationalized using the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) communication and observing other
consumer’s purchase behavior to understand its effect to the intention of the Filipino consumer to
purchase a product and/or services. The WOM information is produced from referrals, comments,
ratings, reactions, and forums and communities while the observation consumer purchase describes
the behavior of consumer as they seek information by observing and reading previous comments and
advises from other people before engaging in purchasing activities. These two online social
interactions would define how the actions of another person, group or communities would influence
the intention and the purchase decision-making process.
The Facebook provides an online medium for social connections and interactions and may
vary significantly across cultures based on previous research. According to Basilisco & Jin (2015),
Filipinos are motivated in using Facebook as they want to seek various information for products and
services. This shows that social interactions in Facebook have changed how the Filipino consumer’s
exchanges information through social engagement and social commerce (Mustafa and Hamzah 2011).
Below are the hypotheses that were postulated from the adopted theoretical framework (Wang and Yu
2015).
Hypothesis 1a. Positive valence WOM will positively influence consumer purchasing
intentions.
Hypothesis 1b. Negative valence WOM will positively influence consumer purchasing
intentions.
Hypothesis 1c. The content of WOM will positively influence consumer purchasing
intentions.
Hypothesis 2. Observing consumer prior purchases will positively influence consumer
purchasing intentions.
Hypothesis 3. A consumer’s purchasing intention will affect his/her actual purchase on a
Facebook storefront.
Hypothesis 4. A consumer’s purchasing intention will affect his/her post-purchase
behavior on a Facebook storefront.

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 Filipino Consumers’ Decision-Making Model in Social Commerce

Research Methodology
Data Collection and Procedures
The study investigated the Filipino consumers’ social interaction behaviors and purchasing
intentions as they purchased products through social media sites such as Facebook. The participants
were collected from General Santos City and South Cotabato province who had previous experiences
in dealing with social commerce using Facebook storefronts/brand page. They were given survey
using google forms for collection of primary data and a snowball technique to maximize the number of
valid samples for the data collection processes (Corbitt, Thanasankit, & Yi, 2003). The responses in
the collected samples were removed if it fails to complete the survey.
A total of 125 responses were received in a span of one month. These respondents are
considered as active participants in the social commerce. The collected responses were analyzed for
construct validation and hypothesis testing. The demographic characteristics of the respondents
indicated that most of the participants in the sample were active online consumers. Table 4 shows the
demographic characteristics of the respondents.
Measurements
The questionnaires were used to understand consumers’ social interaction and their past
purchase behaviors. The questionnaire included all the questions relating to eWOM communications,
observing consumer purchases and purchasing intentions. All the items in the questionnaire were
adopted from the previous study (Wang and Yu 2015) and some of it were modified to fit in the study.
All items used a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = “strongly disagree” to 5 = “strongly agree”.
(See Appendix B) Except for the purchase intention questions that consist of two following items: (1)
did you purchase a product on your preferred social commerce site? (2) After you had received the
products you had ordered, did you share product related information such as product reviews,
recommendations, user experience, or complaints with other members on your preferred Facebook
storefront?
Electronic Word of Mouth communication was measured by three underlying constructs:
positive valence WOM, negative valence WOM, and WOM content (Chen et al., 2011; Goyette et al.,
2010). These three underlying constructs were examined separately and have been structured by
reflective indicators (Goyette et al. 2010). Observing consumer purchase was constructed to
understand consumers’ social interaction behavior and to check if they observe and learn from other
members’ online purchasing behaviors (Wang and Yu 2015). The three-item scale for the intention to
purchase was modified from Lee et al (2013) and Sharma & Crossler (2014) to fit our research context.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and correlation

Variables mean sd alpha WOM_P WOM_N WOM_C OCP IOP
WOM_P 3.84 0.74 0.88 0.88
WOM_N 2.24 1.00 0.89 -0.24 0.89
WOM_C 4.07 0.67 0.94 0.69 -0.15 0.94
OCP 4.01 0.64 0.78 0.30 0.07 0.42 0.66
IOP 3.64 0.79 0.81 0.65 -0.25 0.57 0.32 0.81
Note: N=125: alpha-Cronbach’s alpha; S.D. – standard deviation; the bold values on the diagonal line
are the square roots of AVE. Legend: WOM_P – positive valence WOM; WOM_N – negative valence WOM;
WOM_C – WOM content; OCP-observe consumer purchase; IOP – intention of purchase.

For the set of data above, the standard deviations, are relatively small. Thus, the responses do
not deviate greatly from the mean. In addition, the correlations among constructs were also compared
and the results showed that no constructs with correlations over 0.7.

Data Analysis and Results

The research model was tested by performing structural equation modeling (SEM) for data
analyses for both the measurement and structural models. The study used the SEM to examine
proposed causal directions among different constructs (Gefen et al. 2011). The data were analyzed by
using IBM SPSS SPA and R programming.

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Reliability and Validity

The content validity and reliability of the research instruments were tested for correctness and
appropriateness of the items. The content of the research instrument was adopted from previous
study and some of it were modified to fit in the local settings. Items were reviewed by local researchers
and other online consumers in South Cotabato province and General Santos City to check the format,
content, and understandability of the items. It was also presented to the doctoral students of DIT
class.
The Cronbach’s alpha was used to test the reliability of the items (Fornell and Larcker 1981).
Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics; means, and standard deviations, Cronbach’s alphas, and the
correlation of construct. The result of the Cronbach’s alphas (ranging from .71 to .89) shows an
acceptable degree of the measure of internal consistency reliability (Bollen and Lennox 1991) with the
above .70 values as stated in the study of Wang & Yu (2015) except for observing consumer purchase
constructs. The positive valence, negative valence and WOM content, has the reliability of 0.879, .887
and 0.940 respectively, which means that the level of reliability is high. However, the OCP1 and IOP3
items were deleted to increase the reliability factor of observed consumer purchase (OCP) from 0.6679
to 0.7813 and Intention to Purchase (IOP) from 0.8062 to 0.9208.
Exploratory factor analysis
The data were verified by using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett’s sphericity
test to verify whether the data is suitable for factor analysis. The KMO statistics measures the
appropriateness and efficiency of the factor analysis in obtaining a factor structure in the data. Since
the KMO result is 0.877, then the data set is suitable for the factor analysis. The Bartlett’s test resulted
to a p-value that is less than the significance level of 0.05, therefore it is concluded that factor analysis
is appropriate.
The exploratory factor analysis was used for measurement property evaluation to obtain the
latent factors in a set of statements measuring abstract concepts. The initial factor analysis using
principal components analysis is extracted the five factors that were captured in the model. Applying
the initial factor analysis on the complete set of variables did not give the desired factor structure. This
is attributed to the fact that some of the items were suggested by Cronbach’s alpha to be excluded to
increase the reliability of the instrument. The exclusion of two variables resulted in the desired factor
structure as postulated in the theory. The Varimax rotation was applied and the factor loadings were
standardized using Keiser Normalization. The factor loadings for the positive valence WOM block
ranged from .64 to .83, the negative valence WOM block ranged from .93 to .94, the WOM content
from .72 to .82, observing consumer purchase from .85 to .88 and intention to purchase with .87 for
both items. In general, the results for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) attained the standard factor
loadings of .6 as the cut-off significance (Hair et al. 2010), confirming that distinct factors fit in a
given block of measurements.
Measurement Model
The measurement model was then analyzed to evaluate the measurement quality of the
constructs using the Confirmatory factor analysis. It is used to test for the appropriateness of the
postulated factor structure in the data set. Unlike exploratory factor analysis wherein we don’t have
any idea on the possible latent variables in the data, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has a
postulated factor structure. CFA tests if the dataset follows the postulated factor structure. The
measurement model consists of five latent factors (positive valence WOM, negative valence WOM,
WOM content, observing consumer purchase, and intention to purchase). The loading ranges for the
positive valence WOM were from .665 to .865. The negative valence WOM were from .864 to .907.
The WOM content were from .747 to .842. The observing consumer purchase were from .628 to .695
and the intention to purchase were from .338 to .579. The CFI is 0.911 while TLI is 0.894 which are
closes to one, suggests that the factor structure fits the model well, while the score of RMSE is 0.111
and standardized RMSE is 0.141 which are both close to 0. Thus, it concluded that the data were
satisfactorily fit the measurement model.
Structural Model
The confirmation of the measurement model leads to the assessment of the structural model.
The adequate fitting of the structural model was equivalent to that of the previously described in CFA
model. The hypothesized model appears to show the relationship of different constructs, as shown in
Fig. 2.

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Hypothesis Testing

Figure 2. Results of the Structural Model

Note: * significant at the .05 level
(1 and 2): result of a logistic regression analysis of the bivariate relationship.

The Logistic Regression Analysis (LRA) were used to test the effect of intention to purchase
and post-purchase behaviors (H3 and H4) while the effect of two antecedents (eWOM communication
and observe consumer purchase; H1a, H1b, H1c, and H2) on purchase intention were performed using
the SEM approach. Based on the previous study the maximum likelihood technique was performed to
model the estimation because of the normal distribution of data (Kline 2011).
Figure 2 shows the results of the assessment and hypothesis testing. Based on the p-values,
the observed variables are significantly related to the latent variables. For intention, the positive
valence and observe consumer purchase have a significant effect on intention, for which the
relationship between them is positive where the significant level is at the 0.05. As shown in the figure,
the first construct of WOM communication, positive valence WOM, had a high positive effect on a
consumer’s purchasing intentions, thus H1a is supported. However, the negative valence WOM and
the WOM content have less significant effects on the consumer’s purchase intention. Thus, the
evidences pertaining to H1b and H1c are not enough to support the hypothesis. Furthermore, the
observe consumer purchase have a significant effect on the intention to purchase. Thus, validating H2.
The intention to purchase R2 was .141 which means that the model gives an ideal explanation of
variance in consumer’s intention in the social commerce environment.
The logistic regression analysis was conducted for a bivariate relationship to assess the effect
of intentions on the (1) actual purchase and (2) post-purchase (Sheather 2009). As stated by Wang
and Yu ( 2015), these includes logistic regression model that has four other constructs regarded as
potential predictors, to isolate the effects of intention on purchase and post-purchase from other
effects. Tables 3 and 4 present the results from the logistic regression analysis for consumers’ actual
purchase and post-purchase behaviors, respectively. We found that more customer purchasing
intentions led to higher actual purchase behavior (beta = .690, R2 = .413; p < .05) validating H3 (Log
Likelihood Ratio L = 85.699, p < .05). In addition, it also resulted that intention was one of the
predictors of post-purchase behavior (beta = .632, R2 = .337; p < .05), thus supporting H4 (Log
Likelihood Ratio L = 128.562, p < .05).

In summary, the result gives an idea that consumers high behavioral intentions will lead to
the likelihood of purchasing products and services and sharing of buying experiences in social
commerce. Furthermore, the tendency of the purchase and post-purchase behavior is driven by the

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intentions that was influenced from the positive valence communication and observing other
consumer’s purchasing behavior.

Table 2. Summary of statistics and logistic regression results (dependent variable: purchase)
Purchase Intention Intention S.D. N
mean
Not Purchase (0) 0.083 31
Purchase (1) 3.298 0.129 94

Results of logistic regression analysis

Chi-square d.f. Sig.
Model 1
-2Log likelihood (L) 85.699a
Variable Coef. S.E. Wald Sig. R2
Intention .690 .317 4.732 .030 .413
Positive valence WOM 0.360 .281 1.636 .201
Negative valence WOM 0.109 .312 .121 .727
WOM content 1.121 .307 13.368 .000
Observe consumer purchase 1.105 .302 13.394 .000
Constant term 1.924 .340 31.947 .000
a. Variable(s) entered on step 1: content, positive, intention, negative, purchase

Table 3. Summary of statistics and logistic regression results (dependent variable: post-purchase)
Purchase Intention Intention S.D. N
mean
Not Purchase (0) 0.076 52
Purchase (1) 4.403 0.131 73

Results of logistic regression analysis

Chi-square d.f. Sig.
Model
-2Log likelihood (L) 128.562a 1
Variable Coef. S.E. Wald Sig. R2
Intention .632 .233 7.327 .007 .337
Positive valence WOM .898 .252 12.654 .000
Negative valence WOM -.199 .234 .724 .395
WOM content .740 .229 10.470 .001
Observe consumer purchase .302 .224 1.816 .178
Constant term .323 .217 2.207 .137

Discussions
Given the study was conducted in a consumers’ retrospective social commerce experiences,
some of our constructs has a significant effect on the purchase intention and the actual purchase and
post-purchase behavior. The positive valence is the key driver for improving consumer’s purchase
intention. The study is consistent also with the results of the earlier study of Wang & Yu (2015) which
reported that the increase in the number of positive WOM and other observable consumer purchases
such likes, shares and comments will facilitate the likelihood of consumer purchase intention.
However, based on our findings the negative valence of WOM and WOM content has a less significant
effect on the level of purchase intention of Filipino consumers compared to the previous one.
The result of negative valence of WOM is also reflected and consistent with the previous study
that Filipinos are not confrontational (Lorenzana 2000) and will likely do a non-confrontational way
of discussing the conflict and communicating indirectly in order to avoid offending others (Claridad
2006). In this case, majority of Filipino consumers are more conservative of posting negative
sentiments in social commerce so as not to bring hatred among peers.
The result of the WOM content revealed that it has a less significant effect on the intention to
purchase of the consumers. The result somehow is in contrast with the previous study of Wang & Yu
(2015) leading to an interesting future discussion and investigation about the constructs in WOM

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communication that would possibly affect the other constructs such as in the case of Positive valence,
Negative valence and WOM Content.
In addition, the results also reveal that consumer’s purchase decision is influenced by their
observation and learning through other consumer’s behaviors on the Facebook storefront since they
will review some information through observing a product’s information, the quality, variety and
prices along with their peers and compare alternative opinions by reading positive and negative
product reviews. The consumer also would likely to share the product related information based on
the positive valence and the products content to their peers and friends. Finally, it is found that
purchase intention significantly exerts an impact on both purchase and post-purchase behavior. This
shows that consumers will purchase a product on a social commerce site and share their product
review and user experience as they have a strong intention to purchase.

Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research

The study was conducted in the Philippines where the concept of social commerce is still in
infancy. The limitations of the study created an opportunity for future research. First, the locally based
survey was used in this study, although the samples from General Santos City and South Cotabato
may contribute to the overall population and utilization of the social commerce for online shopping
but there is a need to enrich the collection of data to cover the equal representation of the overall
locality in the Philippines. An interesting follow-up study may involve collecting data from the
nationwide markets to examine the overall outcome and the cultural differences.
Second, the structural model should further be investigated. The results of the Structural
Equation Modeling in this study is different from the result of the previous study (Wang and Yu 2015).
Thus, it may have the possibility that the factors within WOM communication constructs may have
the tendency to affect each other. Thus, creating another observation of the social interaction
behavior.
Third, a thorough study for the different age group is recommended to better understand the
varying factors towards the purchase behavior of consumers.
Lastly, to complement and further improve the general lack of adequate survey methods that
allow researchers to make strong inferences, future research should apply other methodologies such
as qualitative interviews, content analysis or other social media analytics approaches to discover what
are the most commonly occurring types of social interaction activities in a Facebook storefront or any
social commerce platform.

Conclusion
The study was adopted to see if the research model fits the Philippine environment since
Filipinos now are more engaging in social media and were exposed to different social interactions
occurred in the cyberspace. The study investigated the purchase intentions and actual purchase
behaviors in a Facebook storefront that serves as our social commerce model. The constructs used in
the study are the WOM communication and observational learning to examine social interactions.
Some of these activities may influences the intention to purchase and the post-purchase behaviors.
More, specifically, our results revealed that only the positive valence WOM and observable consumer
purchase have significantly affect consumer’s intention to purchase products in a social commerce
environment. This is in contrast with the negative valence WOM and WOM content that resulted to a
less significant effect on intention to purchase. Furthermore, our study found out that intention to
purchase increases the likelihood of actual buying and sharing of experiences and information with
other friends on Facebook. Therefore, this paper provides the applicability of some parts of the
theoretical model to explain Filipino consumer decisions in purchasing products online was
influenced by interaction among peers, other consumers, and sellers.
Appendix A
Table 4. Demographic characteristics of respondents
Demographic Range Frequency Percentage (%)
Age 18-25 67 100%
26-32 49
33-40 8
41-55 2
Gender Male 46 36.8%

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Female 79 63.2%
Education Level College level or with a 125 100%
college degree

Length of time of using Less than 3 months 29 23.2%

the social commerce 3-9 months 16 12.8%
sites for shopping 9-12 months 12 9.6%
1-2 years 22 17.6%
2-3 years 21 16.8%
More than 4 years 25 20%

Frequency of online Never 19 15.2%

purchases last year 1-5 75 60%
6-10 19 15.2%
11-15 4 3.2%
16-20 1 0.8%
More than 20 7 5.6%

Money spent online in Less than 500 28 22.4%

last three months 501-1000 19 15.2%
1001-2500 26 20.8%
2501-5000 23 18.4%
5001-7500 10 8%
More than 7501 19 15.2%

Total Responses 125

Appendix B. Measure and items (Survey Forms)

Word-of-mouth communication (Goyette et al. 2010)
Positive Valence WOM
1. I recommended my favorite facebook storefront page to others?
2. I have spoken favorably and positively about my favorite facebook storefront to others.
3. I am proud to say to others that I am a certified customer on my favorite facebook storefront.
4. I strongly recommend others to buy products on a Facebook storefront.
Negative Valence WOM
1. I posted negative things on my favorite facebook storefront to others
2. I have shared negative things about the facebook storefront vendors to others.
Word-of-Mouth Content
Regarding with my favorite facebook storefront page, I discuss it with others with regard to….
1. The quality of the products offered.
2. The variety of the products offered.
3. The user-friendliness
4. The security of transactions
5. The prices of products offered
6. Ease of Transactions
7. The delivery methods
8. The sellers’ good reputation
Observe Consumer Purchase (Wang and Yu 2015)
1. Often when buying the products of the brand, I follow the members who have bought the
product on my favorite Facebook storefront. (deleted)
2. Often when buying the product of the brand, I observe other members' likes and shares

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 Filipino Consumers’ Decision-Making Model in Social Commerce

3. Often when buying the product of the brand, I read the previous comments on my favorite
Facebook storefront.
Intention to Purchase (Lee and Garrison 2013; Sharma and Crossler 2014)()
1. I am likely to provide my personal information to purchase on a Facebook storefront.
2. I intent to provide my personal information for purchasing on a Facebook storefront.
3. I intend to use a Facebook storefront for finding low prices. (deleted)
Purchase and Post-purchase (Kim and Park 2013)
1. Did you purchase a product on your preferred Facebook storefront?
2. After you had received the products you had ordered, did you share product related
information such as product reviews, recommendations, user experience, or complaints with
other members on your preferred Facebook?

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