Factors influencing trust in sellers, trust in community and fashion purchase intention in social commerce in Viet Nam

Abstract

In Vietnam, social media has become deeply integrated into commercial activities, giving rise to social commerce as a community-driven transaction model in which trust is a key factor influencing consumers’ purchasing behavior, particularly in the fashion industry. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) framework and trust transfer theory, this study examines how social commerce characteristics (information quality, reputation, and interaction with sellers) and social commerce constructs (ratings and reviews, community, recommendations, and referrals) influence trust in sellers and trust in community and how these two trust objects subsequently affect fashion purchase intention. Data were collected from 568 valid survey responses and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The results indicate that all proposed antecedents have positive and statistically significant effects on their corresponding trust constructs. A notable finding is that trust in community positively influences trust in sellers, confirming the trust transfer mechanism whereby community-level trust serves as a foundation for seller-level trust. Furthermore, both trust in sellers and trust in community are found to have positive impacts on fashion purchase intention. This study provides empirical evidence within the Vietnamese context and offers managerial implications for fashion businesses operating on social commerce platforms.