Social commerce: A systematic review and data synthesis

Abstract Social commerce contributes multi-disciplinary knowledge concerning psychology, sociology, computer science, and marketing in business. Its development complicated due to various fields involved that range from arithmetic patterns to marketing management. In this study, we conduct a systematic review of social commerce research by synthesizing 407 papers from academic publications between 2006 and 2017. This study focuses on three overarching questions: (1) What is current social commerce research? (2) Which research methods have been used in social commerce? (3) What are some potential areas for social commerce research in the future? We delineate the various facets of social commerce – definitions, differences, types and technologies, challenges and benefits, models and frameworks – in an all-encompassing taxonomy that enables us to answering the first question. To solve the second question, we applied different methods and techniques. Finally, we offer guidelines on the directions for future research, and intend that this work will serve as a roadmap for understanding the research literature within the field of social commerce.