A Bibliometric Analysis of Social Commerce Research Using Scopus Database

Social commerce (SC) has revolutionized e-commerce by integrating social media (SM) and Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate online shopping through user interaction. It is a subset of e-commerce that leverages SM to facilitate commercial transactions while encouraging social interactions and user-generated content. This bibliometric analysis examines the contemporary growth of research on SC from 2008-2023. Of the 1,028 documents analysed, the majority were journal articles (62.74%) and conference papers (27.63%), primarily published in English (98.83%). Computer science (67.80%) and business management (41.44%) were the dominant subject areas, reflecting SC's interdisciplinary nature. China (26.26%), the US (16.63%), and Malaysia (10.12%) were the most prolific countries. The most frequently used keywords were "social commerce", "commerce", "social networking", and "electronic commerce". The top cited articles focused on the role of social support, relationship quality, design features, and trust in driving SC adoption. While research on SC has grown exponentially since 2007, with a peak in 2023, the field remains fragmented. The study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the intellectual structure and evolution of the SC field, identifying key themes, trends, patterns, and future research directions. The findings offer valuable insights for researchers and practitioners to guide the strategic direction of SC research.