What Makes Social Shoppers Click 7? The Role of Social Rewards in Social Shopping

As an evolution of electronic commerce, social shopping leverages the power of social media to transform the online shopping experience in ways that benefit both marketers and consumers. To create social shopping value, marketers have typically relied on economic (extrinsic, monetary) rewards, which enhance utilitarian value and build short-term sales. However, marketers may also wish to consider social (intrinsic, non-monetary) rewards, which hold great potential for creating hedonic value to further enhance the social shopping experience. This research proposes a conceptual model that captures the role of economic as well as social rewards in social shopping. Social shopping rewards are modeled as antecedents to social shopping value (utilitarian and hedonic), which leads to positive attitude toward the retail brand and behavior-related outcomes (purchase intentions and positive word of mouth). Research contributions to both marketing theory and practice, as well as future directions for social shopping research, are discussed. . Social shopping rewards are modeled as antecedents to social shopping value (utilitarian and hedonic), which leads to positive attitude toward the retail brand and behavior-related outcomes (purchase intentions and positive word of mouth). 9/200. m