Influence of ambidextrous governance mechanisms and risk management on repurchase intention in social commerce

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing ambidextrous governance and risk management on repurchase intention in social commerce.

A novel research model comprises nine research hypotheses with six constructs, including three dimensions of social capital (structural, relational and cognitive), contracts, relational risk and repurchase intention. The hypotheses are tested on data collected from 395 usable responses in Taiwan, using structural equation modeling.

The findings of this study indicate that online merchants should reinforce their collaborative behavior and activities to improve ambidextrous governance mechanisms, and thus enhance repurchase intention.

The resultant findings only reflect the setting of Taiwan’s social commerce marketplace. With the research model developed, future research on cross-country studies of various forms of social networking sites would be worth conducting to determine regional differences in the development of social commerce activities.

Ambidextrous governance mechanisms have been gaining attention in buyer–supplier relationships. Extending ambidexterity research to the social commerce domain, the authors focus on ambidextrous governance that can include social and contractual governance elements.