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Abstract
Social commerce is a context of online consumption at the intersection of social networking and e-commerce technologies that is gaining scholarly attention. Its study began in more technical and web-based infrastructure areas of research but is increasingly associated with consumer-centric academic inquiry. Social commerce itself is varied and exists in numerous online settings including integrated social commerce platforms, social networking sites that influence offsite and potentially offline consumption, and highly specialized markets characterized by the involvement of subject matter experts. This dissertation embarks upon three very distinctive studies, utilizing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods analyses to evaluate the influence of social commerce in three different online consumption scenarios. Essay 1 suggests the social cues and social networking functionality of integrated social commerce sites positively influence consumer purchasing. In Essay 2, observations show that social network site-based brand communities usher members through the online consumer purchase decision process with group associations that endure on subsequent e-commerce platforms in cross-platform social commerce The final essay alludes further research is needed to appropriately investigate the impact of brand signals in specialty industry social commerce settings like online real estate listings.