Understanding consumers' post-consumption behaviors in C2C social commerce: the role of functional and relational customer orientation

Purpose: Social commerce (s-commerce) is an online business model combining commercial and social features. Vendors may engage in a business-oriented relationship with customers and/or establish a personal relationship with customers. The role performed by the vendors may not match customer expectations and needs, resulting in low repurchase intention. Drawing on role theory in the context of customer orientation, this study integrates functional customer orientation (FCO) and relational customer orientation (RCO) with the expectation–confirmation model (ECM) to propose a theoretical framework for explaining customers' post-consumption behaviors. This study also examines how product-specific attributes moderate the effect of FCO and RCO on customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach: This study analyzed 273 survey responses from WeChat users by using PLS-SEM.

Findings: The results confirmed that the confirmation of customer expectations positively affected FCO and RCO. Additionally, FCO and RCO had different effects on customer satisfaction, depending on product type and brand awareness, and their effects on customers' post-consumption behaviors also varied.

Research limitations/implications: The findings suggest that both business and social roles are important to customers in C2C s-commerce. This study also demonstrates product characteristics moderating the effectiveness of customer orientation on customer satisfaction.

Practical implications: This study provides empirical support for vendors and platform developers to implement appropriate selling strategies and manage customer expectations in C2C s-commerce.

Originality/value: This study is the first to incorporate FCO and RCO into the ECM theoretical framework to obtain new insights into vendors' selling approaches in C2C s-commerce, thus contributing to the marketing literature.