Journal of Cleaner Production 386 (2023) 135812

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Consumers’ purchase behavior in short food supply chains using social

commerce in Indonesia
Agriani Hermita Sadeli a, *, Tomy Perdana a, Yosini Deliana a, Bhakti Stephan Onggo b
a
Department of Agricultural Social – Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, 45363, Indonesia
b
Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Govindan Kannan Short food supply chain (SFSC) practice using social commerce is still in its infancy; this is also true in Indonesia.
Many studies on the SFSC that uses social commerce have been carried out in developed countries; however,
Keywords: there is only limited research on this subject in developing countries. In this study, factors that explain purchase
Consumer behavior behavior toward social commerce SFSCs in Indonesia are explored by considering information-seeking variables
Short food supply chain
as components of knowledge formation and the perceived economic and social sustainability of SFSCs as ad­
Social commerce
vantages over long food supply chains. Our conceptual framework was developed from the theory of planned
Sustainability
Agricultural produce behavior and alphabet theory, with the addition of a perceived SFSC sustainability variable. Data were collected
from consumers who purchase agricultural produce from social commerce SFSCs and members of the respective
SFSC chat groups. Data analysis was conducted using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The
results reveal that perceived SFSC sustainability is influenced by product knowledge, which in turn has a positive
association with information-seeking behavior. Perceived SFSC sustainability influences attitude and, subse­
quently, influences purchase intention. Consumers who have strong purchase intention are likely to purchase;
subjective norm does not affect purchase intention for consumers who have received sufficient information from
social media. Perceived behavioral control influences purchase intention but not behavior because purchasing
agricultural produce is a regular activity. This research provides a deep understanding of consumer behavior
toward SFSCs that use social commerce. Based on the factors identified as influencing purchase behavior, sellers
can provide information through social media to facilitate consumers’ purchasing decisions.

1. Introduction (2020), SFSCs provide opportunities for consumers who seek higher
value from food on the one hand, and for producers to implement sus­
Currently, short food supply chains (SFSCs) using social commerce tainable practices on the other. Also, they offer huge economic oppor­
(or social commerce SFSCs) is in their infancy compared to other types of tunities by bestowing a competitive advantage over other competitors in
SFSCs. This is also the case in Indonesia; however, they are growing the market.
rapidly. Indonesia is an agricultural country with the third-highest The use of social commerce—i.e. e-commerce via social media—for
number of social media users worldwide (Hootsuite, 2020). Therefore, SFSCs has advantages because of the large number of social media users,
social commerce offers opportunities to support SFSC development. its ease of use, its free social media applications, and its potential use for
SFSCs can vary from a direct supply chain with no intermediaries to advertisement that reaches a wide audience (Elghannam et al., 2020).
indirect supply chains that have a single or limited number of in­ Social commerce increases community-level participation and socio­
termediaries between producers and consumers (Aubry and Kebir, 2013; economic activity (Liang and Turban, 2011) and, at the same time, it
Benedek et al., 2018). Direct contact with the producer is one of the merges the online and offline environments (Wang and Zhang, 2012).
main drivers when consumers buy products from SFSCs Producers have a higher probability of connecting directly with con­
(González-Azcárate, 2021). According to the European Commision sumers through social media and obtaining feedback from them

* Corresponding author. Department of Agricultural Social – Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jl. Raya Bandung-Sumedang km.21,
Sumedang, 45363, Indonesia..
E-mail addresses: agriani.hermita@unpad.ac.id (A.H. Sadeli), tomy.perdana@unpad.ac.id (T. Perdana), y.deliana@unpad.ac.id (Y. Deliana), B.S.S.Onggo@soton.
ac.uk (B.S. Onggo).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135812
Received 23 March 2022; Received in revised form 24 December 2022; Accepted 29 December 2022
Available online 30 December 2022
0959-6526/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
A.H. Sadeli et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 386 (2023) 135812

(Drejerska et al., 2019; Elghannam et al., 2018). Social commerce as a 2. Literature review and research hypotheses
medium for frequent communication and interaction between members
can increase trust through mutual understanding (Ji et al., 2019). Good 2.1. Consumer behavior in short food supply chains
communication provides an opportunity for consumers to obtain valu­
able information about products, such as origin, production, cultivation, There have been several studies on factors that influence purchase
and social dimensions (Cicatiello et al., 2015; Elghannam et al., 2017). behavior in SFSCs. One quantitative study conducted in Italy shows the
Moreover, it has been shown that facilitating information-seeking about roles of behavioral intention, perceived behavioral control, consumer
SFSCs by consumers is important (Elghannam et al., 2017), particularly rural residence, and fair trade in purchasing behavior in SFSCs (Giam­
those who consider sustainability in their purchase decisions (Torquati pietri et al., 2018). The authors determined behavioral intention using
et al., 2016). Social commerce facilitates social relationship such as factors from the theory of planned behavior—namely, attitude, subjec­
knowledge exchange between parties which has a positive impact on tive norm and perceived behavioral control, along with an additional
purchasing and consumption behavior (de Bernardi et al., 2019), in­ factor—i.e. trust. Consumers are motivated to buy from SFSCs because
creases consumer confidence when choosing a product (Vermeir and they support the local economy, food safety, freshness, and product
Verbeke, 2008) and simplifies consumers purchase decision (Cao et al., quality (Maas et al., 2022).
2020). Therefore, social commerce has a role in social and economic Giampietri et al. (2016) show that the sustainability is an important
sustainability. factor for consumer choice. For economic sustainability, SFSCs support
Research on consumer behavior toward purchases at SFSCs shows farmers in terms of output price, revenue, and income sustainability in
that the motivation to purchase is influenced by the concern for the developing countries (Bui et al., 2021). SFSCs also increase the profit
three pillars of sustainability, i.e. social, economic and environmental margins of producers by removing intermediaries (Malak-Rawlikowska
(Giampietri et al., 2016). In addition, Wang and Scrimgeour (2022) et al., 2019), thus increasing the quality of farmers’ lives (Wang et al.,
noted that consumers who are concerned about the five pillars of sus­ 2021). From the consumer side, SFSCs provide consumers access to
tainability (i.e. social, economic, environmental, cultural, and gover­ high-quality food at affordable prices (Wang et al., 2021). In terms of
nance) are likely to participate in SFSC. Therefore, it is important to look social sustainability, SFSCs can facilitate dialog and social interaction
at the debate in the literature on whether the SFSC has more positive between producers and consumers (Migliore et al., 2015; Wang et al.,
impacts than the long food supply chain (LFSC) on the three pillars of 2021), generally have a higher bargaining position in chain, stronger
sustainable development goals. In the agriculture supply chain, price trust and relations with other producers in the same chain include
equity for farmers is higher in SFSCs than in LFSCs (Carmona et al., consumers than LFSC (Malak-Rawlikowska et al., 2019). SFSCs can in­
2021) which may be attributed to the involvement of fewer actors in crease farmers’ satisfaction and confidence (Bui et al., 2021). This
SFSCs. Therefore, the SFSC is perceived as having a more positive impact promotes better social sustainability, especially for smallholder farmers.
than the LFSC on the economic dimension (Malak-Rawlikowska et al., Meanwhile, regarding environmental sustainability, LFSCs have been
2019). In the social dimension, the comparison result is inconclusive; shown to have fewer negative impacts on the environment than SFSCs
however, the bargaining position in SFSCs tends to be higher than in (Majewski et al., 2020; Malak-Rawlikowska et al., 2019).
LFSCs because of a higher level of trust among actors in SFSCs
(Malak-Rawlikowska et al., 2019). Hence, we consider the social 2.2. Relevant consumer behavior theories on short food supply chains
dimension as one of the perceived advantages of SFSCs. In terms of
environmental impact, the consensus is that LFSCs generate fewer In this section we review research on SFSC consumer behavior that
negative impacts (Majewski et al., 2020; Malak-Rawlikowska et al., uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Alphabet Theory that are
2019). Scholarly debate asserts that both SFSC and LFSC have a role in related to our work.
supporting the sustainable supply chain.
Although SFSCs can contribute to the development of sustainable 2.2.1. Theory of planned behavior
supply chain, the number of studies that address consumer purchase The TPB is a logical selection model in which behavioral intention is
behavior in SFSCs, particularly in our context, are limited. Most related the only relevant psychological antecedent for behavior with the con­
research has been conducted in developed countries (Ji et al., 2019), structs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control to
such as Spain and Italy (de Bernardi et al., 2019; Elghannam et al., 2020; explain behavioral intention (Ajzen, 1991). The TPB has been applied in
Elghannam and Mesias, 2019). Therefore, this paper aims to explore various research fields, including agriculture, providing accurate as­
purchase behavior in social commerce SFSCs in Indonesia. Our study sumptions and results (dos Santos, 2016). In fresh food purchases, the
considers information-seeking variables as the components of knowl­ TPB has the power to predict behavior (Verbeke and Vackier, 2005). In
edge formation as well as the perceived economic and social benefits of addition, the TPB has been used in consumer behavior research on
SFSC sustainability. We employ a theoretical framework that combines SFSCs, and all variables used have been significant (Giampietri et al.,
the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and alphabet theory to test several 2016, 2018). In the context of social commerce, the TPB is one of the
hypotheses about factors affecting the purchase behavior. Both theories important theories that describe motivation in consumer behavior (Mou
have been used to explain behavior in food purchases (Giampietri et al., and Benyoucef, 2021), which includes purchase intention (Smith et al.,
2016, 2018; Schäufele and Hamm, 2017; Verbeke and Vackier, 2005). 2013). The TBP can be extended by adding more predictors of intention
Hence, our research contributes to SFSC literature by generating insights or behavior (Ajzen, 2020). In our study, we add a sustainable perception
into how consumers make purchasing decisions in social commerce variable, as well as information-seeking and knowledge from alphabet
SFSCs; thus, this study is also a reference for social commerce SFSC theory.
producers who wish to adapt to these consumer behaviors.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 pre­ 2.2.2. Alphabet theory
sents the literature review and research hypotheses. Section 3 describes Alphabet theory was developed by combining two environmental
the material, method, and data collection. Section 4 presents the anal­ behavior theories, namely, value–belief–norm theory (Stern et al., 1999)
ysis of consumer behavior regarding SFSCs for agricultural produce, and and attitude–behavior–context theory (Guagnano et al., 1995), along
Section 5 provides the discussion. Section 6 concludes the paper. with additional variables such as knowledge, information-seeking,
habits, and demographics (Zepeda and Deal, 2009). The theory illus­
trates the attitude–behavior gap, which is often used as a reference in
studying alternative food-buying behavior (Schäufele and Hamm,
2017). In light of the above, we apply alphabet theory in our study to

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create a more specific conceptual framework to study food purchasing Knowledge can affect perception (e.g., perception of SFSC sustain­
behavior in social commerce SFSCs by using information-seeking and ability) in several ways, such as by enabling perceptual categories and
knowledge variables to explain the social commerce SFSC consumer solving problems (Rock, 1985). Knowledge can also be a determining
behavior. We exclude the ‘habits’ variable because social commerce factor in one’s view of values (Zepeda and Deal, 2009), such as the
SFSC is still in its initial stages and it is too early for the consumers to sustainability of SFSCs. In online SFSCs, knowledge obtained online can
form habits. significantly affect sustainable behavior (de Bernardi et al., 2019).
Therefore, in this study, we test whether SFSC consumers with a high
2.3. Hypotheses on consumer behavior in short food supply chains level of knowledge have a high level of perception of sustainability.
Thus, we set the following hypothesis.
Attitude is the degree to which an individual has a favorable or un­
H7. Knowledge is positively related to perceived sustainability.
favorable evaluation of behavior (Ajzen, 1991). It is defined as the
Previous studies have asserted that sustainability is positively asso­
consumer response toward a particular object, such as social commerce
ciated with attitude toward SFSCs (Wang et al., 2021). Also, product
SFSC. In an SFSC study, consumer attitude is shown to have a positive
perception has been found to be significant in relation to attitude toward
relationship with behavioral intention (Giampietri et al., 2018). In a
SFSCs using social media platforms for food delivery (Kumar et al.,
social commerce study, attitude is shown to have a positive relationship
2021). Hence, in this study, we wish to test whether a more positive
with purchase intention (Smith et al., 2013). Accordingly, we posit our
perception of sustainability is associated with a more positive attitude
first hypothesis to find out whether the same finding applies to social
toward an SFSC.
commerce SFSC.
H8. Perceived sustainability is positively related to attitudes.
H1. Attitude is positively related to behavioral intention.
Subjective norm refers to perceived social pressures affecting whether
3. Materials and methods
to engage in a particular behavior (Ajzen, 1991). The encouragement by
someone close (e.g., family and friends) to buy from SFSCs positively
This section provides descriptions of our conceptual framework, data
affects behavioral intention (Giampietri et al., 2016, 2018). A study of
collection, and method of analysis.
community-supported agriculture (CSA) as a type of SFSC shows that
social influences are a predictor of behavioral intention to join CSA
(Diekmann and Theuvsen, 2019). Also, subjective norm is a predictor of 3.1. Conceptual framework
purchase intention in a social commerce study (Smith et al., 2013).
Thus, we test the same hypothesis but for social commerce SFSC. The theoretical framework (Fig. 1) used in this study is built upon the
H2. Subjective norm is positively related to behavioral intention. TPB and alphabet theory. We add perceived SFSC sustainability because
Perceived behavioral control relates to how easy or difficult it is to it has been identified as an important factor in the SFSC literature.
execute a behavior; it is thought to reflect previous experience, pre­ The constructs are measured using a questionnaire that includes in­
dicted barriers, and limitation behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Perceived dicators for the following: behavior (Ajzen, 2006; Tomić Maksan et al.,
behavioral control positively influences SFSC consumer behavioral 2019), behavioral intention (Ajzen, 2006; Verbeke and Vackier, 2005),
intention and behavior (Giampietri et al., 2018). In the context of social attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 2006),
commerce, perceived behavioral control positively affects purchase information-seeking (Kuttschreuter et al., 2014), knowledge (Maichum
intention (Smith et al., 2013). Thus, we posit our third and fourth et al., 2016), and perceived SFSC sustainability (Bui et al., 2021; Forssell
hypotheses. and Lankoski, 2015; Malak-Rawlikowska et al., 2019; Migliore et al.,
2015). Indicators are measured using either seven-point Likert-type
H3. Perceived behavioral control is positively related to behavioral scales from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) or seven-point bi­
intention. polar adjective scales for attitude (e.g., bad–good), behavior (BHV2: i.e.
H4. Perceived behavioral control is positively related to behavior. never–daily), and perceived behavioral control (PBC2: i.e. impossi­
Behavioral intention positively influences behavior (Ajzen, 2020). ble–possible). The explanation of the constructs and their indicators is as
Past studies have shown that behavioral intention reflects buying follows.
behavior from SFSCs (Giampietri et al., 2018). Hence, we test the
following hypothesis for social commerce SFSC. • Behavior (BHV) is measured using these indicators: “I buy agricul­
tural produce at social commerce SFSC regularly (BHV1)” and “How
H5. Behavioral intention is positively related to behavior. often have you purchased agricultural produce at social commerce
Regarding information-seeking behavior, existing studies have SFSC? (BHV2)”.
shown that consumers with high involvement seek detailed information
about the product and the supplier (Marshall, 2004). Among the types of
information sources, information acquired via the internet greatly in­
fluences consumer behavior. Information about fresh vegetables can be
searched online via microblogs, blogs, online chat groups, social
network sites, videos, websites, or search engines (Kuttschreuter et al.,
2014). SFSC consumers also seek information using social networking
sites (Butu et al., 2020). Information-seeking in social commerce is
consumers’ attempts to obtain information about a product or e-vendor
from the resources available on social networking sites to optimize
purchasing decisions (Hajli et al., 2017). According to previous litera­
ture, information-seeking increases people’s knowledge (Zepeda and
Deal, 2009; Maichum et al., 2016) about various aspects of a product
and helps during purchase decision-making (Turcotte et al., 2015).
Thus, we test the following hypothesis regarding whether consumers’
information-seeking in SFSCs increases their knowledge.
H6. Information-seeking is positively related to knowledge. Fig. 1. Conceptual framework.

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• Behavior intention (BI) is measured using these indicators: “My will­ product orders, obtain delivery information, and engage in discussions.
ingness to purchase agricultural produce at social commerce SFSC In addition, WhatsApp can be used to share information via text mes­
within the next two weeks is high (BI1)”, “There is a high chance that sages, voice messages, audios, photos, videos, status updates and group
I will purchase agricultural produce at social commerce SFSC within chat, as well as to make audio and video calls. Furthermore, it can
the next two weeks (BI2)”, “I am planning to purchase agricultural support businesses with features that make it easier for sellers to create
produce at social commerce SFSC within the next two weeks (BI3)”, catalogs of products offered, including the automated reply to messages.
and “I will try to purchase agricultural produce at SFSC using social The population selected for this study is consumers who are members
commerce (BI4)”. of the respective SFSC chat group and have bought agricultural produce
• Attitude (AT) is measured using these indicators: “For me, purchasing (e.g., vegetables, fruits, spices, pulses, and grains) from the social
agricultural produce at social commerce SFSC is …” harmful to commerce SFSCs. The population size (N) is quite small at 445. This is
beneficial (AT1), unpleasant to pleasant (AT2), bad to good (AT3), because the number of social commerce SFSCs is still limited in
worthless to valuable (AT4), and unenjoyable to enjoyable (AT5). Indonesia; consequently, the population of consumers who meet the
• Subjective norm (SN) is measured using these indicators: “Most peo­ requirements for this research remains small. The sample size (n) is 116,
ple who are important to me think that I should buy agricultural which is 26% of the total population size. However, the sample size for
produce at social commerce SFSC (SN1)”, “Many people like me buy this study is higher than the recommended minimum sample size. It
agricultural produce from social commerce SFSC (SN2)”, “It is ex­ meets the minimum size required by the 10-times rule, which is the most
pected of me that I buy agricultural produce from social commerce cited method (Barclay et al., 1995). In this case, 10-times the largest
SFSC (SN3)”, and “The people in my life whose opinion I value buy number of structural paths directed at a particular construct in the
agricultural produce at social commerce SFSC (SN4)”. structural model would require a sample size of 30. Moreover, based on
• Perceived behavioral control (PBC) is measured using these indicators: the minimum 5% significance level and the minimum path coefficient of
“If I wanted to, I could easily purchase agricultural produce at social 0.21 suggested by Hair et al. (2021), the minimum sample size is 69.
commerce SFSC within the next two weeks (PBC1)”, “For me to Another study on consumer SFSCs that employed inferential statistics
purchase agricultural produce at social commerce SFSC within the collected 80 valid responses from a consumer farmers’ market (Maas
next two weeks would be … [impossible to possible] (PBC2)”, and “It et al., 2022). Thus our study has a larger sample of valid responses.
is mostly up to me whether or not I purchase agricultural produce at The primary data collection method is an online survey. The online
social commerce SFSC (PBC3)”. questionnaire was created in Typeform, and the link was distributed to
• Information seeking (IS) is measured using these indicators: “I use the SFSCs’ social commerce chat group. Respondents were informed
social networking sites to seek information related to SFSC (IS1)”, “I about the study objective, their voluntary participation, and the anon­
read or take part in forums or chat groups online to seek information ymous nature of the questionnaire. Data collection was divided into two
related to SFSC (IS2)” and “I watch videos online to seek information phases. In January 2020, we received 109 responses from the first SFSC.
related to SFSC (IS3)”. In July 2022, we received 15 valid responses from the second SFSC.
• Knowledge (KN) is measured using these indicators: “I have gained From the total of 445 group members, we obtained 124 responses, 116
much knowledge about agricultural produce from SFSC (KN1)”, “I of which were valid.
want to have a deeper insight into the inputs, processes and sus­ Appendix A show the demographic characteristics of the respondents
tainability impacts of agricultural produce from SFSC before I pur­ which are similar to previous related research. The majority of re­
chase (KN2)”, and “I would prefer to gain substantial information on spondents are female and married. Regarding gender behavior associ­
agricultural produce from SFSC before I purchase (KN3)”. ated with the Indonesian culture, women play a significant role in
• Perceived SFSC sustainability (PS) is measured using these indicators: fulfilling the food requirements of their families (Pangaribowo et al.,
“I can have dialog with the seller or producers (PS1)”, “Sellers or 2019). The age of respondents tends to be younger, similar to the
producers can give information about the products (PS2)”, “I trust research conducted by Wills and Arundel (2017). They also noticed that
the sellers or producers (PS3)”, “I can get high-quality agriculture online SFSC consumers were younger than offline SFSC consumers.
produce at a fair price (PS4)”, “I support the creation of jobs for Consumers with a higher level of education prefer to shop at SFSCs (Kiss
producers (PS5)”, and “I support the seller’s or producer’s economic et al., 2020). The majority of respondents have an education level of at
conditions (PS6)”. least a Bachelor’s degree. Half of the consumers have jobs, and much of
their income is above the regional minimum wage, which shows that
3.2. Sampling and data collection SFSC consumers are not struggling financially. This is in line with Kiss
et al. (2020). Note that Rupiah (Rp) is the Indonesian’s currency.
Indonesia was chosen as the research location because it is a devel­
oping country and it has the third-highest number of social media users 3.3. Method of analysis
worldwide (Hootsuite, 2020). WhatsApp is the most widely used social
media platform for instant messaging in Indonesia; 84% of the popula­ Descriptive and inferential statistics are used in this study. Descrip­
tion aged 16–64 use this platform (Hootsuite, 2020). The chosen area is tive statistics of the variables are presented with a frequency distribution
the city of Bandung, an urban area surrounded by the main areas of using the percentage of each score and the average value of the indicator
agricultural production in Indonesia. score.
This study was conducted at two social commerce SFSCs in Bandung Inferential statistics are used to test the hypotheses. Data are
that sell agricultural produce via WhatsApp, which has a chat group analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-
feature in which SFSC actors (e.g. producers, intermediary and con­ SEM). PLS-SEM is used primarily for exploratory research or to study an
sumers) are members. Instant messaging affords more accessibility and extension of an existing structural theory. It is suitable for early-stage
intimacy among consumers, is more immersive and cost-reducing, and development of theory testing (Hsu et al., 2006). PLS-SEM offers bene­
exerts greater social influence (Cao et al., 2020). For a comparison, fits in situations commonly encountered in social research, such as
Drejerska and colleagues find that the social media platform Facebook is non-normal data, small sample sizes, and models where many indicators
primarily used by producers to share information, but the interactions (i. and relationships are estimated (Hair et al., 2013). In terms of robust­
e. comments and sharing) between farmers and consumers are limited ness, PLS-SEM provides very robust model estimates with data having
(Drejerska et al., 2019). Our research focus is on social commerce SFSC both normal and highly non-normal distribution properties (i.e. skew­
that uses WhatsApp, a private chat group. ness and/or kurtosis) (Hair et al., 2013). The bootstrap procedure in
A chat group feature allows users to make product offers, place PLS-SEM performs quite strongly when the data are non-normal (Hair

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A.H. Sadeli et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 386 (2023) 135812

et al., 2013). creation and economic condition of producers are highly valued by the
In this research, SmartPLS software is used to analyze the conceptual respondents.
model. The evaluation of measurements and the structural model follow
the guidelines and rules of thumb for PLS-SEM. The PLS result is 4.2. Measurement model evaluation
calculated using the maximum number of 300 iterations, and the PLS
algorithm stop criterion value is 7 (Hair et al., 2017). This study used The results of the measurement model evaluation show that the
bootstrapping of 5000 re-samples to test the hypotheses. values for convergent validity, internal consistency, and discriminant
We use reflective indicators in our model. In the first-stage evalua­ validity obtained meet the established requirements. Convergent val­
tion, we use a reflective measurement model that estimates the idity is evaluated through outer loading values and AVE. The results
convergent validity, internal consistency reliability, and discriminant show that all outer loading values meet the suggested minimum
validity of the model. First, convergent validity can be evaluated using a threshold of 0.5 (Hulland, 1999; Truong and McColl, 2011). The AVE
reliability indicator and the average variance extracted (AVE). Hair et al. values are greater than the suggested minimum threshold of 0.5 (Hair
(2017) suggest that a model’s reliability can be measured using outer et al., 2017) (see Appendix C). Internal consistency reliability, as set out
loading values. Most of the loading should be at least 0.5 (Hulland, in Appendix C, shows that all constructs have composite reliability and
1999; Truong and McColl, 2011), indicating that the construct provides Cronbach’s alpha values greater than the minimum threshold of 0.6
a good explanation of the indicator’s variance. Furthermore, an indi­ (Chin, 1998; Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). Regarding discriminant
cator with an outer loading between 0.4 and 0.7 can be used if the AVE validity, Appendix D shows that the maximum value of HTMT meets the
and composite reliability values are acceptable (Hair et al., 2013). The suggested maximum threshold of 0.9 (Henseler et al., 2015).
AVE shows the ability of constructs to explain the variance of their in­
dicators. Hair et al. (2017) suggest that AVE values should be greater 4.3. Structural model evaluations
than 0.5. Second, internal consistency reliability can be evaluated using
composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha values (Hair et al., 2017). We have demonstrated that our measurement model meets all the
Both composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha values should be equal required criteria. Collinearity assessment is conducted by examining VIF
to or higher than 0.6 (Chin, 1998; Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). Third, values. As shown in Appendix E, the highest VIF value is lower than
discriminant validity shows the degree of difference between one three, which indicates that collinearity is not an issue in our structural
construct and others by empirical standards (Hair et al., 2013). We model (Hair et al., 2019). The R2 values for behavior, behavioral
employ HTMT criteria because this approach is more sensitive than cross intention, and attitude are moderate (higher than 0.50), while the values
loading and the Fornell-Larcker criterion in detecting discriminant val­ for perceived SFSC sustainability and knowledge exhibit weaker power
idity problems (Henseler et al., 2015). The suggested HTMT value in explaining the model (see Fig. 2).
should be equal to or lower than 0.9 (Henseler et al., 2015). The predictive relevance measurements using the blindfolding-based
The next step is to assess the structural model by measuring the cross-validated redundancy measure Q2 values for all five endogenous
collinearity, coefficients of determination, predictive relevance, and constructs are considerably above zero (i.e. BI: 0.328; BHV: 0.320; AT:
significance of path coefficients. Collinearity assessment is conducted by 0.425; PS: 0.131; KN: 0.198). Hence, the results show that our model has
examining the variance inflation factor (VIF) values. Hair et al. (2019) an acceptable predictive relevance (Hair et al., 2019).
suggest that the value should ideally be less than three. For the co­ Having developed the model’s explanatory and predictive power, the
efficients of determination (R2) evaluation that measures a model’s next step is to assess the significance of path coefficients. The path co­
explanatory power, we use the following rule of thumb: R2 value of 0.75, efficients and their p values are obtained using PLS-SEM bootstrapping.
0.50, or 0.25 is categorized as substantial, moderate or weak, respec­ The results are shown in Fig. 2 and Appendix F. All the paths are sig­
tively (Hair et al., 2013). The predictive relevance is measured using the nificant at the 0.01 significance level except for the subjective
blindfolding-based cross-validated redundancy measure Q2 (Hair et al., norm→behavioral intention and perceived behavioral con­
2017). Hair et al. (2019) suggest that the Q2 value for an endogenous trol→behavior paths.
construct should be higher than zero. Finally, the significance of path
coefficients is assessed using two tailed tests with threshold values of 5. Discussion
2.57, 1.96, and 1.65 for significance levels of 1%, 5% and 10%,
respectively (Hair et al., 2013). This exploratory research studies SFSC consumer behavior in pur­
chasing agricultural produce through social commerce. The theoretical
4. Results framework in this study combines the TPB with alphabet theory, and we
include an additional construct—i.e. perceived SFSC sustainability. The
4.1. Descriptive statistics of the variables

Descriptive statistics for the variables are shown in Appendix B. The

range of variable consumer purchase behavior scores shows that the
frequency with which consumers buy agricultural produce varies. The
range of variable behavioral intention scores is from 2 to 7 with the
mode at 6; thus, it implies that the intent to buy agricultural produce at
social commerce SFSCs is high. The variable attitude score ranges from 4
to 7 with the mode at 7, which indicates that respondents believe that
purchasing agricultural produce at social commerce SFSCs is beneficial,
pleasant, good, valuable, and enjoyable. The subjective norm, perceived
behavioral control, and information-seeking variables have different
ranges, which indicates that respondents have diverse opinions. For
information-seeking, the highest score is for respondents who seek in­
formation through chat groups. For the knowledge variable, the mode is
6 which shows that the respondents’ knowledge of product information
and product origin is good. The scores for the perceived SFSC sustain­ Fig. 2. PLS-SEM estimates
ability variable range from 3 to 7. The highest score indicates that job Notes: *p < 0.01; dashed lines show non-significant relationships.

5
A.H. Sadeli et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 386 (2023) 135812

study yields new insights into factors that explain consumer behavior Lin and Wu’s (2015) study on social commerce, which shows that sub­
when buying agricultural produce from SFSCs through social commerce jective norm influences purchase intention. A possible explanation as to
which we discuss below. why subjective norm is not significantly associated with behavioral
The PLS-SEM results show that SFSC sustainability perception is intention is as follows. Subjective norm is an individual’s perception of
influenced by information-seeking and mediated by knowledge. This others’ expectations regarding a certain behavior. Based on prior
result indicates that individuals who gather more information from research on technology adoption, individuals are more likely to comply
many sources tend to have a higher level of knowledge. This aligns with with other people’s expectations when the behavior is mandatory
alphabet theory (Zepeda and Deal, 2009) and the findings of Butu et al. (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Agricultural produce-purchasing from SFSCs is
(2020), which indicate that SFSC consumers search for information voluntary, particularly for people who have already developed a posi­
through social networking sites and, similar to Turcotte et al. (2015), tive attitude toward SFSCs. Moreover, consumers in our study have
that knowledge about various aspects of products increases with high enough information from social commerce SFSC, so they do not need
information-seeking. In social commerce SFSCs, information needs to be encouragement from others. The respondents in this study were chat
provided to satisfy consumers looking for information (Elghannam et al., group members of the online community of an SFSC who received
2017). Chat groups as a forum can be used to share information and gain intensive information from the producers or sellers on a daily basis.
knowledge (Hajli, 2015). Social commerce SFSC consumers in Indonesia Furthermore, perceived behavioral control is not significant in
can obtain information provided by producers or sellers on social media explaining buying behavior. This does not align with previous research
in several forms (e.g. text, photos, and videos). In our study, the infor­ on SFSCs (Giampietri et al., 2016, 2018) or research in the context of
mation includes the products and prices, the origin of the inputs, how social commerce (Lin and Wu, 2015). In Indonesia, purchasing agri­
the inputs are processed, the cultivation methods, the post-harvest cultural produce is an activity carried out regularly for daily food needs;
handling methods, the product processing methods, the delivery therefore, perceived behavioral control does not play a role. Common
methods, the number of customers, the number of harvests per month, activities with low volitional control make perceived behavioral control
etc. If consumers need more information, they can request it in group less important (Ajzen, 2005).
chats easily and quickly without having to go to the location of the The last insight that our study reveals is how behavioral intention
producer or the seller. Also, social media provides consumers, pro­ influences buying behavior. This finding aligns with previous literature
ducers, and sellers with the ability to communicate in groups, thus (Ajzen, 1991; Giampietri et al., 2016, 2018). It is also similar to the
enhancing consumer knowledge. findings of a previous study on social commerce online buying groups
The findings also show that a consumer who has a high level of (Lin and Wu, 2015). The higher the level of people’s intention behavior,
knowledge tends to have a positive perception of SFSC economic and the more likely the behavior of buying agricultural produce from SFSCs
social sustainability as a value inherent in social commerce SFSCs. This is.
finding is consistent with those of previous research showing that
knowledge positively affects perception (Rock, 1985). Also, similar to 6. Conclusions
Zepeda and Deal (2009), knowledge is a determining factor for values (e.
g., sustainability). For example, in our study, based on the information Purchase behavior at SFSCs through social commerce was explained
listed in the previous paragraph, when buying from SFSC, consumers using constructs from the theory of planned behavior and alphabet
feel they are buying products at the fair price, as well as contributing to theory, along with an additional factor (i.e. perceived economic and
creating jobs and supporting the economic conditions of producers and social sustainability). Perceived sustainability as a characteristic of
sellers. SFSCs affects purchase intention and is mediated by attitude. Perceived
In addition, perceived SFSC sustainability has a positive influence on sustainability can be increased by improving consumer knowledge. If
attitude. This is in line with previous research showing that SFSC sus­ the producer and seller share information using online platforms (e.g.,
tainability is a determinant of attitude (Kumar et al., 2021; Wang et al., social networking sites, online forums, and chat groups), consumer
2021). SFSC sustainability can explain 59.4% of attitude, which means knowledge will improve, and perceived sustainability will be indirectly
that economic and social sustainability are important in building a affected. Purchase behavioral control influences purchase behavior
positive consumer attitude that purchasing from social commerce SFSCs mediated by purchase intention. Due to the importance of information
is beneficial, pleasant, good, valuable, and enjoyable. about SFSCs and their sustainability characteristics, producers or sellers
Attitudes and perceived behavioral control are factors that explain should emphasize the information which highlights sustainability
behavioral intention. This is in accordance with the hypothesis of the characteristics to attract more consumers.
original TPB (Ajzen, 1991), the TPB used in the context of SFSCs An important contribution of this study to the literature is to com­
(Giampietri et al., 2018), and the TPB used in the context of social plement existing research into consumers’ purchase behavior in social
commerce online group buying (Lin and Wu, 2015). Perceived behav­ commerce SFSCs by confirming certain findings (i.e. sustainability
ioral control has a greater influence than attitude on purchase intention. perception is influenced by information-seeking and mediated by
The improvement of attitude increases the intention to buy agricultural knowledge; perception of SFSC sustainability impacts consumer attitude
produce from SFSCs using social commerce. This result is similar to toward SFSCs; attitude and perceived behavioral control impact
those of previous research into consumer use of Instagram (Herzallah behavioral intention; and behavioral intention and perceived behavioral
et al., 2022), Facebook (Suraworachet et al., 2012), WeChat (Bilal et al., control influence buying behavior) and revealing discrepancies. First,
2022), and consumer online buying groups (Lin and Wu, 2015). knowledge affects attitude through perceived SFSC sustainability (i.e.
Perceived behavioral control is a predictor of purchase intention in so­ economic and social). Hence, a positive attitude toward an SFSC hap­
cial commerce SFSCs, which aligns with previous research on social pens after knowledge about the SFSC has developed into a positive
commerce (Lin and Wu, 2015; Smith et al., 2013) and SFSCs (Giampietri perception of its sustainability. Second, the perception of SFSC sustain­
et al., 2018). ability affects purchase intention through attitude toward an SFSC.
Our study shows that subjective norm is not a predictor of behavioral Hence, consumers need time for their positive perceptions of SFSC
intention. This differs from previous research that is not specific to the sustainability to develop into a positive attitude toward an SFSC before
context of SFSCs with social commerce. In general, SFSC consumers who they have the intention to purchase. Third, attitude and perceived
shop at least once a year report that subjective norm has a positive effect behavioral control influence behavioral intention. Fourth, behavior is
on them (Giampietri et al., 2018). Also, non-consumer of CSA shows the influenced by behavioral intention. Finally, the adequacy of regular in­
relevance of social influence to behavioral intention (Diekmann and formation updates from producers or sellers and the voluntary nature of
Theuvsen, 2019; Lin and Wu, 2015). This conflicts with the findings of purchasing in SFSCs make the subjective norm from TPB non-significant.

6
A.H. Sadeli et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 386 (2023) 135812

Also, perceived behavioral control does not contribute to behavior the intention to adopt social commerce SFSCs with the aim of providing
because the regular activity of purchasing agricultural produce is asso­ a reference for sellers or producers to determine strategies in attracting
ciated with low volitional control. new consumers. Therefore, the business sustainability of producers is
Our study further contributes to business management and practice. maintained by the increasing number of consumers from new consumers
Understanding the factors that influence purchase behavior in social who want to buy agricultural produce from a sustainable supply
commerce SFSCs can support producers or sellers in operating their chain—namely, the short food supply chain. Furthermore, future studies
business. Producers or sellers should provide comprehensive informa­ could apply the same theoretical framework to other SFSC social com­
tion (e.g. product origin, production method, product identity, and merce cases and add new variables to improve the explanation of pur­
sustainability matters) on social commerce and being willing to interact chase behavior.
and communicate with consumers. It is important to select a suitable
platform which corresponds to the characteristics of SFSC such as a Credit authorship contribution statement
social media with chat groups. Furthermore, producers should provide
more sustainability-related information in order to promote positive Agriani Hermita Sadeli: Conceptualization, Methodology, Soft­
attitudes that SFSC is beneficial, pleasant, good, enjoyable, and valu­ ware, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Visualization,
able, which should influence consumers to buy at social commerce Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Tomy Perdana:
SFSCs, particularly for consumers who want to know more about Supervision, Resources, Writing – review & editing. Yosini Deliana:
everything related to SFSCs. The information provided should include Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Bhakti Stephan Onggo: Su­
information such as the product origin, production method, product pervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
identity, and product sustainability. Such information is necessary to
emphasize sustainability—both economic and social—as advantages.
Complete information received by consumers will increase knowledge, Declaration of competing interest
enhance perceived sustainability, and promote positive attitudes, which
will ultimately influence consumers to buy at social commerce SFSCs. In The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
addition, the utilization of social media platforms that offer chat groups interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
is beneficial in maintaining regular discussions with consumers. Social the work reported in this paper.
commerce SFSCs present an excellent opportunity for producers or
sellers, particularly for Indonesia as a developing country with a high Data availability
number of social media users.
Finally, this study provides an in-depth understanding of consumers’ Data will be made available on request.
purchase behavior in social commerce SFSCs. However, this research
only explains the behavior of consumers who have purchased agricul­ Acknowledgement
tural produce from a social commerce SFSC and are members of the
social media group of this SFSC. Further research is needed that includes This research was supported by Universitas Padjadjaran under grant
respondents who are non-consumers of social commerce SFSCs to study number: 1595/UN6.3.1/PT.00/2021.

Appendix A. Demographic characteristics

Categories n %

Gender Male 5 4.3

Female 111 95.7
Marital Status Single 12 10.3
Married 100 86.2
Widowed/divorced 4 3.5
Age 20–30 23 19.8
31–40 52 44.8
41–50 20 17.2
51–60 14 12.1
61–64 7 6
Education Level High School 11 9.5
Diploma 11 9.5
Bachelor 71 61.2
Master 21 18.1
Doctoral 2 1.7
Occupation Student 3 2.6
Entrepreneur 20 17.2
Employee 44 37.9
Retired Worker 1 0.9
Unemployed 48 41.4
Income < Rp3,350,000 17 14.7
Rp 3,350,000-Rp 5,000,000 31 26.7
Rp. 5,000,000 - Rp10,000,000 37 31.9
> Rp 10,000,000 31 26.7

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A.H. Sadeli et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 386 (2023) 135812

Appendix B. Descriptive statistic variables

Construct Indicators Frequency (percentage) Mean

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Behavior BHV1 1 3 4 30 27 30 21 5.2

BHV2 22 25 32 31 5 1 3.8
Behavioral Intention BI1 2 1 13 21 48 31 5.8
BI2 2 5 13 23 49 24 5.6
BI3 2 1 15 26 42 30 5.7
BI4 1 1 16 26 42 30 5.7
Attitude AT1 4 11 41 60 6.4
AT2 4 17 44 51 6.2
AT3 4 13 45 54 6.3
AT4 2 11 40 63 6.4
AT5 4 17 43 52 6.2
Subjective Norm SN1 2 2 42 26 23 21 5.1
SN2 2 4 30 29 32 19 5.2
SN3 2 24 23 40 27 5.6
SN4 1 1 4 30 25 35 20 5.3
Perceived Behavioral Control PBC1 13 28 37 38 5.9
PBC2 13 23 41 39 5.9
PBC3 1 12 12 38 53 6.1
Information Seeking IS1 4 1 5 12 22 29 43 5.6
IS2 1 4 18 24 32 37 5.7
IS3 5 3 5 35 22 24 22 4.9
Knowledge KN1 1 17 39 41 18 5.5
KN2 8 30 44 34 5.9
KN3 14 26 38 38 5.9
Perceived SFSC Sustainability PS1 10 15 44 47 6.1
PS2 1 12 30 41 32 5.8
PS3 11 17 47 41 6
PS4 2 13 27 45 29 5.7
PS5 1 17 37 61 6.4
PS6 3 9 46 58 6.4

Appendix C. Convergent validity and internal consistency reliability results

Constructs Indicators Convergent Validity Internal Consistency Reliability

Outer Loadings AVE Composite Reliability Cronbach’s Alpha

Behavior BHV1 0.909 0.755 0.860 0.682

BHV2 0.827
Behavioral Intention BI1 0.889 0.773 0.931 0.900
BI2 0.902
B13 0.939
B14 0.777
Attitude AT1 0.787 0.736 0.933 0.910
AT2 0.842
AT3 0.851
AT4 0.916
AT5 0.889
Subjective Norm SN1 0.839 0.581 0.847 0.807
SN2 0.705
SN3 0.765
SN4 0.734
Perceived Behavioral Control PBC1 0.954 0.722 0.882 0.798
PBC2 0.957
PBC3 0.582
Information Seeking IS1 0.788 0.646 0.845 0.728
IS2 0.844
IS3 0.777
Knowledge KN1 0.830 0.751 0.900 0.834
KN2 0.901
KN3 0.867
Perceived SFSC Sustainability PS1 0.768 0.531 0.870 0.818
PS2 0.650
PS3 0.827
PS4 0.551
PS5 0.795
PS6 0.743

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A.H. Sadeli et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 386 (2023) 135812

Appendix D. Heterotrait-monotrait ratio

AT BHV BI IS KN PBC PS SN

AT
BHV 0.461
BI 0.629 0.833
IS 0.334 0.163 0.119
KN 0.527 0.517 0.554 0.661
PBC 0.679 0.650 0.684 0.431 0.691
PS 0.881 0.479 0.567 0.407 0.614 0.775
SN 0.511 0.338 0.368 0.567 0.691 0.450 0.667

Appendix E. VIF values

AT BHV BI IS KN PBC PS SN

AT 1.626
BHV
BI 1.570
IS 1.000
KN 1.000
PBC 1.570 1.539
PS 1.000
SN 1.345

Appendix F. Hypotheses testing

Hypothesis Relationship Path Coefficients t statistics p values Results

H1 AT → BI 0.297 2.751 0.006* Significant

H2 SN → BI 0.117 1.522 0.128 Not significant
H3 PBC → BI 0.385 2.675 0.007* Significant
H4 PBC → BHV 0.162 1.554 0.120 Not Significant
H5 BI → BHV 0.571 5.604 0.000* Significant
H6 IS → KN 0.525 8.145 0.000* Significant
H7 KN → PS 0.513 5.468 0.000* Significant
H8 PS → AT 0.771 20.005 0.000* Significant
Notes: *p < 0.01.

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