The Impact of Initial Formation Pathway on Customer Engagement and Repeat Purchase

Abstract

This study examines Iraq's social commerce platform to see how initial formation pathway affect customer engagement and repeat purchase behaviour in social commerce. Grounded on social exchange theory (SET) and Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory, this study uses a mediated model to analyse how customer engagement turns initial formation pathway into consumer customer engagement and repeat purchase behaviour. The data was collected from 471 online customers in Iraq and analysed using Smart PLS. Results show that initial formation pathway has a positive impact on customer engagement and repeat purchase. Customer engagement affected positively the repeat purchase and mediated the effect of initial formation pathway on repeat purchase. The study contributed to theory by integrating SET and SOR. SET explained the cost-benefit analysis while SOR explained the behavioural mechanism linking initial stimuli to repeat purchase. This study integrates these theories into a coherent framework while acknowledging Iraq's geographic restrictions, improving social commerce literature. The findings can help firms improve engagement tactics through trust-building. This study improves understanding of digital customer engagement tactics in emerging regions and suggests cross-cultural applicability and technology engagement enhancements.