Beyond algorithmic push: how content co-creation and KOL expertise drive purchases in social commerce

Purpose This study examines how different external stimuli influence consumers' purchase behavior in content-community-based social commerce. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework and the social presence (SP) theory, it investigates the role of SP in explaining the gradual, relationship-driven purchase mechanism on RED, a representative Chinese content-community platform. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 259 RED users through a questionnaire survey. Structural equation modelling using AMOS was employed to test the effects of user-platform interaction, algorithmic recommendation (AR), KOL expertise and content co-creation on SP and the subsequent effects of SP on purchase intention and actual purchase behavior. Findings KOL expertise and content co-creation significantly enhance SP, whereas user–platform interaction and AR do not. SP increases purchase intention, which in turn drives actual purchase behavior, and it significantly mediates the effects of the two relational stimuli. The explanatory structure of the model is consistent with a gradual rather than impulsive decision process, highlighting content and community as core drivers distinct from traditional e-commerce. Originality/value This study advances the SOR theory by challenging the implicit assumption of stimulus equivalence and proposing stimulus-organism congruence, and refines the SP theory by reconceptualizing presence as a cumulative psychological stock performing an uncertainty-reduction rather than an arousal function. Rather than claiming a general superiority of human over technological factors, it specifies the boundary conditions under which technical stimuli fail to translate into SP, and derives theoretical and practical guidance for shifting from technology-centric to socio-psychological perspectives in social commerce research.