From Viral Trends to Buying Decisions: How TikTok Shop’s Interactive Features Shape Consumer Intent among University Students

Abstract

The rapid expansion of social commerce has reshaped digital consumer behaviour, particularly among university students who actively engage with interactive platforms such as TikTok. Despite the growing prominence of TikTok Shop, limited empirical evidence exists on how its platform-specific attributes influence purchase intention within a unified framework. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationships between perceived convenience, perceived usefulness, perceived trust, and online purchase intention among university students in Klang Valley. Grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Trust Theory, the study provides an integrated perspective on technological and psychological determinants of consumer behaviour in social commerce. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted using data collected from 370 university students through a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression techniques to assess both the relationships and predictive effects among variables. The results indicate that all three factors, perceived convenience, perceived usefulness, and perceived trust, have significant positive relationships with online purchase intention (p < 0.001). Among these, perceived convenience emerged as the strongest predictor, highlighting the critical role of seamless user experience in influencing consumer decisions. These findings suggest that TikTok Shop’s ability to integrate usability, functional value, and trust-building mechanisms is central to its effectiveness as a social commerce platform. This study contributes to the literature by offering empirical evidence on the combined effects of key determinants within the context of TikTok Shop, an area that remains underexplored. The findings also provide practical insights for platform developers and digital marketers to enhance user experience, strengthen trust, and improve conversion strategies in an increasingly competitive social commerce environment.