How reciprocity, cohesion, and communication climate drive information sharing in WeChat-based e-commerce communities

Abstract As social commerce increasingly unfolds within closed and relationally embedded digital environments, understanding how community dynamics translate into sustained information-sharing remains a critical challenge. This study investigates information-sharing behavior in WeChat-based e-commerce communities by examining how community reciprocity and community cohesion shape sharing outcomes through the mediating role of communication climate, while accounting for the contextual influence of community informativeness. Grounded in Social Information Processing Theory, the study conceptualizes information sharing as a socially constructed outcome that emerges from members’ interpretations of relational cues and communicative norms within their community. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews with 32 active WeChat users were conducted to uncover how reciprocal exchanges, cohesive ties, and communicative interactions are experienced in practice; these insights informed the development and refinement of the quantitative measures. The subsequent survey of 365 community members was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results demonstrate that community reciprocity and cohesion exert both direct effects on information-sharing behavior and indirect effects through communication climate, confirming its central mediating role. Moreover, community informativeness significantly moderates the relationship between communication climate and information sharing, such that a supportive communicative environment is most effective when embedded in a content-rich community context. By integrating community-level relational norms with socially constructed communication processes, this study advances theoretical understanding of information sharing in social commerce and highlights the distinctive dynamics of WeChat-based communities. The findings offer actionable insights for platform designers and community managers seeking to cultivate communicative environments that sustain trust, participation, and high-quality knowledge exchange.