Chapter 2: Back to the Future with a ‘Responsibility Caveat’: Evaluating the Tension of Responsibility and Accountability Within Social Commerce via a Customer-to-Customer Lens

As the technological landscape evolves, there are calls for social media companies (SMCs) to be responsible when facilitating customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions in a social commerce environment. The practical examples discussed within the chapter highlight SMCs’ responsibilities taken, but also reveal that SMCs overlook the urgency to take accountability. As a result of taking both responsibility and accountability, SMCs will continue to thrive when aligning with governance in place. The ensuing book chapter provides a current conceptual review of the need for responsibility and accountability in a digital age, whilst emphasising how SMCs should accommodate and foster a sustainable ecosystem for C2C engagement within a social commerce environment. Next, a theoretical review of literature on a C2C framework is provided in a social commerce setting, along with an examination of the responsibility and accountability of SMC, an area of research that warrants exploration. The penultimate section highlights the pertinent discourse surrounding the need for SMCs to go beyond embracing their responsibility and their accountability in facilitating C2C interactions. With lessons learned from the theoretical review, best practice recommendations were provided for future thinking in shaping a more sustainable social commerce environment, considering the responsibility and accountability of various stakeholders.