Interpersonal Trust Formation in Social Commerce in Spain: An Empirical Study
(A2019-4808)

AUTHORS

Li Qin, Fairleigh Dickinson University; Maria De-Juan-Vigaray, University of Alicante

KEYWORDS

social commerce; trust; trust-building

ABSTRACT

Interpersonal trust is essential to people’s intention to use social commerce based on trust transfer theory. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of trust-building antecedents upon interpersonal trust and users’ intention to use social commerce. To do so the literature validates trust as a three-dimensional construct: competence, integrity, and benevolence, which fit the context of social commerce and provide a deep insight into trust. To investigate how this interpersonal trust is formed, trust-building theories were applied and variables including economic calculus, familiarity, shared value, and propensity to trust are incorporated as antecedents to trust in the research model, validated using survey data collected from 456 Spanish subjects. All the three trust dimensions have significant and positive impact upon behavioral intention and all the trust-building antecedents have significant and positive impact upon trust. Findings have implications for global marketing managers and information officers.