The Development of Trust in Virtual Communities

Abstract

This empirical study applies an existing scale to measure trust in the context of virtual communities on the Internet, and explores factors that build trust in this unique environment. The results show that trust is composed of two dimensions: trust in others’ abilities and trust in benevolence/integrity. In addition, this research found that trust has relationships with perceived responsiveness, disposition to trust, and perceptions regarding the degree to which others confide personal information. Trust itself affected participants’ desire to get and to provide information to others in the online community.