A MODEL OF ONLINE TRUST

Abstract

Trust among members is an important outcome of virtual communities. Based on identity and social exchange theories, this article proposes a model of trust in which norms and sense of virtual community (SOVC) mediate the relationship between the antecedents of exchanging support, learning identity, creating identity, and sanctioning with the outcome of group trust. The authors surveyed 277 members of 11 active virtual communities. Results generally support our model indicating that the development and adherence to norms as well as members' SOVC play significant roles in the development of group members' trust of each other. This article discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the study.

Keywords:

• computer-mediated-communication
• psychology
• identity

Notes

Or pseudonymous identities, in which a member's identity does not track with their ‘real’ identity.

Our participants are predominantly women.

Variations on the analyses presented here yield very similar results.