Chapter 1: Creating Trust and Participation in Online Communities with IT Features

April 22, 2020

• IT features of VCs affect trust and participation
• Four clusters of IT features:
  1. Usability
  2. Transparency
  3. Quality-assured content
  4. Security/privacy
• Trust = “fundamental role in building social relationships and exchanging information”
• Data breaches damage trust
• Organizations may not encourage using third party VCs due to distrust in privacy and security

Trust in Online Communities:
The Technology-Trust-Partnership Model (Benlian, Hess. 17-35).

• Analyses impact of IT features on user-trust and participation in OCs
• Users rely on IT features to develop a sense of trust
• There are 3 dimensions to develop trust in virtual environment
  1. System trust (of institutional environment)
  2. Interpersonal trust
  3. Dispositional trust (“trusting attitude of the truster”… :S )

• This TTP Model contains hypotheses on a positive correlation relationship across all categories
• Perception of IT factors > Trust factors > Community participation

Hypotheses

• Usability
  • Ease of use is “crucial in OCs as it supports an OC’s role as a medium for social interaction”
  • Features that support social cues increases interpersonal trust because they facilitate peer-to-peer connections
  • Easy of accessibility leads to increased trust because it shows consistency, reliability and does not waste time
  • Clear direction increases trust
• Transparency
  • Making the operator’s identity known enhances the organization’s transparency, therefore increasing trust in members
  • Making goals and purpose explicit increases trust
• Quality-assured Content
  • “Feedback mechanisms induce trust and promote participation”
  • Positive feedback increases credibility of user’s information
  • Level of expertise membership also increases trust
• Security/Privacy
  • Data encryption + seals + links to privacy polity statements increases trust in OC system
  • Certifications from trusted parties increases participation

About the empirical study; Research design

• Quantitative research
• Survey questionnaire was used to test hypotheses in TTP Model
• Respondent demographics were taken into consideration
• Analyzed with equation models

Discussion

• Usability and transparency related IT features affect trust and participation in OCs most
• Usability mostly affects participation
• Transparency mostly affects trust
• Interpersonal + System trust do significantly affect participation
• System trust has stronger influence in participation
• These results can be used by community operators “as reference points for allocating IT investments”

Intro + Chapter 1 Notes