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Gaining Trust in the Digital Age: The Potential of Social Media for Increasing the Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises

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  • Borislav Rajković

    (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany)

  • Ivan Đurić

    (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany)

  • Vlade Zarić

    (Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Thomas Glauben

    (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany)

Abstract

Trust in information originating from a company is becoming essential, as consumer preferences are increasingly versatile and oriented towards credence attributes. Social media, which emerged as a dominant means of online communication, might help increase consumers’ trust in companies. The paper empirically investigates a conceptual trust-building mechanism that could occur on companies’ social media pages. A survey was conducted among social media users in Belgrade (Serbia). The collected data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling. It confirmed that in an interactive environment of companies’ social media pages, trust can be built towards two objects. The first one is trust among consumers, and the second one is trust towards a company. The results also confirm a connection between trust and an intention to purchase, both being also related to a consumer’s willingness to obtain information. Therefore, the result can serve as a basis for creating more effective marketing campaigns where a company is the source of information regarding credence (added-value) attributes of its products.

Suggested Citation

  • Borislav Rajković & Ivan Đurić & Vlade Zarić & Thomas Glauben, 2021. "Gaining Trust in the Digital Age: The Potential of Social Media for Increasing the Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1884-:d:496503
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