IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p1884-d496503.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1884/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1884/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard J. Jansen & Mimi Zhang & Kate Sobel & Abdur Chowdury, 2009. "Twitter power: Tweets as electronic word of mouth," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 60(11), pages 2169-2188, November.
    2. Gefen, David & Straub, Detmar W., 2004. "Consumer trust in B2C e-Commerce and the importance of social presence: experiments in e-Products and e-Services," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 407-424, December.
    3. Berthon, Pierre R. & Pitt, Leyland F. & Plangger, Kirk & Shapiro, Daniel, 2012. "Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 261-271.
    4. Yang, W. & Renwich, A., 2018. "Consumer Willingness to Pay Price Premium for Credence Attributes of Livestock Products A Meta-Analysis method," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277320, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Gefen, David, 2000. "E-commerce: the role of familiarity and trust," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 725-737, December.
    6. Darby, Michael R & Karni, Edi, 1973. "Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 67-88, April.
    7. Geir Sogn-Grundvåg & Thomas Andre Larsen & James A. Young, 2014. "Product Differentiation with Credence Attributes and Private Labels: The Case of Whitefish in UK Supermarkets," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 368-382, June.
    8. Wu, Jyh-Jeng & Chen, Ying-Hueih & Chung, Yu-Shuo, 2010. "Trust factors influencing virtual community members: A study of transaction communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1025-1032, September.
    9. Ranjay Gulati & Maxim Sytch, 2008. "Does familiarity breed trust? Revisiting the antecedents of trust," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2-3), pages 165-190.
    10. D. Harrison McKnight & Vivek Choudhury & Charles Kacmar, 2002. "Developing and Validating Trust Measures for e-Commerce: An Integrative Typology," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 334-359, September.
    11. Andrea Galeotti & Sanjeev Goyal, 2009. "Influencing the influencers: a theory of strategic diffusion," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(3), pages 509-532, September.
    12. Dentoni, Domenico & Tonsor, Glynn T. & Calantone, Roger J. & Peterson, H. Christopher, 2009. "The Direct and Indirect Effects of ‘Locally Grown’ on Consumers’ Attitudes towards Agri-Food Products," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(3), pages 384-396, December.
    13. Paul A. Pavlou & Angelika Dimoka, 2006. "The Nature and Role of Feedback Text Comments in Online Marketplaces: Implications for Trust Building, Price Premiums, and Seller Differentiation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 392-414, December.
    14. Hajli, Nick & Sims, Julian & Zadeh, Arash H. & Richard, Marie-Odile, 2017. "A social commerce investigation of the role of trust in a social networking site on purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 133-141.
    15. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    16. Hu, Wuyang & Chen, Kevin & Yoshida, Kentaro, 2006. "Japanese Consumers' Perceptions on and Willingness to Pay for Credence Attributes Associated with Canola Oil," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 91-103, April.
    17. Dellarocas, Chrysanthos, 2003. "The Digitization of Word-of-mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms," Working papers 4296-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    18. Chrysanthos Dellarocas, 2003. "The Digitization of Word of Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(10), pages 1407-1424, October.
    19. Paul A. Pavlou & David Gefen, 2004. "Building Effective Online Marketplaces with Institution-Based Trust," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 37-59, March.
    20. Schurr, Paul H & Ozanne, Julie L, 1985. "Influence on Exchange Processes: Buyers' Preconceptions of a Seller's Trustworthiness and Bargaining Toughness," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 11(4), pages 939-953, March.
    21. Stevens, Jennifer L. & Spaid, Brian I. & Breazeale, Michael & Esmark Jones, Carol L., 2018. "Timeliness, transparency, and trust: A framework for managing online customer complaints," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 375-384.
    22. Wei Yang & Alan Renwick, 2019. "Consumer Willingness to Pay Price Premiums for Credence Attributes of Livestock Products – A Meta‐Analysis," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 618-639, September.
    23. Teo, Thompson S.H. & Liu, Jing, 2007. "Consumer trust in e-commerce in the United States, Singapore and China," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 22-38, February.
    24. Katherine J. Stewart, 2003. "Trust Transfer on the World Wide Web," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 5-17, February.
    25. Clay M. Voorhees & Michael K. Brady & Roger Calantone & Edward Ramirez, 2016. "Discriminant validity testing in marketing: an analysis, causes for concern, and proposed remedies," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 119-134, January.
    26. Kristine de Valck & Roberts V. Kozinets & Andrea C. Wojnicki & Sarah J.S. Wilner, 2010. "Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities," Post-Print hal-00458424, HAL.
    27. Klein, Benjamin & Leffler, Keith B, 1981. "The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 615-641, August.
    28. Henry Kaiser, 1974. "An index of factorial simplicity," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 39(1), pages 31-36, March.
    29. Rim Lassoued & Jill E. Hobbs & Eric T. Micheels & David Di Zhang, 2015. "Consumer Trust in Chicken Brands: A Structural Equation Model," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 63(4), pages 621-647, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oliver Meixner & Petra Riefler & Karin Schanes, 2021. "Sustainable Consumer Behavior and Food Marketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-4, November.
    2. Hee-Min Lee & Jee-Won Kang & Young Namkung, 2021. "Instagram Users’ Information Acceptance Process for Food-Content," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Jessica Müller-Pérez & Ángel Acevedo-Duque & Pilar Valenzuela Rettig & Elizabeth Emperatriz García-Salirrosas & Mirtha Mercedes Fernández-Mantilla & Sandra Sofía Izquierdo-Marín & Rina Álvarez-Becerra, 2023. "Consumer Behavior after COVID-19: Interpersonal Influences, eWOM and Digital Lifestyles in More Diverse Youths," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-13, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gefen, David & Reychav, Iris, 2014. "Why trustworthiness in an IT vendor is important even after the vendor left: IT is accepting the message and not just the messenger that is important," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 111-125.
    2. Alisa Frik & Luigi Mittone, 2016. "Factors Influencing the Perceived Websites' Privacy Trustworthiness and Users' Purchase Intentions," CEEL Working Papers 1609, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    3. Judy E. Scott & Dawn G. Gregg & Jae Hoon Choi, 2015. "Lemon complaints: When online auctions go sour," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 177-191, February.
    4. Paul A. Pavlou & Angelika Dimoka, 2006. "The Nature and Role of Feedback Text Comments in Online Marketplaces: Implications for Trust Building, Price Premiums, and Seller Differentiation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 392-414, December.
    5. Paul A. Pavlou & David Gefen, 2005. "Psychological Contract Violation in Online Marketplaces: Antecedents, Consequences, and Moderating Role," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 372-399, December.
    6. Choi, Miju & Law, Rob & Heo, Cindy Yoonjoung, 2016. "Shopping destinations and trust – Tourist attitudes: Scale development and validation," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 490-501.
    7. Choi-Meng Leong & Alexa Min-Wei Loi & Steve Woon, 2022. "The influence of social media eWOM information on purchase intention," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(2), pages 145-157, June.
    8. Marzieh Soleimani, 2022. "Buyers' trust and mistrust in e-commerce platforms: a synthesizing literature review," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 57-78, March.
    9. Mohammed Alharbey & Stefan Van Hemmen, 2021. "Investor Intention in Equity Crowdfunding. Does Trust Matter?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, January.
    10. Hong, Ilyoo B. & Cho, Hwihyung, 2011. "The impact of consumer trust on attitudinal loyalty and purchase intentions in B2C e-marketplaces: Intermediary trust vs. seller trust," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 469-479.
    11. Verhagen, T., 2008. "Investigating the impact of C2C electronic marketplace quality on trust," Serie Research Memoranda 0008, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    12. Kim, Sanghyun & Park, Hyunsun, 2013. "Effects of various characteristics of social commerce (s-commerce) on consumers’ trust and trust performance," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 318-332.
    13. Arvind K. Tripathi & Young-Jin Lee & Amit Basu, 2022. "Analyzing the Impact of Public Buyer–Seller Engagement During Online Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 1264-1286, December.
    14. Kick, Markus, 2015. "Social Media Research: A Narrative Review," EconStor Preprints 182506, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Xue (Jane) Tan & Youwei Wang & Yong Tan, 2019. "Impact of Live Chat on Purchase in Electronic Markets: The Moderating Role of Information Cues," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 1248-1271, December.
    16. Wu, Wei & Wang, Sihang & Ding, Guanqi & Mo, Jinfei, 2023. "Elucidating trust-building sources in social shopping: A consumer cognitive and emotional trust perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Meents, S. & Verhagen, T. & Vlaar, P.W.L., 2011. "How sellers can stimulate purchasing in electronic marketplaces: Using information as a risk reduction signal," Serie Research Memoranda 0014, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    18. Fernanda Leão Ramos & Jorge Brantes Ferreira & Angilberto Sabino de Freitas & Juliana Werneck Rodrigues, 2018. "The Effect of Trust in the Intention to Use m-banking," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 15(2), pages 175-191, March.
    19. Balázs Kovács, 2024. "The Turing test of online reviews: Can we tell the difference between human-written and GPT-4-written online reviews?," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 651-666, December.
    20. Möhlmann, Mareike, 2021. "Unjustified trust beliefs: Trust conflation on sharing economy platforms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(3).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1884-:d:496503. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.