The effect of web communities on consumers’ initial trust in B2C e-commerce websites

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of the mere integration of social network applications to provide a signal concerning the “trustworthiness” of an unfamiliar e-vendor in order to enhance subsequent purchase intentions. Design/methodology/approach – To investigate the impact of web communities on consumers’ initial trust beliefs (i.e. ability, benevolence and integrity), a 2 £ 3 between-subjects full factorial online experiment was carried out, using a fictitious web site for a gift gadgets selling company, manipulating it for inclusion or exclusion of a “social networking site”, and for inclusion or exclusion of “a corporate blog (text only blog, photo and text blog, or no blog)”. Data were obtained from 226 online shoppers. Findings – Although the authors could not reveal any effects of the integration of social network applications on “ability” beliefs, it was possible to demonstrate their capacity to “signal” “benevolence” and “integrity”, which in turn have a significant impact on purchase intentions. Unfamiliar e-retailers may foster perceptions of “integrity” by utilizing text-blogs into their web sites, but they should avoid embedding facial photos of shop representatives in the blog. If e-retailers want to make use of “a corporate blog with facial photo”, it is recommended to combine it with the integration of a social networking site such as Facebook in order to boost perceptions of “benevolence”. Research limitations/implications – The simple integration of “social network applications” can affect “initial trust beliefs” towards unfamiliar e-tailers and subsequent “purchase intentions”, but it appears essential to utilize just the right cue combination in order to obtain the desired effect. The effectiveness of integrating a social network application may vary according to the type and may affect different trust beliefs (benevolence, integrity). Originality/value – An important issue in e-commerce remains how trust is developed between consumers and e-retailers. This paper investigates the use of different web communities and the influence of their integration in the commercial web site on consumers’ initial trust beliefs in the online environment. The findings will help business managers to understand how social media should be used to lead to optimal results.