An Examination of the Factors Affecting the Development of Relational Trust Within Pseudonymous Cyberspace Communities

Abstract

For the past 50 years researchers have found that informal, unmediated word-of-mouth communication (WOM) between individuals is the single most powerfull influence shaping consumer behaviour and accelerating the adoption of innovations. Until recently traditional WOM channels have been limited primarily to friends, neighbours and colleagues. However, the emergence of the Internet enables information interchange to transcend physical, geographical and temporal boundaries thereby exponentially expand the reach and power of online personal communication networks. This dissertation investigates the means used by people to evaluate electronic word-of-mouth communication (e-WOM) enabling relational trust to develop among virtual community participants affecting their perceptions of credibility, and subsequent susceptibility to the influence of information obtained from online discussion forums. Unlike traditional WOM channels where information seekers know information sources, e-WOM channels are composed of information exchange participants who are unknown to each other. Past research finds people use their perceptions of process factors (enduring involvement, product knowledge and innovation) and social judgments (homophily and tie strength) to measure WOM effectiveness. Within pseudonymous discussion forums, consumers cannot draw on physical cues to shape their perceptions of process factors and social judgments of eWOM sources. This study examines the effects of pseudonymity on the formation of relational trust in online environments and whether perceptions of process and social judgments of online information sources produce varying levels of interpersonal influence. Data for this study was drawn from a population of active discussion forum participants from wine, movie and travel online communities. A sample of 606 respondents completed questionnaires constructed from established measurement instrunents with reported reliability in past research. The quantitative, cross-sectional research design of this study partially replicates and extends into the computer mediated environment prior WOM research. Consistent with the literature dealing with traditional face-to-face WOM, this study found people prefer to evaluate the credibility of e-WOM information sources based on social judgments rather than process attributes. Enduring involvement, innovativeness and knowledge did not add to the perceptions of e-WOM credibility in any discussion forum community. This study found a mix of social judgment and process attributes predicted susceptibility to the influence of e-WOM. Participants with high information seeking behaviour perceived e-WOM as more credible and were more susceptible to the influence of e~WOM than participants with low information seeking behaviour. Contrary to the literature dealing with traditional face-to-face WOM, no significant difference in susceptibility to e-WOM influence was found among people who are actively engaged in exchanging information and people who passively monitor wine, movie and travel forums.