Abstract

This paper examines trust’s role in predicting Facebook continuance intention. We examine the relative influence of two types of trusting beliefs including interpersonal-related trust beliefs and technology-related trust beliefs on technology trusting intentions. Interpersonal trusting beliefs include integrity, competence, and benevolence. Technology-related trusting beliefs include three conceptually similar, yet distinct beliefs including reliability, functionality, and helpfulness. We find that college-aged Facebook users’ interpersonal and technology-related beliefs have similar effects on trusting intentions. Thus the two types of beliefs are conceptually and functionally equivalent. Our results also show that trusting intention mediates the effects of trusting beliefs on continuance intentions. This initial study presents future research opportunities to explore the importance of these two types of trusting beliefs in other technology contexts.

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