Start Date

12-16-2013

Description

How to build up trust has been a central topic of research in social networks. In this paper, we base on social capital theory to investigate what factors can influence an individual’s trust network in an online community. Specifically, we propose that three dimensions of social capital (1) opportunity, (2) motivation, and (3) ability have impacts on a user’s trust network formation in an online community. With the data from an online word-of-mouth community, we estimate a negative binomial regression model to test our hypotheses. As a result, all the hypotheses are supported. Future research directions are also discussed.

Share

COinS
 
Dec 16th, 12:00 AM

The Impact of Social Capital On Realizing a Trust-based Social Network

How to build up trust has been a central topic of research in social networks. In this paper, we base on social capital theory to investigate what factors can influence an individual’s trust network in an online community. Specifically, we propose that three dimensions of social capital (1) opportunity, (2) motivation, and (3) ability have impacts on a user’s trust network formation in an online community. With the data from an online word-of-mouth community, we estimate a negative binomial regression model to test our hypotheses. As a result, all the hypotheses are supported. Future research directions are also discussed.