Title: Understanding the mediating role of trust in explaining initiators' signing intentions on crowdsourcing platforms

Authors: Yueyan Liu; Jianian Zhao; Tao Wang; Minghui Kang

Addresses: School of Software & Microelectronics, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road Haidian District, Beijing, China ' The Palatine Centre, Durham University Business School, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK ' School of Economic Information Engineering, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Liutai Avenue 555, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China ' School of Economics and Management, Southwest Jiaotong University, Jinniu District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Abstract: As the most promising and emerging Web 2.0-based application, crowdsourcing has attracted considerable attention over the years, thus facilitating the connectivity and collaboration of societies. However, despite the continuous implementation, a common phenomenon exists, i.e. lack of trust among crowdsourcing participants. Such lack may result in a lower rate of contract signing. The purpose of this study is to identity cognitive and affective determinants of initiators' willingness to sign a contract towards trust, and to understand the process of trust model in determining the trust formation mechanism. Results indicate perceived accreditation, network externality, absorptive capacity, track record and social capital are important in forming initiators' trust towards crowdsourcing platforms and bidders, which in turn will promote their signing intention. This study is unique in that it applies trust theory to propose a crowdsourcing trust model that incorporates bidder- and platform-related variables as determinants to predict initiators' willingness to sign a contract.

Keywords: mediating role; signing intentions; crowdsourcing platforms; cognitive trust; affective trust; initiators; bidders; contract signing; perceived accreditation; network externality; absorptive capacity; track record; social capital; willingness to sign.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOI.2017.081508

International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, 2017 Vol.8 No.3, pp.165 - 184

Received: 18 Feb 2016
Accepted: 06 Sep 2016
Published online: 10 Jan 2017 *

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