Title: Sociological factors affecting trust development in virtual communities

Authors: Farhad Daneshgar, Sharon Ho

Addresses: School of Information Systems, Technology and Management (SISTM), The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. ' KPMG Australia, P.O. Box H67 Australia Square, Sydney NSW, Australia

Abstract: This study explores development of trust by people participating in Virtual Communities (VCs). The broad question in this research is to investigate common factors responsible for trust development in both virtual and physical worlds. The main sociological factors that influence trust in physical communities have been hypothesised for their contribution to the development of trust in VCs. A quantitative online survey instrument was developed and applied to an online community based on existing literature on sociology under two major categories: |personal-level| and |contextual-level|. Results confirmed significant contribution of the factors at both personal-level| and |contextual-level|. Results also confirm some of the existing findings in related areas.

Keywords: sociological factors; trust; trust development; virtual communities; VCs; web based communities; online communities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2008.016002

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2008 Vol.5 No.1, pp.51 - 63

Published online: 02 Dec 2007 *

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