F-commerce and the Crucial Role of Trust

Several studies have identified the crucial role of trust in internet shopping behavior. Technical developments have produced new forms of e-commerce such as commerce through the largest worldwide social network: Shopping on Facebook. Our research investigates the role of trust in facebook-shopping. Our findings show that perceptions of the e-retailer's benevolence and integrity have a stronger impact on trust in facebook-shopping than perceptions of competence and the benevolence and integrity of Facebook itself. Moreover, perceptions of benevolence and integrity of both the e-retailer and Facebook also display a direct effect on purchase intention. Finally, we find significant and positive interaction effects indicating that trust in the e-retailer and trust in Facebook do not independently affect trust in facebook-shopping and purchase intention. Instead, we found that perception of the e-retailer and Facebook complement each other.