How Social Network Characteristics Affect Users’ Trust and Purchase Intention

摘要

These days, young college students cannot imagine life without social network service (SNS). They access andbrowse social network sites everyday to get information, find friends, enjoy entertainment, and express theiropinion. Despite an extraordinary amount of time consumed on SNS by young adults, there have not beenextensive researches and discussion of social networking services and their impact on purchase intention. Theaim of this research is to discover how SNS characteristics affect SNS users’ trust and purchase intention inChinese SNS Weibo. Regression analysis from the SPSS 13.0 program was used to conduct the research. Thisresearch identified the social network characteristic (informativeness) that affects trust in Weibo. This article alsosuggests variables (trust and informativeness) that have an effect on the purchase intention on the Weibo. Thus,we hope this study will help practitioners and companies that can formulate appropriate marketing strategies onsocial network platforms when selling their products and service.