The Effect of Trust on Reference Group Influence and Perceived Informativeness:A Comparison between Traditional Group and Virtual Community

Abstract

Being influenced by reference group is a normal behavior In the past we are easily influenced by family and friends when we face the problem of choosing product or service But now because of the popularity of Internet and the flouring virtual community consumers seem to become depend on the views from the Internet Hence the study wants to compare how virtual community and traditional group affect reference group influences Reference group can be separated into three categories including informational influence value-expressive influence and utilitarian influence After collecting data the research use LISREL to evaluate how trust effected on the reference group influence and perceived informativeness and compared these two groups The research use LISREL to evaluate the hypotheses To sum up this research focuses on the effect of trust on reference group influences and perceived informativeness The research findings can be concluded as the followings First when discussing the reference group influence virtual community has more informational influence which means consumers rely on virtual community when they looking for detailed resources Traditional group has more value-expressive and utilitarian influence which means individuals want to have psychological relationship with family and friends rather than virtual community Second trust would positively affect reference group influences The higher trust would lead to more informational value-expressive and utilitarian influence Third it showed that all the reference group influences would positively affect perceived informativeness

Date of Award	2015 Feb 6
Original language	English
Supervisor	Meng-Kuan Lai (Supervisor)