The determining factors of internet users trust in social networks

Abstract

Billions of people use social media and the internet for shopping, banking, other important transactions, and key social interactions. However, sharing personal data, the public's privacy, and digital trust are becoming important issues. Thus, we aim within this paper to provide a better understanding of the global perceptions of digital social network users as well as identify the agents of trust. In the first section, we will explore and clearly define the concept of trust as it has been developed. In the second section, we will propose the key digital trust variables that are generated from a qualitative study of social network members in order to lead to a better understanding of the interaction between the internet trust and social network users. The originality of our research lies, firstly, in the collection of data due to the lack of qualitative studies in Morocco on this research subject, and secondly, in the consideration of psychosociological variables as factors impacting navigation on social networks. In the light of our documentary research, we were able to deduce that the insights provided by the literature have never been validated in a Moroccan context. The majority of studies dealing with trust and its determinants are set in a Western context characterized by the widespread use of ICT and the rigorous application of current legal and regulatory standards. Our results highlight the psychosociological factors that impact the trust of Internet users on social networks, which seem to be decisive in the constitution of trust, and also point to the existence of a real identity and a virtual identity, as declared by the literature and proven by our empirical study.

Keywords : confidence, digital confidence, social networks, web, virtual

Classification JEL : M31

Paper type: Empirical Research