Gender differences in the antecedents of trust in mobile social networking services

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the development of mobile Internet technology and smartphone devices, mobile social networking services (mobile SNS) have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, research that systematically investigates the antecedents of trust, especially the gender differences therein, in the context of mobile SNS has been scarce. Building upon social role theory (SRT), this study extends existing literature by exploring the driving forces of trust in mobile SNS for different genders. Data are collected from WeChat users and analysed through multigroup analysis. Results have confirmed that trust in mobile SNS is associated with antecedents including perceived satisfaction, social ties, system quality, reputation and structural assurance. Particularly, social ties and reputation have dominant effects on trust of male users, whereas structural assurance has a greater effect on trust of female users. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are presented.