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The broad usage of social networking sites (SNS) has changed how we communicate, get our news, share life events, find employment, interact socially and professionally, and even find a mate. SNS usage continues to rise, with over 72% of adults now using a social networking site and over 84% of individuals between ages 18-29 using one (Auxier & Anderson, 2021).
We know that SNS users are motivated by sharing information, attempting to entertain others, keeping up with trends, showing off, transcending temporal and geographic limitations, and expressing affection for others (Waters & Ackerman, 2011; Xu et al., 2012). These motivations precede usage. The amount of perceived effort taken to perform these tasks impacts the trust in SNS (Chang et al., 2017). These findings suggest a relationship between SNS usage and the development of trust.
Trust, to some degree, is a fundamental element for reaping the benefits of a more connected world, where more and more social interactions are occurring through online transactions. “Trust is the confidence that another person or group will act in a favorable way” (Drake et al., 2021, p. 94). Users are more willing to share within sites they trust even if there is low satisfaction with the site (Kourouthanassis et al., 2015). Trust in SNS indicates that the SNS user believes that SNS will protect their concerns and reduce the user’s social uncertainty and risk. Trust acts as a decision mechanism to determine any undesirable risk (Hsu et al., 2010). There must be some trust, whether ordering an item online or exchanging personal information on a dating website. Trust established and nurtured in face-to-face exchanges has been well researched (Barbalet, 2009; Misztal, 2011; Sorrentino et al., 1995; Webb et al., 2016) but research on building trust through SNS is more sparse.
Furthermore, research has found that trust impacts the continuance intentions in social networking sites (Lankton & McKnight, 2011; Meng-Hsiang et al., 2011) and technology in general (Nancy K. Lankton et al., 2015). However, using these technologies provides experiences that could impact individual dispositions. SNS users and non-users show marked differences between dispositional factors such as self-disclosure, sociability, and shyness (Grace et al., 2015). While these dispositional differences may be caused by self-selection, it is unclear how much is caused by self-selection or caused by SNS use. SNS use provides exposure to multiple interactions between people and with the technology, not just between an individual and their friends, but also observations between their friends and others. This exposure allows individuals to observe a large multitude of interactions and outcomes, which can be integrated subconsciously. This inductive process could influence dispositional factors. Yet, it is not clear if and how these continued observations impact an individual’s disposition to trust?
Nevertheless, it is not clear if SNS usage would increase or decrease disposition to trust. SNS usage is often associated with negative impacts on the user’s life, such as poor body image (de Vries et al., 2015), reduced academic performance (Doleck & Lajoie, 2018), privacy violations in job searches (Drake & Furner, 2020), and increased social anxiety (Dobrean & Pasarelu, 2016). However, the continued popularity of SNS suggests there exist positive aspects to SNS usage. It is critical to understand not only the adverse effects but also the positive effects of SNS usage to fully appreciate the effects on society, culture, and individuals. Research into all facets of these phenomena is needed, but we focus our attention on one aspect of this problem by asking the research questions: What effect does SNS usage have on disposition to trust? What pathways does it take? We look to social cognitive theory to provide the theoretical foundations and to the well-established technology readiness and trust frameworks to guide our study.