Abstract:

Researchers have proposed that consumers are more likely to use online services from the brands they already know and trust. This study explores the impact of brand trust on consumer online behaviour. An online survey (n=876) of a magazine website was conducted to test a model of brand trust, website usage, consumer online involvement in virtual community activities, and website loyalty. The findings of our study provide support for the importance of brand trust online. Brand trust increases both website usage and website loyalty. However, unexpectedly, brand trust seems to decrease virtual community participation, and consumer online involvement in virtual communities (ie. reading and posting messages) has a negative impact on website loyalty.