@article{
author = "Rajković, Borislav and Ðurić, Ivan and Zarić, Vlade and Glauben, Thomas",
year = "2021",
abstract = "Trust in information originating from a company is becoming essential, as consumer
preferences are increasingly versatile and oriented towards credence attributes. Social media, which
emerged as a dominant means of online communication, might help increase consumers’ trust in
companies. The paper empirically investigates a conceptual trust-building mechanism that could
occur on companies’ social media pages. A survey was conducted among social media users in
Belgrade (Serbia). The collected data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation
modeling. It confirmed that in an interactive environment of companies’ social media pages, trust
can be built towards two objects. The first one is trust among consumers, and the second one is
trust towards a company. The results also confirm a connection between trust and an intention to
purchase, both being also related to a consumer’s willingness to obtain information. Therefore, the
result can serve as a basis for creating more effective marketing campaigns where a company is the
source of information regarding credence (added-value) attributes of its products.",
publisher = "MDPI AG",
journal = "Sustainability (Switzerland)",
title = "Gaining Trust in the Digital Age: The Potential of Social Media for Increasing the Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises",
pages = "23-1",
number = "4",
volume = "13",
doi = "10.3390/su13041884"
}