Effect of trust on virtual community cohesion

This paper presents findings on a study on virtual community cohesion with the aim to determine the effect of trust on virtual community cohesion. The instrument used for this study was developed based on the virtual community cohesion model constructed from previous study.It measures cohesion based on two constructs namely the General Trust and Trust in Administrator.A survey was conducted involving 235 users of the social media.Descriptive data analysis was carried out on the respondents’ demography with regards to trust components of the virtual community they were involved with.Multiple regression were performed to determine the effect of the components onto cohesion of virtual community.The overall mean scores show that the respondents’ responses fall under the high category of trust for General trust, but low category for Trust in Administrator. These indicate that, pertaining to cohesion, trust among fellow members is more important compared to trust in those who man the virtual group.Nevertheless both constructs were found to have influence on virtual community cohesion.