The Relationship Between SNS and Firm's Brand Trust in B2B Context

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate empirically how brand trust can be formed from the customer-brand relationship through a direct use of firm’s SNS in B2B context. The brand trust is fundamental elements to understanding of long-term relationship in a B2B context. To achieve the objectives of this study, data collection is through a personally administered questionnaire, and a total of 180 questionnaires was collected from the buyer or supplier who frequently visited partner’s firm SNS. Excluding missing data, 120 usable data were analyzed. From the results, first, three SNS motivations (i.e. Information, social and entertainment) has a positive impact on the perceived value of SNS (i.e. perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment). Second, the perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment positively affect customer-brand relationship (brand intimacy, brand attachment). Third, the customer-brand relationship is positively related to brand trust. Implications, limitations and future research directions of the study were also discussed. These findings help managers in developing and implementing the relation between SNS use and a customer-brand relationship for long-term relationship in B2B.