Adopción de redes sociales virtuales: ampliación del modelo de aceptación tecnológica integrando confianza y riesgo percibido

Social networking sites have gone from being a specialized online activity to becoming a mass phenomenon. This new interactive tool among people, organizations, communities, etc., has increased exponentially in recent years. Based on the emergence and growth of this interactive technological innovation, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the adoption and use of social networking sites by users, taking account of some personal characteristics (i.e. trust and the perceived risk of these sites). The sample is based on a national online survey focused on a national panel of users which interacts within the social networking sites. The results support the positive relationships and influences among variables, analyzed using an adaptation of the Technology Acceptance Model. The conclusions have marketing implications for companies to improve their managerial decisions and for further investigation by academics specialized in this research field.