Information Adoption in Online Communities: Elaborating the Role of Trust

Online communities have become a common means for people with shared interests to exchange information with each other. Although several studies have been undertaken to understand individuals’ motivation to contribute to online communities, little is known about how individuals adopt the information they receive through these communities. Therefore, this study aims at addressing this gap by investigating the process of information adoption in online communities. Drawing upon the Elaboration Likelihood Model, we argue that quality of the information, information recipient’s level of trust in the online community and the information source trustworthiness are important factors in the process of information adoption in the context of online communities. Moreover, the information recipient’s expertise and involvement in the issue related to the received information determine which factor is more dominant in this process