The Role of User Generated Content in Shaping a Business’s Reputation on Social Media: Moderating role of trust propensity

Abstract

This study aims to identify the importance of User Generated Content for businesses and provides insight into the relationship between the propensity of trust and a businesses’ reputation. This research involved a Cross-sectional empirical study on 217 active Facebook users. Linear regression and moderation analysis is conducted using Process macro by Hayes (2012). Results show that Users’ Generated Content plays a vital role in building the reputation of businesses. Furthermore, the propensity to trust modifies this relationship. Online users with a lower propensity to trust behave differently as they tend to surf more and are likely to rely on their contemporaries without verifying the validity of information they are exposed to with a greater emphasis on what their peers say.