Transition of electronic word-of-mouth services from web to mobile context: A trust transfer perspective

Success in web services cannot promise the success in corresponding mobile services. To understand the mobile service adoption behavior under the context of web–mobile service transition, this study, taking mobile eWOM services as an example, investigates the role of trust in mobile service adoption and empirically examines the trust transfer mechanism. Specifically, trust in web services and two relationship-relevant factors namely functional consistency and perceived entitativity are proposed as the predictors of trust in mobile services. A field survey with 235 mobile eWOM services users is conducted to test the research model and hypotheses. The key findings include (1) trust in mobile services positively influences intention to use mobile services; (2) trust in web services, functional consistency and perceived entitativity positively influence trust in mobile services; (3) functional consistency positively influences perceived entitativity. Limitations, theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

► Trust in web services can be transferred to the corresponding mobile services.
► Functional consistency and perceived entitativity affect trust in mobile services.
► Functional consistency influences perceived entitativity.