Understanding professional connections in Linkedin - A Question of trust

Abstract

As the popularity of online social networks grow, it becomes important to understand how context and individual participants influence trust formation within the network. We investigate the impact that trust - both at the individual level and network level - has on the strength of association between members of the professional social networking site Linkedln. A model of trust adapted from previous literature is empirically tested using an online survey sent to a random sample of Linkedln members. The findings indicate that dyadic tie strength is influenced by an individual's disposition to trust and by the trust belief between the respondent and the respondent's last connection made in Linkedln. Trust in Linkedln did not influence the relationship.