Understanding the roles of interaction and trust in formation of loyalty toward customer-to-customer (C2C) platforms

Purpose An increasing number of customers are using customer-to-customer (C2C) platforms to buy and sell products and services. Despite this growth, little research has examined customer experiences with C2C e-commerce. This study examines how informational and emotional interactions affect customer patronage behaviors by increasing customer trust in both sellers and platforms. Design/methodology/approach A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 181 customers of C2C platforms in the United States. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings The results show that informational interactions affect customer trust both in sellers and platforms, resulting in customer loyalty. The findings also show that emotional interactions affect customer trust in sellers. Multi-group analyses suggest that the impacts of informational and emotional interactions on trust vary depending on customer demographics. Research limitations/implications Theoretical implications in this study arise from (1) examination of customer experiences with C2C platforms using the stimulus-organism-response framework, (2) identification of the role of informational and emotional interactions in the formation of trust and (3) exploration of the ways in which customer gender, age and income affect the connection between experiences and consequences in C2C settings. Practical implications From a practical perspective, this study provides useful guidelines to help C2C business practitioners increase customer patronage behavior by means of interactions and trust. Originality/value This study provides practical and academic implications by examining how customer interactions affect customer trust in e-commerce C2C platforms.