Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 210

Proceedings of the 7th Sriwijaya Economics, Accounting, and Business Conference (SEABC 2021)

Trust as a Moderator in Buying Behavior

Yulia Hamdaini Putri1,* Hera Febria Mavilinda2, Islahuddin Daud3

123
Sriwijaya University
*
Corresponding author. Email: yuliahamdaini@unsri.ac.id

ABSTRACT

The increase in e-commerce that has led to the rise of online shopping has attracted researchers in the field of marketing.
For two decades, the internet-based e-commerce model has been accepted as a marketing strategy by companies to
capture market share even though today the traditional marketing model is still running. Marketers to date continue to
make changes to online-based marketing strategies to attract buyers. The purpose of this study was to examine trust as
a moderating variable between social influence and buying behavior. The sample is 300 respondents. The analytical
method used is structural equation modeling. The results of this study indicate that trust can moderate social influences
and buying behavior.

Keywords: Trust 1, Social Influence 2, Buying Behavior

1. INTRODUCTION relationship between social and user behaviour (Davis,

Francis Gnanasekar, & Parayitam, 2021)
Based on APJII (Association of Indonesian Internet
Service Providers) as many as 196 million people in
Indonesia have used the internet out of a total population
of about 266 million people. This proves that 73.7% of 1.1. Literature Review
Indonesians are connected to the internet. With the results
of this data, the number of users is quite high, which 1.1.1. Theory Reason Action
means that the internet is growing rapidly in Indonesia
Theory Reason Action (TRA) is the theoretical
and is still very likely to increase for the coming year.
background for this research (Ajzen, I., dan Fishbein,
The increase in smartphone users is also accompanied 1980). TRA is a theory that deals with individual
by an increase in transactions in online shopping. Before considerations of attitudes or actions and behavior in
making an online purchase, consumers will look for carrying out activities. According to TRA, consumer
information through social media friends and close interest depends on the target, context and action.
relatives, whether it's shopping for products or choosing Research proves that there is a positive influence on
where to shop online. social, advertising, search variations, trust on user
Social influence can also come from the post- behavior, trust can also positively moderate user behavior
purchase comments column. If the comments tend to be (Davis et al., 2021). Research Chen, Shang, & Kao
negative then trust will decrease. Meanwhile, if the documents that information overload can have a negative
comments are positive, it can increase online buying effect on purchasing decision behaviour (Chen, Shang, &
behaviour. Previous research (Stouthuysen, Teunis, Kao, 2009) . Information sharing activities formed by a
Reusen, & Slabbinck, 2018) states that initial trusts system allow the identification process among service
cannot moderate consumers who have a first-time users (Bartle, Avineri, & Chatterjee, 2013).
shopping experience compared to those who have
experience. Trust can strengthen or weaken the

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 Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 210

1.1.2 Social Influence they had met the criteria for analysis. However, only 285
out of 300 respondents could be processed. As for the
criteria of the respondents are students who use the
Shopee shopping application.
According to Kotler and Keller, a person's reference
group is all groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or The technique used in this study is hypothesis testing
indirect influence on the attitude or behavior. Groups that using a structural equation model technique that
have direct influence are called membership groups. combines factor analysis and regression analysis. The
Some of these groups are primary groups, with whom a process of analyzing the structural equation model is
person interacts continuously and informally, such as carried out by a measurement model that shows how
family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers (Kottler & latent variables are measured using observation variables
Kevin Lane Keller, 2016) and a structural model that shows the strength of
estimates between latent variables or constructs (Latan,
The process of social influence is where consumers in a 2013) This study also tested moderating variables so that
service recommend a product to other users; personal the data was processed using the amos software 24.
preference, opinion and recommend using the product
(Abbas Naqvi, Jiang, Miao, & Naqvi, 2020) Social 3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
influence has a positive relationship to interest in buying
and using products (Umar, 2011). The quality of the TABLE 1
service experience has a positive influence on repeated
use of health applications (Beldad & Hegner, 2018). MODEL FIT

Hypothesis 1: social influence has positive relationship No Indeks Result Model

on buying behavior Evaluation

1.1.3 Trust 1 Chi Square 87.949 Marginal

Koller argues that trust is a function of the degree of risk 2 Probability 0.072 good
inherent in a situation (Kottler & Kevin Lane Keller,
2016) Trust is especially critical when two situational 3 CMIN/DF 1.256 good
factors are present in a transaction: uncertainty (risk) and 4 GFI 0.958 good
incomplete product information (information
asymmetry) (Ba & Pavlou, 2002) Trust is the willingness 5 RMSEA 0.030 good
and desire to depend on other parties in the face of risk
(Rahmi & Nizam, 2017). Trust has a positive effect on 6 AGFI 0.937 good
the intention to use the application (Loanata & Tileng,
2016). Social groups have higher trust in purchasing 7 TLI 0.989 good
decisions than brand associations (Nicholas, Kamakshi, 8 CFI 0.991 good
& Iyer, 2015) Trust positively moderates the relationship
between social influence and user behaviour (Davis et Source 2021
al., 2021)
Based on table 1, we know that the overall Goodness of
Hypothesis 2: Trust positively moderates the relationship Fit measurement model is good.
between social influence and buying behaviour

research conceptual framework TABLE 2

RESULT
Social Buying
influence behaviour Estim
P
ate
Not
Buying Social .28
trust <--- .078 supporti
behaviour influence 0
ve
2. METHOD Buying .02 supporti
<--- trust .215
Behaviour 8 ve
The population of this research is students of the Faculty Buying Interacti .00 supporti
<--- .008
of Economics, Sriwijaya University who use online behaviour on 3 ve
shopping applications totaling 7,371. The distribution of Source 2021
questionnaires amounted to 300 with the assumption that

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 Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 210

Based on table 2, we know that : social influence has not Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour,
positive relationship on buying behaviour (H1 not 16, 60–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2012.08.013
supported). Trust positively moderates the relationship [6] Beldad, A. D., & Hegner, S. M. (2018). Expanding
between social influence and buying behaviour (H2 the Technology Acceptance Model with the
supported). This research is in accordance with research Inclusion of Trust, Social Influence, and Health
(Davis et al., 2021), but it is contrast with (Stouthuysen Valuation to Determine the Predictors of German
et al., 2018) Users’ Willingness to Continue using a Fitness
App: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach.
4. AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS International Journal of Human-Computer
Interaction, 34(9), 882–893.
Social influence has no effect on buying behaviour if https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2017.1403220
there is no consumer trust in the information received [7] Chen, Y. C., Shang, R. A., & Kao, C. Y. (2009). The
from social media friends, relatives, or in the post- effects of information overload on consumers’
purchase comment column. Trust is an important variable subjective state towards buying decision in the
in moderating the relationship between social influence internet shopping environment. Electronic
and online buying behaviour. The higher the trust, the Commerce Research and Applications, 8(1), 48–58.
more intense consumers will make purchases on online https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2008.09.001
shopping applications. For this reason, companies must
increase social network interactions, especially online [8] Davis, F., Francis Gnanasekar, M. B., & Parayitam,
shopping, be able to connect online shopping S. (2021). Trust and product as moderators in online
applications with other social media features, and shopping behavior: evidence from India. South
improve post-purchase services so that consumers can Asian Journal of Marketing, 2(1), 28–50.
make repeat purchases. https://doi.org/10.1108/sajm-02-2021-0017
[9] Kottler, P., & Kevin Lane Keller. (2016). Marketing
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Management 15th. Pearson Pretice Hall, Inc.

This research was funded by Sriwijaya University [10] Latan, H. (2013). Model Persamaan Struktural:
Teori dan Implementasi Amos 21. Bandung:
Alfabeta.
[11] Loanata, T., & Tileng, K. G. (2016). Pengaruh Trust
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