Consumers increasingly rely on the Internet to obtain product information and advice from other consumers. However, since the information available on the Internet is easily manipulated, they have to seek cues for the trustworthiness of the online information. The present study proposes and tests the effects on perceived trust of online information and subsequent attitude of (1) perceived strong vs. weak social relationships among net pals and (2) positive vs. negative messages. The moderating effects of credence vs. experience goods are also examined in the research. Results show that, for experience goods, either positive or negative online messages will be perceived as credible as long as the messages are posted by those perceived to have close social relationships. On the other hand, for credence goods, negative online messages are perceived to be more credible than positive online messages when the messages are posted by those perceived to have close social relationships. Results also show the main effect of positive/negative messages on credibility of information, as well as that the effect of credibility of information on product attitude is weaker in the credence goods group than in the experience goods group.

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This study explores the performance implications of internal resources and external networks for entrepreneurial firms. A relationship of trust among network members is essential because of the high risk during the initial start-up stage. However, once high-tech firms initiate mass production and enter the growth stage, whether trust influences competitiveness more than resources becomes uncertain. This study examines Taiwanese firms to elucidate the main influences on firm competitiveness. In conclusion, the result indicates the competitiveness of high-tech firms during the growth stage is determined by firm resources and the willingness of support firms to cooperate-where willingness is determined by the trust of the support firms in the high-tech firm but is unrelated to firm resources.

Fitness gyms have been gaining popularity among Taiwanese people, which means growing competitiveness for fitness gym operators and the necessity for an examination on how to maintain customer loyalty. Since workouts may require more coaching and interactions than other types of exercise, this study focuses on whether the increased customer interactions and involvement, which may be achieved when the operator works on developing customer value co-creation behavior, can generate increased customer loyalty toward fitness gyms. On the other hand, customers’regular behavior may influence customers’perceived necessity of interactions and involvement; this may in turn influence the correlation of value co-creation behavior and customer loyalty. Accordingly, regular behavior was employed as the moderating variable in this study. The study used SPSS software version 22.0 and AMOS software version 22.0 to evaluate the data collected. By convenience sampling, it distributed questionnaires to 470 subjects, and collected 470 copies, with a return rate of 100%. After eliminating the invalid samples, there were 453 valid samples, with a valid return rate of 96.3%. We distributed questionnaires at outside the fitness clubs in Taichung City from May 20th to June 13th, 2016. The study’s results indicate that value co-creation attitude, value co-creation subjective norm, and price affordability have positive effects on value co-creation behavior; value co-creation behavior has a positive effect on customer loyalty, and regular behavior has a negative moderating effect on the influence of value co-creation behavior on customer loyalty.

consumer ethical beliefs, cultural orientation, perceived trust, perception, social Darwinism, status anxiety,