Towards trust building and sustainability on second-hand platforms: A study of Mercari in Japan

Abstract

Trust is an essential element in the sharing economy. However, most existing sharing economy trust research has largely focused on buyers' trust perspective, overlooking the perceived trustworthiness of sellers as an important factor in the mutual selection process. Drawing on trust in the sharing economy theory, this study advances the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) trust framework by considering trust in peers from both the buyer and seller perspectives, and introducing trust in the product within the online second-hand trading context. It also extends the third party recognition target from the platform to the buyer, seller, and product, examining the scenario in which second-hand trading platforms apply third party recognition to display trust information. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach is employed in this study to analyze the data collected from Mercari users in Japan. We conclude that third party recognition positively influences trust in the buyer, seller, platform, and product. Platform trust produces a positive effect on sellers' intention to supply. The results imply that second-hand buyers are primarily focused on the commodity being traded, and their purchase intention is not significantly affected by trust in the seller or trust in the platform. Furthermore, the findings reveal the establishment of a virtuous cycle — third party recognition improves trust in the platform and products, which in turn promotes increased consuming and supplying activities. In conclusion, this study contributes to the understanding of trust dynamics on second-hand platforms, with important implications for platform design and user engagement strategies to support the achievement of platform long-term sustainability.