Abstract
Lack of trust can negatively affect consumers’ willingness to share and adopt information in virtual health
communities. However not much is known about factors that influence the development of trust in such
communities. This paper examined precursors of trust in virtual health communities. Data was collected
from 361 users of virtual health community sites in South Africa. Structural equation modelling using
version 23 of AMOS was used to analyse the data. The findings show that information usefulness,
community responsiveness and shared vision have significant influence on consumers’ overall trust in
health related virtual communities. The findings however show differences in the extent to which
precursor variables influence different dimensions of overall trust. The study provides insights that can
help managers of such sites to effectively foster the development of trust in their communities.