Trust and caution in social media purchases from the perspectives of adolescents aged 16 to 18
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23169471Keywords:
Adolescents, Social commerce, Trust, Digital consumption, Social mediaAbstract
Social media brings recommendations, advertising, conversation, and payment into a single shopping experience. In this setting, adolescents’ trust cannot be inferred from the popularity of an account alone. This model article explores how people aged 16 to 18 interpret credibility cues when considering a purchase through social media. A qualitative simulation was developed using twelve fictional profiles and constructed semi-structured interviews to illustrate reflexive thematic analysis; Taguette is proposed as a tool for organizing excerpts, without claiming that the software was actually used to process interviews. Five themes were developed from the simulated scenarios: checking seller identity, assessing comments and familiar experiences, ambivalence toward content creators, negotiating payment and privacy, and postponing or abandoning a purchase. Trust emerged as a provisional judgment revised in response to conflicting signals; caution was an active, socially situated practice rather than a lack of interest. The paper provides a protocol, an analytical matrix, and a discussion grounded in recent scholarship to inform a future empirical study. Its illustrative findings do not support claims about real adolescents.
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