Behavioral governance and digital trust: A systematic review of platforms and civility norms

Truong Thanh Cong1, , Nguyen Huy Khang1
1 University of Finance - Marketing, Vietnam
0
Online Published: 25/11/2025
Section: Economics and Economic Management
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52932/jfmr.v3i5ene.1120

Main Article Content

Abstract

Digital transformation has changed how trust develops in online environments. Traditional trust models fail to explain digital spaces adequately, where behavioral governance mechanisms, codes of conduct, platform design, legal frameworks, and civility norms shape interactions. Nevertheless, empirical evidence examining how these mechanisms systematically influence digital trust remains scattered across disciplines, limiting comprehensive theoretical frameworks.

In this study, a systematic review of 47 studies using PRISMA 2020 guidelines identifies three patterns: bidirectional symbiotic relationships between trust and codes of conduct, cultural moderation effects, and platform design architecture influences. Analysis reveals trust operates hierarchically, with platform trust transferring unidirectionally to peer-user trust (effect observed in 67% of platform studies). Cultural contexts fundamentally shape trust formation pathways and code compliance behaviors. Platform design actively cultivates trust rather than passively facilitating communication, while user substitutability determines reliance on individual goodwill versus reputation signals.

These findings advance theory by demonstrating that governance mechanisms shape trust through socio-technical interactions fundamentally different from offline contexts. Practically, they inform culturally adaptive platform design strategies and evidence-based policy frameworks for digital civility.

Article Details

References

Aguiar, M., Kiderman, J., Shekar, H. C., & Schilke, O. (2024). Safeguarding trust in a digital ecosystem. Journal of Business Strategy, 45(5), 356–362. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-08-2023-0157
Akbari, M., Rezvani, A., Shahriari, E., Zúñiga, M. Á., & Pouladian, H. (2020). Acceptance of 5 G technology: Mediation role of Trust and Concentration. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 57, 101585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jengtecman.2020.101585
Al Shishany, A., Sarhan, N. M., Al-Turk, A., & Albakjaji, M. (2020). The role of institutional mechanisms in creating online trust: Cross cultural investigation. Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences, 23(4), 317–323.
Al-Balushi, A. A. (2020). In the Era of Social Media: Is it time to establish a code of online ethical conduct for healthcare professionals? Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, 20(1), e25-28. https://doi.org/10.18295/squmj.2020.20.01.004
Antoci, A., Bonelli, L., Paglieri, F., Reggiani, T., & Sabatini, F. (2019). Civility and trust in social media. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 160, 83–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.02.026
Backer, L. C. (2025). Trust platforms: The digitalization of corporate governance and the transformation of trust in polycentric space. Regulation & Governance, 19(3), 806–830. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12614
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis. Qualitative Psychology, 9(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000196
Brogi, E., & De Gregorio, G. (2024). From the code of practice to the code of conduct? Navigating the future challenges of disinformation regulation. Journal of Media Law, 16(1), 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/17577632.2024.2362480
Brown, P., & Gummerum, M. (2025). Trust issues: Adolescents’ epistemic vigilance towards online sources. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 43(3), 578–594. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12559
Cavusoglu, L., & Atik, D. (2021). Social Credibility: Trust Formation in Social Commerce. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 6(4), 474–490. https://doi.org/10.1086/716068
Chameroy, F., Salgado, S., de Barnier, V., & Chaney, D. (2024). In platform we trust: How interchangeability affects trust decisions in collaborative consumption. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 198, 122997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122997
Chen, W., Sun, X., & Liu, J. (2025). How does digital governance platform usage impact social trust in rural Areas? Empirical evidence from rural China. Journal of Rural Studies, 119, 103783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103783
D’Hauwers, R., Van Der Bank, J., & Montakhabi, M. (2020). Trust, transparency and security in the sharing economy: What is the Government’s role? Technology Innovation Management Review, 10(5).
Faqih, K. M. S. (2022). Internet shopping in the Covid-19 era: Investigating the role of perceived risk, anxiety, gender, culture, and trust in the consumers’ purchasing behavior from a developing country context. Technology in Society, 70, 101992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.101992
Ferreira, D. B., Giovannini, C., Gromova, E., & Da Rocha Schmidt, G. (2022). Arbitration chambers and trust in technology provider: Impacts of trust in technology intermediated dispute resolution proceedings. Technology in Society, 68, 101872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.101872
Guo, Y. (2022). Digital Trust and the Reconstruction of Trust in the Digital Society: An Integrated Model based on Trust Theory and Expectation Confirmation Theory. Digit. Gov.: Res. Pract., 3(4), 26:1-26:19. https://doi.org/10.1145/3543860
Hadler, M., Vrečar, B., & Schaffer, R. (2025). Generalized trust as a foundation for online trust: Findings from Austria, Greece, Poland, the Philippines, and South Africa. Frontiers in Sociology, 10, 1504812. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1504812
Hong, Q. N., Fàbregues, S., Bartlett, G., Boardman, F., Cargo, M., Dagenais, P., Gagnon, M.-P., Griffiths, F., Nicolau, B., O’Cathain, A., Rousseau, M.-C., Vedel, I., & Pluye, P. (2018). The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018 for information professionals and researchers. Education for Information, 34(4), 285–291. https://doi.org/10.3233/EFI-180221
Hooda, A., Gupta, P., Jeyaraj, A., Giannakis, M., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2022). The effects of trust on behavioral intention and use behavior within e-government contexts. International Journal of Information Management, 67, 102553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102553
Ibiricu, B., & Van Der Made, M. L. (2020). Ethics by design: A code of ethics for the digital age. Records Management Journal, 30(3), 395–414. https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-08-2019-0044
Jethava, G., & Rao, U. P. (2024). Exploring security and trust mechanisms in online social networks: An extensive review. Computers & Security, 140, 103790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2024.103790
Kanaris, M. E., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2023). Trust shaping the social relationship of diverse learners in the online education environment. Environment and Social Psychology, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.54517/esp.v9i2.2197
Kurniawan, D., & Oktaviani, S. P. (2024). INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF TRUSTWORTHINESS IN VIRTUAL ORGANIZATIONS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN RIDE-HAILING PLATFORMS. Advances in Business-Related Scientific Research Journal, 15(2).
Lappeman, J., Marlie, S., Johnson, T., & Poggenpoel, S. (2023). Trust and digital privacy: Willingness to disclose personal information to banking chatbot services. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 28(2), 337–357. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41264-022-00154-z
López Jiménez, D., Dittmar, E. C., & Vargas Portillo, J. P. (2021). New Directions in Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics: Codes of Conduct in the Digital Environment. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04753-z
Mior Shariffuddin, N. S., Azinuddin, M., Yahya, N. E., & Hanafiah, M. H. (2023). Navigating the tourism digital landscape: The interrelationship of online travel sites’ affordances, technology readiness, online purchase intentions, trust, and E-loyalty. Heliyon, 9(8), e19135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19135
Möhlmann, M. (2021). Unjustified trust beliefs: Trust conflation on sharing economy platforms. Research Policy, 50(3), 104173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104173
Mubarak, M. F., & Petraite, M. (2020). Industry 4.0 technologies, digital trust and technological orientation: What matters in open innovation? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 161, 120332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120332
Nadeem, W., & Al-Imamy, S. (2020). Do ethics drive value co-creation on digital sharing economy platforms? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 55, 102095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102095
Novikova, E., Doynikova, E., Gaifulina, D., & Kotenko, I. (2022). Construction and Analysis of Integral User-Oriented Trustworthiness Metrics. Electronics, 11(2), 234. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11020234
Oesterreich, T. D., Anton, E., Hettler, F. M., & Teuteberg, F. (2024). What drives individuals’ trusting intention in digital platforms? An exploratory meta-analysis. Management Review Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-024-00477-2
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., & Brennan, S. E. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. International Journal of Surgery, 88, 105906.
Popa Tache, C. E., & Săraru, C. S. (2024). Evaluating today’s multi-dependencies in digital transformation, corporate governance and public international law triad. Cogent Social Sciences, 10(1), 2370945. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2370945
Popova, N., Kataiev, A., Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, Skrynkovskyy, R., Lviv University of Business and Law, Nevertii, A., & Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics. (2019). Development of trust marketing in the digital society. Economic Annals-ХХI, 176(3–4), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.21003/ea.V176-02
Rad, D., Dixon, D., & Rad, G. (2020). Digital Outing Confidence as a Mediator in the Digital Behavior Regulation and Internet Content Awareness Relationship. BRAIN. BROAD RESEARCH IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND NEUROSCIENCE, 11(1), 84–95. https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.1/16
Ramanathan, U., Williams, N. L., Zhang, M., Sa-nguanjin, P., Garza-Reyes, J. A., & Borges, L. A. (2022). A New Perspective of E-Trust in the Era of Social Media: Insights From Customer Satisfaction Data. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 69(4), 1417–1431. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2020.2985379
Rebiazina, V. A., Tunkevichus, E. О., & Graduate School of Business, National Research University Higher School of Economics. (2022). Consumer digital trust: The main trends and research directions. Russian Management Journal, 19(4), 429–450. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu18.2021.403
Reiners, S. (2022). Trust and its Extensions in Digital Platform Ecosystems: Key Concepts and Issues for Future Research. 2022 IEEE 24th Conference on Business Informatics (CBI), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/CBI54897.2022.10042
Shah, S. S., & Shah, S. A. H. (2024). Trust as a determinant of social welfare in the digital economy. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 14(1), 79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-024-01238-5
Sinthiya, I. A. P. A., & Ipnuwati, S. (2022). Ethics of Internet Use (Digital Netiquette) in UU ITE Perspective: Building a Courteous Digital Culture in the Era of Digital Transformation. Journal of Image Processing and Intelligent Remote Sensing, 24, 8–14. https://doi.org/10.55529/jipirs.24.8.14
Tagliaferri, M. (2023). Reviewing the Case of Online Interpersonal Trust. Foundations of Science, 28(1), 225–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-022-09836-2
Tian, X., & Guo, Y. (2021). An Online Acquaintance Community: The Emergence of Chinese Virtual Civility. Symbolic Interaction, 44(4), 771–797. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.537
Tomlinson, E. C., Schnackenberg, A. K., Dawley, D., & Ash, S. R. (2020). Revisiting the trustworthiness–trust relationship: Exploring the differential predictors of cognition‐ and affect‐based trust. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41(6), 535–550. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2448
Trillo-Domínguez, M., Salaverría, R., Codina, L., & De Moya-Anegón, F. (2025). Digital reputation indicator: A webometric approach for a global ranking of digital media. Journalism, 26(2), 406–424. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849241237647
Truong, N. B., Lee, H., Askwith, B., & Lee, G. M. (2017). Toward a Trust Evaluation Mechanism in the Social Internet of Things. Sensors, 17(6), 1346. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17061346
Van Der Burg, S., Wiseman, L., & Krkeljas, J. (2021). Trust in farm data sharing: Reflections on the EU code of conduct for agricultural data sharing. Ethics and Information Technology, 23(3), 185–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-020-09543-1
Van Der Peet, L., Bharosa, N., Dijkhuis, S., & Janssen, M. (2024). Understanding Trust Frameworks: Goals and Components Identified Through a Case Study. In M. R. Johannessen, C. Csáki, L. Danneels, S. Hofmann, T. Lampoltshammer, P. Parycek, G. Schwabe, E. Tambouris, & J. Ubacht (Eds.), Electronic Participation (Vol. 14891, pp. 223–238). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-70804-6_15
Von Kalckreuth, N., Kopka, M., Schmid, C., Kratzer, C., Reptuschenko, A., & Feufel, M. A. (2025). Trustworthiness of the electronic health record in Germany: An exploratory, user-centered analysis. Frontiers in Digital Health, 7, 1473326. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2025.1473326
Ye, C., Hofacker, C. F., Peloza, J., & Allen, A. (2020). How online trust evolves over time: The role of social perception. Psychology & Marketing, 37(11), 1539–1553. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21400
Zagidullin, M., Aziz, N., & Kozhakhmet, S. (2021). Government policies and attitudes to social media use among users in Turkey: The role of awareness of policies, political involvement, online trust, and party identification. Technology in Society, 67, 101708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101708
How to Cite
Truong, T. C., & Nguyen, H. K. (2025). Behavioral governance and digital trust: A systematic review of platforms and civility norms. Journal of Finance - Marketing Research, 3(5ene). https://doi.org/10.52932/jfmr.v3i5ene.1120