203 Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 1.15 Trust in Virtual Communities Luis V. Casaló University of Zaragoza, Spain Carlos Flavián University of Zaragoza, Spain Miguel Guinalíu University of Zaragoza, Spain IntroductIon Individuals are increasingly turning to computer- mediated communication in order to get infor- mation on which to base their decisions. For instance, many consumers are using newsgroups, chat rooms, forums, e-mail list servers, and other online formats to share ideas, build communities and contact other consumers who are seen as more objective information sources (Kozinets, 2002). These social groups have been traditionally called virtual communities. The virtual community concept is almost as old as the concept of Internet. However, the exponential development of these structures oc- curred during the nineties (Flavián & Guinalíu, 2004) due to the appearance of the World Wide Web and the spreading of other Internet tools such as e-mail or chats. The justification of this expansion is found in the advantages generated by the virtual communities to both the members and the organizations that create them. Fist of all, the concept of virtual community is defined by Rheingold (1993) as a social group that is originated in the Internet when people discuss in this communication channel. With a greater degree of complexity, Preece (2000) states that a virtual community is formed by: • People with a wish for interaction among them in order to satisfy their needs • That share a particular interest, which is the reason for the community DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch224