THE INFLUENCE OF TRUST RADIUS AND SOCIAL MEDIA ON SOCIAL CONFLICT IN SOUTH KOREA

Abstract

This study addresses the paradoxical roles of social trust in situations where social media displays ideologically polarized opinions. As online communication allows people to interact anonymously beyond time and spatial limits, most studies have focused on the structural characteristics of social media. However, accepting strangers' opinions is part of a more individual decision associated with social trust. Therefore, this research aims to examine the following two roles of social trust: (1) in directly reducing the level of perception of social conflict in society; and (2) in promoting the trustworthiness of information available online. Major findings show that people are predisposed to misperceive the existence of social conflict especially when a longer trust radius is combined with conditions of social media where controversies are filled with provocative words. Consequently, unlike previous studies, the findings of this study will shed light on the different dimension of social trust and its negative effect on social conflict.