This paper examines through the lens of expectancy-valence theory the impact of trust, privacy, and security on the decision to use the internet for online shopping and social media. It also investigates the moderating impact of Hofstede's cultural dimensions on the hypothesised relationships. The comparative analysis of 302 surveys from users in the USA and Qatar revealed that trust in internet technology and trust in vendors are the strongest two factors in making decisions to use the internet for online shopping and social media. The results indicated that the cultural dimensions moderated the hypothesised relationships. Surprisingly, Qataris respondents, compared to US respondents, were more influenced by privacy concerns when making decisions to use the internet for online shopping or social media. Implications for researchers and practitioners are reported.

中文翻译：

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信任，安全性和隐私对个人对在线购物和社交媒体使用互联网的影响：一项多元文化研究

本文通过期望价理论的角度研究了信任，隐私和安全性对使用Internet进行在线购物和社交媒体决策的影响。它还调查了霍夫斯泰德文化维度对假设关系的适度影响。对来自美国和卡塔尔用户的302个调查进行的比较分析表明，对互联网技术的信任和对供应商的信任是决定将互联网用于在线购物和社交媒体的最重要的两个因素。结果表明，文化维度缓和了假设的关系。令人惊讶的是，与美国受访者相比，卡塔尔受访者在决定将互联网用于在线购物或社交媒体时受到隐私问题的影响更大。