Digital trust in China’s digital transformation process: methodology and results of an empirical research

Abstract

The article is devoted to the topical issues of China's digital transformation and the role of digital trust in it. Digital transformation is a long — term comprehensive and rapid process, accompanied by rapid development of digital technologies, institutional changes and appropriate adaptation of people to new conditions. At the same time, it is emphasized that the drastic changes caused by digital transformation bring a lot of uncertainty and risks to society, which, without proper government response, can lead to social unrest and social unrest, and reduce confidence in this process. In the process of digital transformation, high trust between people can reduce suspicions, doubts and reduce social tension in society. In this regard, digital trust comes to the fore of sociological analysis — a new complex social phenomenon that combines sufficient confidence in the reliability of individuals, processes and technologies related to the security and benefits of the digital world. The author shows that the structure of digital trust is multifaceted and sets various objects for research: they can be technologies, processes, individuals, etc., therefore, those factors that affect these three components of the trust structure can be considered as factors affecting digital trust as a whole. However, the topic of digital trust has not been studied much, both from a theoretical and practical point of view, and its valid empirical studies are clearly insufficient. Indeed, some scientists have used factor analysis in their research to study the elements that affect digital trust. However, due to the lack of a well-developed theoretical framework, the mechanism of interaction between influencing factors and characteristics of digital trust cannot be reliably described. The article presents an original methodology for the sociological analysis of digital trust, based on the methodology of factor analysis. As a result of its testing, factors affecting the level of digital trust have been identified, which are of theoretical and practical importance.