How does risk interplay with trust in pre-and post-purchase intention to engage: PLS-SEM and ML classification approach

This study explores the effect of perceived risk PR and perceived affective and cognitive trust, PAT and PCT, respectively, on the intention to engage with Facebook FB adverts. Most of the literature explores the intention to engage pre-purchase, and only limited studies address all behavioral manifestations of the intention to engage -other than eWoM- post-purchase. In this study we explore the effect of PR, PAT and PCT on the intention to endorse, comment, and pass-on in the pre- and post-purchase when satisfied or dissatisfied. We collected quantitative data from young FB users in Southeast Asia, aged between 17 and 30. By supplementing the PLS-SEM analysis with accuracy scores resulting from classification-based machine learning (ML) algorithms, we explore the mediating effect of PR in the pre-purchase stage and its moderating effect in the post-purchase intention to engage. Our findings support the negative mediation effect of PR on the association between PAT and PCT and the intention to comment, and its positive mediation to endorse and share pre-purchase. Whereas the PR positive moderation effect is confirmed in the post-purchase intention to engage. The study proposes several academic and managerial implications.