Building Trust for Second-Hand Purchase on P2P Resale Platforms: Interactive Effect of Seller-Generated Content and Relationship Norms

Second-hand consumption on peer-to-peer (P2P) online platforms, as a form of extended product use, is often associated with circular economy initiatives. Yet consumer participation in these markets remains constrained by uncertainty and a lack of trust in sellers. While seller-generated content (SGC) can help build consumer trust, the specific psychological mechanisms through which different SGC types promote second-hand purchase intention remain underexplored. Drawing on relationship norms theory and signaling theory, this study differentiates competence-based trust from benevolence-based trust and explores how the interplay between SGC types and relationship norms facilitates consumers’ second-hand purchase intention via distinct trust pathways. Through three experiments, we demonstrate that seller-generated content (informational vs. emotional) and relationship norms (exchange vs. communal) interact to influence consumers’ second-hand purchase intention. Specifically, informational seller-generated content is more effective under exchange relationship norms in fostering competence-based trust and promoting purchase intention, whereas emotional seller-generated content is more effective under communal relationship norms in strengthening benevolence-based trust and driving purchase intention. These findings contribute to research on trust formation and consumer decision-making in P2P resale markets and offer practical implications for designing norm-congruent seller communication on second-hand platforms.