THE ILLUSION OF TRUST IN WEB3 MARKETING: RECONFIGURING VALUE CO-CREATION THROUGH TOKENIZED INCENTIVES IN CRYPTO ECOSYSTEMS
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Abstract
This study develops a conceptual framework explaining the reconfiguration of value co-creation in Web3 marketing through the mediating mechanisms of authentic trust and illusory trust. The study is motivated by the growing prevalence of tokenized incentives in decentralized digital ecosystems and the lack of theoretical understanding of how these incentives simultaneously enable and distort participation, trust formation, and value co-creation processes. The framework integrates Trust Theory, Service-Dominant Logic, Self-Determination Theory, and Signaling Theory to articulate the relationships between tokenized incentives, dual trust forms, value co-creation quality, and moderating conditions. The results indicate that tokenized incentives positively influence both authentic trust and illusory trust formation, with authentic trust grounded in genuine relational evaluation and system assessment, and illusory trust constructed through incentive-driven signals and economic expectations. Authentic trust positively influences value co-creation quality by enabling meaningful collaboration and sustained engagement, while illusory trust negatively influences value co-creation quality by promoting opportunistic, short-term participation. Furthermore, authentic trust mediates the positive relationship between tokenized incentives and value co-creation quality through an enabling mediation pathway, while illusory trust mediates the negative relationship through a distorting mediation pathway. The framework also identifies that speculative motivation and community identification moderate these relationships. Three structural paradoxes the Incentive–Trust Paradox, the Participation–Value Paradox, and the Growth–Sustainability Paradox illuminate the non-linear and potentially self-undermining dynamics of incentive-driven Web3 ecosystems. These findings suggest that managing Web3 ecosystems effectively requires moving beyond participation metrics toward a deeper understanding of how incentive structures shape the quality of trust and sustainability of engagement.
Keywords:
Web3 Marketing Tokenized Incentives Authentic Trust Illusory Trust Value Co-CreationReferences
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