Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Trust Risk PI
Trust Risk PI
com
Computer Information Systems, University of Houston Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Boulevard,
Delta 169, Houston, TX 77058-1098, United States
b
Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Department of Management Science and Systems, State University of New York at Buffalo, United States
Received 1 November 2005; received in revised form 30 May 2007; accepted 1 July 2007
Available online 12 July 2007
Abstract
Are trust and risk important in consumers' electronic commerce purchasing decisions? What are the antecedents of trust and risk
in this context? How do trust and risk affect an Internet consumer's purchasing decision? To answer these questions, we i) develop
a theoretical framework describing the trust-based decision-making process a consumer uses when making a purchase from a given
site, ii) test the proposed model using a Structural Equation Modeling technique on Internet consumer purchasing behavior data
collected via a Web survey, and iii) consider the implications of the model. The results of the study show that Internet consumers'
trust and perceived risk have strong impacts on their purchasing decisions. Consumer disposition to trust, reputation, privacy
concerns, security concerns, the information quality of the Website, and the company's reputation, have strong effects on Internet
consumers' trust in the Website. Interestingly, the presence of a third-party seal did not strongly influence consumers' trust.
2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: The role of trust; Electronic commerce; Antecedents of trust; Consumer trust; Perceived risk; Internet consumer behavior; Trusted thirdparty seal; Privacy and security
1. Introduction
Despite the recent difficulties experienced by dot-com
companies, according to the Forrester report1, Business to
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
Composite Reliability
Rki2 varF
:
Rki2 varFRHii
554
Table 1
Descriptive statistics and reliability indices for constructs
Construct
Types of indicators
Mean
S.D.
Alpha
Composite reliability
AVE a
Adapted from:
Reflective
Reflective
Reflective
Reflective
Reflective
Reflective
Reflective
Reflective
Formative
Formative
Reflective
5.60
3.96
5.16
4.49
5.66
4.82
4.41
5.32
4.11
5.36
5.03
.95
1.42
.97
1.08
.98
1.47
1.07
1.04
1.28
1.09
1.26
0.95
0.90
0.86
0.85
0.84
0.92
0.85
0.85
NA
NA
0.79
0.957
0.924
0.898
0.907
0.906
0.962
0.899
0.911
NA
NA
0.879
0.759
0.669
0.639
0.709
0.708
0.863
0.691
0.774
NA
NA
0.708
[49]
[30]
[61,133]
[81,131]
[50,61,78,107]
[61,84]
[61]
[60,78,114]
[53,78,84]
[14,53,106]
[61,78]
Note: NA Not applicable: since formative measures need not co-vary, the internal consistency of formative items is not applicable.
2 varF
a
Average Variance Extracted RkiRki
2 varFRHii :
Table 2
Correlations of latent variables
IQ
PPP
PSP
TPS
REP
FAM
CDT
TRUST
RISK
BENEFIT
INTENTION
IQ
PPP
PSP
TPS
REP
FAM
CDT
TRUST
RISK
BENEFIT
INTENTION
0.87
0.40
0.16
0.12
0.50
0.33
0.20
0.63
0.17
0.01
0.47
0.82
0.12
0.03
0.25
0.16
0.10
0.68
0.23
0.05
0.31
0.80
0.06
0.13
0.09
0.10
0.21
0.03
0.01
0.13
0.84
0.10
0.09
0.02
0.05
0.03
0.05
0.02
0.84
0.41
0.17
0.48
0.43
0.03
0.35
0.93
0.02
0.30
0.09
0.18
0.36
0.83
0.23
0.03
0.05
0.13
0.88
0.22
0.06
0.50
0.83
0.08
0.22
0.76
0.21
0.84
Note: Diagonal elements are the square root of average variance extracted. These values should exceed the inter-construct correlations for adequate
discriminant validity.
555
Table 3
Summary of statistics and logistic regression results
PURCHASE
Intention mean
Intention S.D.
4.66
5.32
1.29
1.15
207
261
Model
2 Log Likelihood (L)
Variable
INTENTION
RISK
BENEFIT
TRUST
Constant term
Chi-square d.f.
Sig.
34.538
.000
B
.397
.057
.059
.092
2.791
S.E.
.102
.082
.110
.117
.809
606.369
Wald
15.231
.482
.286
.619
11.908
Sig.
.000
.488
.493
.431
.001
R2
.301
556
557
558
Appendix A
Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
Characteristics
Frequency
Percentage
Mean
S.D.
Age
Gender
Male
Female
Education level (highest level of education completed)
High school
Some college (2 year community/vocation/technology school)
College graduate (4 years)
Beyond master degree
Household income
Under $20,000
$20,001$60,000
$60,001$100,000
Over $100,000
Do not want to say
Products purchased
Books/magazines
Computer hardware
Computer software
Clothing/shoes
CDs/tapes/albums
Travel arrangements (e.g., airline tickets)
Home electronics/appliances
Concerts/plays
Others
Money spent on this purchase
Less than $25
$26$50
$51$100
$101$300
$301$500
More than $500
Frequency of Internet purchases in last year
Never
15
610
1115
1620
More than 20
How many years using the Internet
Less than 6 months
6 to 12 months
12 years
34 years
57 years
More than 7 years
Experience on computer (1novice/7expert)
Experience on the Internet (1novice/7expert)
21.53
3.42
260
206
57.8
42.2
66
344
49
6
14.1
73.5
10.5
1.2
173
106
75
39
52
37.5
22.6
16.0
8.3
11.1
98
32
10
108
76
35
27
6
66
20.9
6.8
2.1
23.1
16.2
7.5
5.8
1.3
14.1
154
125
97
65
10
16
32.9
26.7
20.7
13.9
2.1
3.4
39
283
80
28
12
20
8.3
60.5
17.1
6.0
2.6
4.3
1
4
22
183
179
78
.2
.9
4.7
39.1
38.2
16.7
5.31
5.52
1.04
0.99
559
Appendix B
Proposed Measurement Items for Constructs
Constructs
Measurement items
Presence of third-party Prefer to buy from Websites that carry such an endorsement.
seal (TPS)
Third-party seals make me feel more comfortable.
Third-party seals make me feel more secure in terms of privacy.
Third-party seals make me feel safer in terms of the transaction.
Perceived privacy
protection (PPP)
I am concerned that
This Website is collecting too much personal information from me.
This Web vendor will use my personal information for other purposes without my authorization.
This Web vendor will share my personal information with other entities without my authorization.
Unauthorized persons (i.e. hackers) have access to my personal information.
I am concerned about the privacy of my personal information during a transaction.
This Web vendor will sell my personal information to others without my permission.
[31]
[31]
[31]
New item
[31]
[31]
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
Perceived security
This Web vendor implements security measures to protect Internet shoppers.
[31]
protection (PSP)
This Web vendor usually ensures that transactional information is protected
[31]
from accidentally being altered or destroyed during a transmission on the Internet.
I feel secure about the electronic payment system of this Web vendor.
[31]
I am willing to use my credit card on this site to make a purchase.
[60]
I feel safe in making transactions on this Website.
[60]
In general, providing credit card information through this site is riskier
[133]
than providing it over the phone to an offline vendor.
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
Information quality (IQ) This Website provides correct information about the item that I want to purchase.
[49]
Overall, I think this Website provides useful information.
New item
This Website provides timely information on the item.
[49]
This Website provides reliable information.
New item
This Website provides sufficient information when I try to make a transaction.
[49]
I am satisfied with the information that this Website provides.
[49]
Overall, the information this Website provides is of high quality.
New item
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
Site reputation (REP) This Website is well known.
[78]
This Website has a good reputation.
[78]
This Website vendor has a reputation for being honest.
[107]
I am familiar with the name of this Website.
[60]
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
Consumer disposition I generally trust other people.
[60]
to trust (CDT)
I generally have faith in humanity.
[60]
I feel that people are generally reliable.
[60]
I generally trust other people unless they give me reasons not to.
[60]
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
Consumer trust
This site is trustworthy.
[60,78]
(TRUST)
This Website vendor gives the impression that it keeps promises and commitments.
[78]
I believe that this Website vendor has my best interests in mind.
[78]
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
.915
.921
.951
.928
3.45
86.26
.759
.856
.859
.889
2.83
70.90
.803
.898
.888
.781
.783
.743
4.01
66.91
.725
.749
.856
.846
.813
.759
3.34
72.90
.832
.891
.895
.862
.880
.861
.878
5.31
75.93
.880
.891
.775
.814
2.83
70.82
.838
.828
.856
.802
2.76
69.09
.899
.910
.830
2.32
77.43
560
Appendix
(continued)
B (continued )
Constructs
Measurement items
Perceived risk (RISK) Purchasing from this Website would involve more product risk
(i.e. not working, defective product) when compared with more traditional ways of shopping.
Purchasing from this Website would involve more financial risk
(i.e. fraud, hard to return) when compared with more traditional ways of shopping.
How would you rate your overall perception of risk from this site?
Perceived benefit
(BENEFIT)
Intention to purchase
(INTENTION)
[78]
.822
New item
.848
[84]
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
[133]
New item
New item
New item
[45,106]
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
I am likely to purchase the products(s) on this site.
[60]
I am likely to recommend this site to my friends.
[78]
I am likely to make another purchase from this site if I need the products that I will buy.
[78]
Eigenvalue
Percent of explained variance
.807
2.04
68.23
.786
.631
.870
.831
.823
3.14
62.79
.829
.855
.840
2.12
70.77
References
[1] Online Advertising To Reach $33 Billion Worldwide By 2004,
Forrester Research Press, 1999 http://www.forrester.com/ER/
Press/Release/0,1769,159,FF.html.
[2] M. Ahuja, B. Gupta, P. Raman, An empirical investigation of
online consumer purchasing behavior, Communications of the
ACM 46 (12ve) (2003) 145151.
[3] I. Ajzen, M. Fishbein, Understanding Attitude and Predicting
Social Behavior, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1980.
[4] S. Antony, Z. Lin, B. Xu, Determinants of escrow service adoption
in consumer-to-consumer online auction market: an experimental
study, Decision Support Systems 42 (3) (2006) 18891900.
[5] I. Arzen, The theory of planned behavior, Organizational Behavior
and Human Decision Processes 50 (1991) 179211.
[6] S. Ba, P.A. Pavlou, Evidence of the effect of trust building
technology in electronic markets: price premiums and buyer
behavior, MIS Quarterly 26 (3) (2002) 243268.
[7] S. Ba, A.B. Whinston, H. Zhang, Building trust in online auction
markets through an economic incentive mechanism, Decision
Support Systems 35 (3) (2003) 273286.
[8] R.P. Bagozzi, C. Fornell, Theoretical concepts, measurement, and
meaning, in: C. Fornell (Ed.), in A Second Generation of
Multivariate Analysis, Praeger, 1982, pp. 523.
[9] S. Balasubramanian, P. Konana, N.M. Menon, Customer
satisfaction in virtual environments: a study of online investing,
Management Science 49 (7) (2003) 871889.
[10] J.B. Barney, M.H. Hansen, Trustworthiness as a source of
competitive advantage, Strategic Management Journal 15 (1994)
175190.
[11] S.E. Beatty, M. Mayer, J.E. Coleman, K.E. Reynolds, J. Lee,
Customersales associate retail relationships, Journal of Retailing
72 (3) (1996) 223247.
[12] F. Belanger, J.S. Hiller, W.J. Smith, Trustworthiness in electronic commerce: the role of privacy, security, and site attributes,
Journal of Strategic Information Systems 11 (2002) 245270.
[13] M. Benantar, The Internet public key infrastructure, IBM Systems
Journal 40 (3) (2001) 648665.
[14] A. Bhatnagar, S. Misra, H.R. Rao, On risk, convenience, and
internet shopping behavior, Communications of the ACM 43 (11)
(2000) 98114.
[15] A. Bhattacherjee, Individual trust in online firms: scale development and initial test, Journal of Management Information Systems
19 (1) (2002) 211242.
[16] A. Bhimani, Securing the commercial Internet, Communications
of the ACM 39 (6) (1996) 2935.
[17] W.J. Bilkey, A psychological approach to consumer behavior
analysis, Journal of Marketing 18 (1953) 1825.
[18] W.J. Bilkey, Psychic tensions and purchasing behavior, Journal of
Social Psychology 41 (1955) 247257.
[19] P. Blau, Exchange in Power and Social Life, John Wiley, New
York, 1964.
[20] K.A. Bollen, Structural Equations with Latent Variables, Wiley,
New York, NY, 1989.
[21] K. Bollen, R. Lennox, Conventional wisdom on measurement: a
structural equation perspective, Psychological Bulletin 110 (1991)
305314.
[22] A. Boot, S. Greedbaum, A. Thakor, Reputation and discretion in
financial contracting, American Economic Review 83 (5) (1993)
11651183.
[23] S. Brainov, T. Sandholm, Contracting with Uncertain Level of
Trust, Presented at E-COMMERCE, Denver, CO, 1999,
pp. 1521.
[24] E. Brynjolfsson, M. Smith, Frictionless commerce? A comparison
of Internet and conventional retailers, Management Science 46 (4)
(2000) 563585.
561
562
[90] D.A. Light, Sure, you can trust us, MIT Sloan Management
Review 43 (1) (2001) 17.
[91] N. Luhmann, Trust and Power, Wiley, Chichester, UK, 1979.
[92] N. Luhmann, Familiarity, confidence, trust: problems and
alternatives, in: D. Gambetta (Ed.), Trust: Making and Breaking
Cooperative Relations, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1988,
pp. 94107.
[93] R.C. MacCallum, M.W. Browne, The use of causal indicators in
covariance structure models: some practical issues, Psychological
Bulletin 114 (3) (1993) 533541.
[94] D.W. Manchala, E-commerce trust metrics and models, IEEE
Internet Computing 4 (2) (2000) 3644.
[95] L. Margherio, The Emerging Digital Economy, U.S. Department
of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 1998.
[96] S. Marsh, Formalizing trust as a computational concept,
Department of Computer Science, University of Stirling, Scotland, UK, 1994.
[97] E. Mauldin, V. Arunachalam, An experimental examination
of alternative forms of web assurance for business-to-consumer
e-commerce, Journal of Information Systems 16 (2002) 3354
(Supplement).
[98] R.C. Mayer, J.H. Davis, F.D. Schoorman, An integrative model of
organizational trust, Academy of Management Review 20 (3)
(1995) 709734.
[99] D.J. McAllister, Affect- and cognition-based trust as foundations
for interpersonal cooperation in organizations, Academy of
Management Journal 38 (1) (1995) 2459.
[100] D. McCullough, Web-based market research: the dawning of a
new age, Direct Marketing 61 (8) (1998) 3637.
[101] D.H. McKnight, N.L. Chervany, What trust means in e-commerce
customer relationships: an interdisciplinary conceptual typology, International Journal of Electronic Commerce 6 (2) (2002)
3560.
[102] D.H. McKnight, L.L. Cummings, N.L. Chervany, Initial trust
formation in new organizational relationships, Academy of
Management Review 23 (3) (1998) 473490.
[103] D.H. McKnight, V. Choudhury, C. Kacmar, The impact of initial
consumer trust on intentions to transact with a web site: a
trust building model, Journal of Strategic Information Systems 11
(34) (2002) 297323.
[104] D.H. McKnight, C.J. Kacmar, V. Choudhury, Shifting factors and
the ineffectiveness of third party assurance seals: a two-stage
model of initial trust in a web business, Electronic Markets 14 (3)
(2004) 252266.
[105] S.M. Miranda, C.S. Saunders, The social construction of meaning:
an alternative perspective on information sharing, Information
Systems Research 14 (1) (2003) 87107.
[106] G.C. Moore, I. Benbasat, Development of an instrument to
measure the perceptions of adopting an information technology
innovation, Information Systems Research 2 (3) (1991)
192222.
[107] C. Moorman, R. Deshpande, G. Zaltman, Factors affecting trust in
market research relationships, Journal of Marketing 57 (1) (1993)
81101.
[108] A. Moukas, G. Zacharia, P. Maes, Amalthaea and Histos:
multiagent systems for WWW sites and reputation recommendations, in: M. Klusch (Ed.), Intelligent Information, SpringerVerlag, 1999.
[109] J.C. Nunnally, Psychometric Theory, 2nd ed.McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1978.
[110] J.C. Nunnally, I.H. Bernstein, Psychometric Theory, 3rd ed.
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1994.
563
564