Consumer Trust in an Internet Store A CrossCultural Validation.docx

Consumer Trust in an Internet Store A CrossCultural Validation.docx

《Consumer Trust in an Internet Store A CrossCultural Validation.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Consumer Trust in an Internet Store A CrossCultural Validation.docx（33页珍藏版）》请在冰点文库上搜索。

ConsumerTrustinanInternetStoreACrossCulturalValidation

ConsumerTrustinanInternetStore:

ACross-CulturalValidation

KristiinaKarvonen.1999.Creatingtrust.In:

ProceedingsoftheFourthNordicWorkshoponSecureITSystems（NordSec1999）.Kista,Sweden.12November1999,pages2136.

Abstract

ManyhavespeculatedthattrustplaysacriticalroleinstimulatingconsumerpurchasesovertheInternet.MostofthespeculationshaveralliedaroundU.S.consumerspurchasingfromU.S.–basedonlinemerchants.TheglobalnatureoftheInternetraisesquestionsabouttherobustnessoftrusteffectsacrosscultures.Culturemayalsoaffecttheantecedentsofconsumertrust;thatis,consumersindifferentculturesmighthavedifferingexpectationsofwhatmakesawebmerchanttrustworthy.Herewereportonacross-culturalvalidationofanInternetconsumertrustmodel.ThemodelexaminedbothantecedentsandconsequencesofconsumertrustinaWebmerchant.Theresultsprovidetentativesupportforthegeneralizabilityofthemodel.

Introduction

AretailercanuseanInternetpresencetoreachconsumersallaroundtheworld.QuelchandKlein（1996）heraldhowtheInternetmakestheexpandedrangeofproducts,services,andinformationaccessibleforconsumersfromgeographicallydistantand/oremergingmarkets.HamelandSampler（1998）declarethebeginningof“aworldwherecustomersarenolongerhostagestogeography…”（p.88）.

ThereislittledoubtthattheInternetprovidesenormouspotentialbenefitsforconsumersworldwide.Widerchoiceranges,lowerprices,andentirelynewproductshavebecomeavailableinmanyproductcategoriessuchasbooks,CDs,andtravelpackages,toconsumerswhoarephysicallyfarawayfromtheworld'scentersoftraditionalcommerce（Economist,1997）.Asells20%ofitsbookstoforeigndestinations（Hamel&Sampler,1998）.OneFinnishconsumerreportedsavingsof60%（includingsurfacemailshippingcosts）havingpurchasedabusinessbookfromanonlinestore,A,basedinSeattle,USthanfromaFinnishbookstore（Filenius,1996）.ApricecomparisonwithaUK-basedonlinestore,BusinessBookDirect,wassimilarlyfavorablecomparedtothatavailablelocally.Asignificantpriceadvantage（25%）remainedevenifthebookwasshippedviaanexpresspackagecarrier.

Althoughfavorablepricingmightbeanecessitytowinordersbyoverseascustomers,itmaynotbesufficient.DoneyandCannon（1997）labeltrustasanorderqualifierforpurchasedecisions.Thatis,inorderforaconsumertoplaceanorder,theconsumermusttrustthemerchantfirst.Trustisabelieforexpectationthatthewordorpromisebythemerchantcanberelieduponandthesellerwillnottakeadvantageoftheconsumer'svulnerability（Geyskensetal.,1996）.Trustisacriticalfactorinanyrelationshipinwhichthetrustor（e.g.,consumer）doesnothavedirectcontrolovertheactionsofatrustee（e.g.,merchantorstore）,andtherearepossiblenegativeconsequencesofonepartynotfulfillingitspromises（Deutch,1958;Mayeretal.,1995）.

QuelchandKlein（1996）speculatethatintheearlystagesofInternetdevelopment,trustisacriticalfactorinstimulatingpurchasesovertheInternet.Keen（1997）warnsthattrustisnotonlyashort-termissuebutthemostsignificantlong-termbarrierforrealizingthepotentialofInternetmarketingtoconsumers.AnexperientialsurveyofU.S.-basedonlinesurfers,newtoInternetbasedshopping,foundtheshoppersfascinatedbyinternationalshoppingopportunitiesontheWeb,buttheywereskepticalaboutactualpurchasingfromoverseassites（Jarvenpaa&Todd,1997）.OthersreportwidespreaddistrustamongconsumersaboutInternet-basedmerchants（Culnan&Armstrong,1999）.

Consequently,theroleoftrustcastssomedoubtsonInternetconsumermerchandising.ConsumersareunlikelytopatronizeInternetstoresthatfailtocreateasenseoftrust.Trustcanonlyexistiftheconsumerbelievesthatthesellerhasboththeabilityandthemotivationtodelivergoodsandservicesofthequalityexpectedbytheconsumer.ThisbeliefmaybemoredifficultforanInternetmerchanttoengenderthanitisforaconventionalmerchant.InInternetcommerce,merchantsdependonanimpersonalelectronicstorefronttoactontheirbehalf.Additionally,theInternetlowerstheresourcesrequiredtoenterandexitthemarketplace.Internetmerchantsmightbeconsideredfly-by-nightastherearefewerassurancesforconsumersthattheretailerwillstayinbusinessforsometime.Intraditionalcontexts,aconsumer'strusthasbeenfoundtobeaffectedbytheseller'sinvestmentsinphysicalbuildings,facilities,andpersonnel（Doney&Cannon1997）.RetailersontheInternetthusfaceasituationinwhichconsumertrustmightbeexpectedtobeinherentlylow.

TheglobalcontextoftheInternetfurtherchallengesengenderingtrustinaconsumer.Fromtraditionalmarketingcontexts,wehavelearnedthatconsumertrustismostreadilydevelopedwhentheconsumerhasapositivetrustingstanceingeneral,hashadpriorinteractionswiththemerchant,interactswithaknowledgeablesalespersonwithsimilarorfamiliarbackgroundtotheconsumer,isprotectedbystrongsocialandlegalstructures,andexpectstobepatronizingthemerchantforaprolongedperiod（Geyskensetal.,1998）.Whenconsumersarescatteredaroundtheworld,thesesourcesoftrustarenotreadilyavailableforthemerchanttoharness.

Moreover,thefundamentalbasesoftrustmightvaryacrossnationalities.Thoseconsumerscomingfromindividualisticcountriesmighthaveahighertrustingstanceingeneralandbemorewillingtobasetheirtrustinthemerchantonfactorsthatareinferredfromanimpersonalwebsitethanconsumersfromcollectivisticcountries.Dawaretal（1996）foundthatpersonalandimpersonalsourcesofinformationhaddifferentimpactsonindividualsacrosscultures.Doneyetal（1998）havecalledforempiricalstudiesexaminingthewaysnationalcultureimpactstrustandtrustbuildingprocesses.

Jarvenpaa,Tractinsky,andVitale（1999）developedandtestedatheoreticalmodelabouttheantecedentsandconsequencesoftrustinanInternetstore.Themodelsuggeststhatcustomers'evaluationsofstores'reputationandsizeaffecttheirtrustinthestore.Inaddition,JarvenpaaetalfoundthatthedegreetowhichconsumerstrustaWebstoreaffectstheirperceptionsoftheriskinvolvedinpurchasingfromthestoreandtheirattitudestowardsthestore.Ourpurposeinthispaperistocross-validatetheJarvenpaaetal.modelinacross-culturalsetting.ThestudythatJarvenpaaetal.（1999）carriedoutinAustraliawasreplicatedinIsraelandpartiallyreplicatedinFinland.Thereplicationsenabledustotestforcross-culturaldifferences,andatthesametimetoassessthevalidityofthemodelacrossnationalborders.

Thispaperfocusessolelyontheconsumer'sinitialdevelopmentoftrustinacommercialstoreontheInternet.Thescopedoesnotincludehowtrustdevelopsuponrepeatedvisitsorhowtrustoperatesthroughthirdpartiesthatmightmediatebetweentheconsumerandthestore.ThispaperislimitedtothetypeofInternetshoppingsituationinwhichtheconsumeristargetingthesearchtoaspecificcategoryofmerchandise（e.g.,booksandairlinetickets）andisdynamicallybrowsingthroughavarietyofmerchantsinthatcategory（e.g.,books）.

Thenextsectionreviewsliteratureontrustandculture.Thethirdsectionoutlinesthemethodologyoftheexperimentalsurvey.Thefourthsectionreportsontheresultsfromtheempiricalstudy,andthefinalsectiondiscussestheresults.

ConceptualFramework:

ConsumerTrustinaWebMerchant

WedefinetrustintheInternetstoreasaconsumer'swillingnesstorelyonthesellerandtakeactionincircumstanceswheresuchactionmakestheconsumervulnerabletotheseller.ThisdefinitionbuildsononeprovidedinMayeretal.（1995）andMcKnightetal.（1998）.Thedefinitionemphasizesthecognitivedimensionsoftrustandviewstrustasarationalechoiceprocess.Thecognitiveviewisanarrowtreatmentoftrustexcludingtheaffectiveandsocialdimensions（seeKramer,1999）.Mayeretal.（1995）proposedamodelofantecedentsoforganizationaltrustbasedonadyadoftrustorandtrustee.Theantecedentoftrustingbehavioristrustingintention,orthewillingnesstobedependentonanotherperson.Trustingintentionisinturninfluencedbyatrustor'spropensitytotrust,thetrustor'sperceivedcharacteristicsofatrustee（e.g.,trustworthinessoftrusteebasedonhisorherintegrity,benevolence,andability）,andindirectlythetrustor'sobservationsofthetrustee'sbehavior.Themodelistrustor-centricandacknowledgesothersonlyintermsofwhattheydotothetrustor,focusesonthetrustor'spurposeofinteractionandthetrustor'soutcomesofinteractions.Themodelassumesthatthedecisiontotrustismadebythetrustorandthegoodresultingfromtrustisofdirectpersonalbenefittoatrustor.

BesidesbuildingontheassumptionsoftheMayeretal.model,wedrawuponresearchinindustrialmarketing.Thereisascarcityofresearchontrustinconsumermarketing（Geyskensetal.,1998）.Ameta-analysisofempiricalresearchonantecedentsandconsequencesoftrustinmarketingrelationshipsfoundnosignificantdifferencesinresultsbetweenindustrialandconsumercategoriesofmerchandise（Geyskensetal.,1998）.

Inindustrialmarketing,themostsalientsourceofabuyer'strustinthemerchantorganizationisthesalesperson;trustinthesalespersonisdependentonthesalesperson'sexpertise,likability,andsimilaritytothecustomer（Doney&Cannon,1997）.IntheInternetcontext,thesalespersonisreplacedbyawebsite（Lohse&Spi