Concepts and constructs in online trust

Abstract

Trust is vital in online environment. Without trust, it is impossible for online entity to achieve its success. In addition, trust research in online environment will be ongoing research as the online entity as e-commerce keeps on evolving and growing from time to time. As trust is large and multidimensional, it is hard to cover all dimensions and literature of trust. In this paper, some useful concepts and constructs in trust and online trust will be presented. In order to have a clear view on the basic concept of trust, this paper emphasizes on the importance of trust, problems in defining trust followed by discussion on the trust definitions. In evaluating and analyzing this concept, the researchers have taken five steps i.e. identify relevant evidence, select studies for inclusion, assess the quality of each study, synthesize the findings from individual study, interpret and make comparative evaluation on the studies. The important findings in this research yield the concept of trustor, trustee and trustworthiness in online trust, followed by identification of the trust dimension. Finally, the researchers also address trust types and forms in online trust.