Abstract
The present research aims to identify the relationship between trust and distrust in an online business environment. To clarify the concepts, cognitive–affective personality system theory was introduced, through which five types of psychological units were proposed. In developing the research model based on the theory, technical effectiveness of the system and content truthfulness of the website were selected as two key stimuli for the coding process of online users. Trust and distrust were selected as mediating factors that generate consequent behaviors. Finally, purchase intention served as a final dependent variable. Assuming that trust and distrust emerge in psychologically different stages, this study hypothesized the mutual causal relationship between trust and distrust, indicating that the relationship will be determined by their contextual emphasis on each dimension. To validate, a survey was conducted with 307 online shopping mall users. Results show that stimuli were more significantly associated with trust. Trust is therefore a more cognitive construct than distrust, and the path from trust to distrust is stronger than that from distrust to trust. This finding implies that the cognitive aspect of trust is stronger than that of distrust. Distrust is rather more affectively emerging than trust.
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