Website Trust Research Articles

Converting hotels website visitors into buyers

Purpose Despite the increasing utilization of webpages for the purposes of information seeking, customers’ concerns have become a crucial impediment for online shopping. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the effectiveness of web assurance seals services (WASS) and customers’ concerns on customer’s willingness to book hotels through perceived website trust and perceived value. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was administrated to measure the study variables. Using partial least squares–structural equation modeling approach to analyze the data collected from 860 users of online hotel websites. Findings The results indicate that WASS influence positively on perceived website trust and negatively on consumers’ concerns. As well as, perceived value and trust play a mediating role in the link between WASS and consumers’ concerns and their intentions. Finally, perceived website trust and perceived value have greater effect on intention to book hotel for low-habit consumers. Research limitations/implications This study ignored the cross-culture issue as it concentrates on the customers from developing countries, so further research may need to compare between two or more than two samples from different societies that could give a significant insights. Second, this study stresses on the WASS to predict customers booking intentions that indicates significant results, so further research may need to examine the role of online reviews as a predictor of customers purchase decision as well. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first empirical research that investigates and examines the influence of the effectiveness of WASS and consumers’ concerns on consumers’ intentions through perceived value and trust. This research also investigates the moderating role of habit in the link between perceived website, perceived value and consumers’ intentions.

Online servicescape dimensions as predictors of website trust in the South African domestic airline industry

Increased costs, competition and a dynamic environment have led to South African domestic airlines relying more on their own websites as outlets for airline tickets. Customers’ e-commerce uptake with respect to buying airline tickets online has been slow, attributed mostly to a lack of website trust. A well-designed online service scape has been identified as an important contributor to website trust by several authors, but not yet in this particular context or industry. This study investigates the extent to which three online service scape dimensions predict website trust in the South African domestic airline industry. A quantitative and descriptive research design was followed, and 300 responses were collected through self-administered questionnaires from domestic airline passengers who had purchased an airline e-ticket from a website. A multiple regression analysis indicates that online financial security is the best predictor of website trust, followed by layout and functionality and aesthetic appeal. Consequently, it is recommended that South African domestic airlines that wish to cultivate website trust should focus primarily on enhancing the online financial security of their websites, followed by customising the layout and functionality of their websites, and lastly improving aesthetic appeal by increasing the entertainment value of their websites.

Factors Affecting Buyers' Trust in E-Commerce in Palestine

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is relatively a new concept and research topic in developing countries including Palestine. In this form of commerce, the first impression that users create about an organisation is often based on the organisation's website's trustworthiness. This has motivated many researchers to investigate the factors that influence buyers' trust in such websites. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the potential factors affecting buyers' trust in e-commerce in Palestine. More specifically, the study embraces a multi-dimensional construct of trust (integrity, benevolence, ability) rather than examining each single dimension of trustworthiness individually. In addition, the effect of independent variables including website design attitudes, reliability, privacy and security attitudes, customer satisfaction and governmental factors on e-commerce's trust dimensions have been mathematically investigated. To this end, relevant data from a random sample of 354 Palestinian citizens who have experienced the online shopping, or who have interest in online purchasing, were collected. Statistical analyses revealed significant effects of all independent variables except reliability on buyers' trust in e-commerce in Palestine. Also, four linear regression models relating the independent variables with e-commerce's trust and its three dimensions (integrity, benevolence, ability) have been built and statistically validated.

Trust evaluation of websites: a comprehensive study

People rely heavily on internet to fulfil even the minuscule of their need. According to a survey, 41% of time spent on web is for finding some information from search engines or reading some information. This is majorly due to easily accessible, cost effective and perceived high value information. But, this perceived high value information can prove fatal, if consumed without any authoritarian checks; especially if related to issues like health. Some template is necessitated to measure trustworthiness of such information. This paper explores a novel approach to quantify trust in such information-led websites. Analytical data is collected for various informational websites using similarweb.com and trust is modelled for these websites using human behaviour as an aggregate. Analytical data is believed to capture actual behaviour of each and every visitor visiting the website for information; thus making the study reliable and dependable. Results have been compared with some other acceptable studies and have found to be encouraging.

The Impact of Individuals' Attitudes Toward Health Websites on Their Perceived Quality of Health Information: An Empirical Study.

Background: A growing number of patients have increasingly used health websites to search and gather health information. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the driving factors of internet health information quality from the perspective of psychology. Accordingly, this study explores how the attitudes of individuals toward health websites affect their perceived quality of internet health information through the mediation of seeking behavior on treatment information by employing regulatory focus theory. Materials and Methods: We defined six hypotheses that both trust in health websites and expectancy of health websites have a positive impact on emerging and conservative treatment-related online health information seeking; emerging treatment seeking has a negative impact on internet health information quality; and conservative treatment seeking has a positive impact on internet health information quality. Emerging treatment refers to some therapies based on new technologies or research, which is barely used, whereas conservative treatment is more common among the medical field. An online survey involving 336 valid participants was conducted in China. In the research model, all variables were measured using multiple-item scales, and structural equation modeling was employed for testing the hypotheses. Results: The expectancy of health websites significantly affects conservative and emerging treatment-related online health information seeking, but trust in health websites does not. Moreover, trust in health websites strongly affects the expectancy of health websites, and attitudes toward health websites have a strong effect on conservative treatment-related online information seeking. The effect of conservative treatment-related online health information seeking was considerably larger than that of emerging treatment-related online health information seeking on perceived quality of internet health information. Conclusions: From the perspective of health websites operators and public hospitals, conservative treatment and online service might be worth providing and improving. Cooperation between health websites and hospitals might be a good choice.

An Empirical Study in the Effect of the Experience on Consumers’ Trust in the Familiar Online Retailers

The virtualization of the situation of online retailing makes it more easy and profitable for retailers to sell adulterated goods, make false propaganda, and make promises not to be fulfilled, and therefore the risks increase higher for online shopping than that of offline. Since the accordingly risks increase, the customers would hesitate to make an online order unless he/she realizes the risks are limited. In the situation that the trustworthy 3rd-part payment and delivery service are used, the risk depends on the honesty, integrity, benevolence and other characters of the retailers, therefore the customer’s trust on the retailers will help him/her to make the purchasing decision. While many researches have been done in online trust for unfamiliar website, for example, McKnight 2002 used the theories of structural assurance and situational normality to understand the building up of online trust, in this study, our focus is the effect of a customer’s former online shopping experience on his/her trust in the website which is familiar to him/her. We collected more than 3000 data from Chinese online customers, and verified the effect of the different experience on consumers’ trust in the online retailing website, and also the effect of the trust on purchase intent in two dimensions: repeat buy and the average amount of once purchase.

The Influence of Website Trust on Recommendation Adoption and Word-of-Mouth Communication: Study on TripAdvisor Website

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Analisis Pengaruh Kualitas Website , Kepercayaan, Promosi Dan Harga Terhadap Kepuasan Pelanggan Tokopedia

The purpose of this research is to analyze the influence of website quality, trust, promotion and price towards customer’s satisfaction at Tokopedia.com partially and simultaneously. This research used quantitative research and the feature of this research was descriptive. The sample of this research was 100 respondents, with purposive sampling as the sampling technique. The research data was obtained by distributing questionnaires to 100 Respondents. The analysis method used in the research was multiple linear regressions. The result shows that all of independent variables partially and simultaneously have an influence toward customer’s satisfaction to buy at Tokopedia. Hypothesis testing using T-test shows that all of independent variables proven positively and significantly influence to the dependent variable. Hypothesis F-test shows that website quality, trust, promotion and price have significant influence towards customer’s satisfaction at Tokopedia simultaneously.

Word-of-Mouth communication as consequence of relationship quality in online environments

La comunicacion de voz a voz como consecuente de la calidad de la relacion en entornos online Comunicacao boca a boca como consequencia da qualidade do relacionamento em ambientes online DOI: 10.5294/pacla.2018.21.4.6 Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication generates content that constitutes an important source of information for users. Numerous researches have shown that the content of other users is more credible and influential than the content generated by the brand. The development of new technologies has brought about important changes in this process of interpersonal influence. However, studies analyzing the eWOM communication process are insufficient. In this sense, the main objective of this study is to examine the relationship quality with eWOM communication. In addition, trust, satisfaction and commitment are identified as the main dimensions that form the relationship quality, and we analyze how these dimensions are related and how they influence the development of eWOM communication. To achieve the objectives and the verification of the hypotheses, we developed a structural model with a multi-item scale of measurement adapted from previous studies. The questionnaire was filled out by 576 different people to empirically test the model. The study sample included users of online travel websites. Findings confirm that the quality of the relationship influences the development of eWOM communication. In addition, we were able to verify that the dimensions of satisfaction and trust in travel websites are the most determinant, mainly because users are looking for an interpersonal communication process that satisfies their need and that the source is reliable. The originality of this study is based on using the dimensions that best measure the quality of the relationship and analyzing how they influence the development of eWOM communication in an online context, very important aspects for the Spanish tourism sector.

The evolution of perceived security: the temporal role of SNS information perceptions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and test a dynamic model of security-based consumer purchasing intentions and empirically addresses gaps in online purchasing theory by examining how loyalty intention may become stronger or weaker over time as a result of prior relationship evaluations.Design/methodology/approachUsing a longitudinal study (three-time waves) of commercial website consumers, the authors investigate the proposed model by depicting the relationships among perceived security, perceived risk, website trust and loyalty intentions.FindingsThe results show that two relationships, namely the perceived security-perceived risk link and the perceived risk-website trust link, which have been little investigated on a longitudinal basis in previous studies, change over time. Interestingly, while social network service (SNS) information perceptions do not have direct effects on perceived risk or loyalty intention, the relationships in which either perceived security and website trust are involved are more important for positively improving perceived security and building website trust.Practical implicationsThe authors suggest that managers may actually benefit from handling SNS information or social communities by delivering well-designed information at strategic stages, targeting key constructs.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the establishment and testing of temporal carryover effects of various online purchasing-related constructs: perceived security, perceived risk, trust and loyalty intention. More specifically, the longitudinal approach provides new insights regarding the role, potential impact and limitations of two types of perception. It thus highlights how understanding loyalty intention requires reevaluating consumer perceptions as consumers’ judgments evolve.

Free Wi-Fi: To Buy or Not to Buy

ABSTRACT There has been a tremendous increase in the use of free public Internet or Wi-Fi as a crucial access point to the Internet world over. Consumers are increasingly performing e-commerce transactions over free public Internet, an infrastructure that they have no control over. This research looks at how trust of free public Internet influences consumer’s trust of websites and perceptions of website security as consumers perform e-commerce transactions. Results of our study indicate (1) trust of free public Internet is a significant predictor of perceived trust and security of e-commerce websites, (2) the technology/hard dimension of trust is an important intermediary in the trust relationship between the consumer and the personal/soft dimensions of the e-commerce website, and (3) cultural environment plays a significant role in trust of the public Internet.

Interactions and Participation on Social Commerce Websites: Exploratory Study

An increasing number of organizations are adopting social commerce (SC) to engage and occupy customers in product development, sales and support activities. Therefore, it is imperative for retailers and marketers to know customers’ adoption behaviour towards SC websites and the benefits they gain through voluntary contribution of information on these websites. The study attempts to identify customer participation through development of a conceptual framework based on the uses and gratification (UG) approach. The importance of non-altruistic motives, that is, benefits shape member’s participation on SC websites, is confirmed by results. According to the results, two interaction characteristics, that is, human interactivity and member identity are essential for building trust in SC website. Findings of the study also conclude that interaction characteristics strongly affect three benefits, that is, personal integrative, social integrative and hedonic. Hence, it is implied that benefits gained by members on SC website interactions shape their participation intentions. Therefore, SC websites must be designed keeping in view both usage and benefits by members.

Fostering Purchase Intentions Toward Online Retailer Websites in an Emerging Market: An S-O-R Perspective

The study proposes a model for fostering customers’ purchase intentions from online retailer websites in an emerging market context through the application of the S-O-R framework. The research design is descriptive and cross-sectional. Through the purposive sampling technique, interviewer-administered questionnaires were fielded to respondents who completed a fictional buying task online. The results confirm the validity of the S-O-R framework to better understand how purchase intentions can be fostered through effective website design. The findings also prove the importance of visual appeal and perceived usability in affecting consumers’ purchase intentions via website trust and flow, as well as the importance of flow in affecting website trust and consumers’ purchase intentions. The study contributes to an understanding of S-O-R framework application in an online context in an emerging market and provides online retailers with a model to cultivate purchases from their websites through compelling online experiences and effective website design.

Interplay between trust, information privacy concerns and behavioural intention of users on online social networks

ABSTRACTTrust and privacy features of websites have evolved as an important concern for any businesses or interactions, particularly in online networks. The study investigates the relationship between trust, privacy concerns and behavioural intention of users on the social network. The behavioural intention of users on the online social network (OSN) is captured by intention to disclose information and intention to interact with others in OSN. The study was conducted on a sample of 457 active users from one of the major social networking website, Facebook. Partial least squares based structural equation modelling was used for analysing the results. The findings of the study reveal that intention to disclose information mediates the relationship between trust in the website and the intention to interact with others. Another important finding of the study indicates that prior positive experience with the website significantly impacts the trust in website, and the trust in website also plays a crucial role while determining the information privacy concerns in the OSN.

Challenges in Reach with Online Sexual Health Information Among African American Youth: Assessing Access and Engagement

There is a need for sexual health promotion among African American youth. The internet is an efficient means of delivering sexual health information (SHI). However, there may be disparities that reduce internet reach to low-income African American youth. The present mixed-methods study analyzed data from the U.S. Current Population Survey (national household sample; ages 14–17) and the Two-Cities Study (Chicago, San Francisco; low-income African Americans, ages 15–17) to examine internet reach, defined as access and engagement. We found that nationally, in-home internet access and cell/smartphone ownership varied by income and race/ethnicity. In-home internet access (52%) and cell/smartphone ownership (75%) were lowest among low-income African American youth. Access from other locations (e.g., libraries, schools) was also quite low. The Two-Cities Study showed that internet access and site engagement were limited by site blocking, poor privacy, affordability, and trust. Youths’ trust in SHI was conditional on their ability to authenticate SHI websites. Our study suggests that there is limited reach into African American and low-income groups, which may be addressed by decreasing internet blocking, enhancing privacy, and supporting community programs and policies to facilitate internet access. Trust in sexual health websites may be increased through directed engagement and authentication by health experts. Without higher levels of access and implementation of strategies to enhance engagement, the potential of the internet as a vehicle for sexual health promotion among African American youth will not be realized.

The Effects of Perceived Quality on Loyalty by Mediating Customer Satisfaction and Trust in Websites: Moderating Effect of Customer Innovativeness

The aims of this study are to investigate the effect of website quality on customers’ perceived quality as well as, to examine to the mediating paths of satisfaction and trust on loyalty formation and verify the moderating effect of innovativeness on satisfaction and trust in electronic commerce settings in Korea and China. During a survey, a sample of customers who have experience with websites were examined using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0. Results of the study are as follows. First, usability, information quality, and interaction have a significant effect on perceived quality in Korea. In China, information quality and interaction have a significant influence on perceived quality. Second, perceived quality has an influence on satisfaction and trust, and these variables had an influence on loyalty in both countries. Third, the effect of satisfaction on trust was not statistically significant in both countries. Finally, the effect of perceived quality on satisfaction is found to be higher relative to innovativeness in Korea, but not in China. In addition, the effect of perceived quality on trust is found to be higher with respect to innovativeness in China, but not Korea.

The impact of perceived security and consumer innovativeness on e-loyalty in online travel shopping

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the impacts of perceived security and consumer innovativeness on online travel shopping. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data and a total of 283 questionnaires were used for data analysis. The mechanism of perceived security and consumer innovativeness was then identified. The study results indicate that: (1) higher perceived security increases the perception of website image and trust; (2) consumers with a higher level of innovativeness tend to trust travel websites; (3) website image has a mediating effect between perceived security and trust; and (4) trust has a mediating effect between website image and e-loyalty.

The Effects of Perceived Value, Website Trust and Hotel Trust on Online Hotel Booking Intention

With the rapid development of information technology in hotel booking context, it is no doubt that many hotels consequently enhance the needs of integrating information technologies into their overall business operations. In this study, we developed a research model which consists of perceived value, trust toward a third party online booking site, and trust toward hotels, and tested it by using partial least square techniques. Survey data were collected from 307 individuals who have prior experiences on making a reservation using third-party online booking sites. Based upon our findings, we found that the perceived value, which was affected by both price and quality, was positively related to individuals’ intention to book. We also found that both trust toward third-party online booking sites and trust toward hotels, which was influenced by online review, have positive impacts on individuals’ intention to book. The implications of these findings for both research and practice are discussed.

Exploring the effects of a non-interactive talking avatar on social presence, credibility, trust, and patronage intention in an e-commerce website

While prior research has examined the effects of interactive e-commerce avatars that simulate the roles of virtual assistants and recommender agents, there is lack of empirical study that investigates the effects of non-interactive talking avatars in e-commerce. This is unfortunate, as many websites today utilize non-interactive talking avatars that provide one-way dialogue in the forms of greetings, introduction of the company, and description of products and services offered. To bridge this gap, our study aims to investigate the effects of non-interactive talking avatar on perceptions of social presence, credibility, website trust, and patronage intention in an online store. Comparing between the experimental (website with avatar) and control (website without avatar) conditions, the experimental results showed that perceived social presence was significantly enhanced by the presence of the non-interactive talking avatar. Furthermore, the presence of the avatar had positive effects on website trust and patronage intention among male participants; but had negative effects on perceptions of information credibility and website patronage intention among females. Analysis based on participants’ comments suggests that females were more critical towards certain shortcomings of the non-interactive talking avatar; citing limited interactivity and artificial dialogue from text-to-speech engine. Additionally, the comment analysis suggests that females preferred processing textual over auditory information (as spoken by the avatar) about the products in the online store. Theoretical and managerial implications related to non-interactive talking avatars are discussed in this paper.

Intention to use social commerce: A study in Vietnam

The development of social media has dramatically changed the intention to use of the consumer in e-commerce. Based on social network theory, trust transfer theory, and task–technology fit theory, this study proposed and validated a model of intention to use social commerce. Total 230 samples of data which are collected from respondents who have used or intend to use social commerce in Vietnam. The results of structural equation modeling illustrated that three second–order components from six first–order elements in pairs, such as website quality (ease of navigation and quality of service), trust (trust towards members and trust towards community), and social support (information support and community commitment) have structural relationships with intention to use social commerce. The research model explains roughly 83% the intention to use social commerce in Vietnam.