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BuildingOnlineTransactionTrustthroughaTwo-StepFlowofInformationCommunication.pdf
Building Online Transaction Trust
Building Online Transaction Trust through a Two-Step Flow of Information Communication
Shu-Hua Chien, National Taichung University of Science and Technology chien9149(^nutc.edu.tw
Ying-Hueih Chen, Providence University, yhchen(^pu.edu.tw
Jyh-Jeng Wu, National United University, jjwu(^nuu.edu.tw
ABSTRACT
E-commerce businesses have endeavored to facilitate online transactions by establishing website reputations through use of digital security mechanisms to alleviate the uncertainty about online transactions. This study incorporates the two- step flow of communication theory to elaborate on the antecedents that underlie consumers' intention to purchase online. Using data collected from 457 online shoppers in Taiwan, the findings suggest that third party issued e-certification and consumers ' previous experience significantly influence party trust. In addition, party- trust significantly impacts online purchase intention. These results provide a clearer understanding of how to successfully build transaction trust and consequential behaviors. This paper concludes with several research implications.
KEYWORDS
Two-step Flow of Communication, E-certification, Party Trust, Previous Experience, Purchase Intention
INTRODUCTION
The rise and spread of e-eommerce has changed traditional business models and introduced innovative online services. Yet, digitally-based businesses suffer from various limitations. First, e-commerce is impersonal in nature—business interactions often proceed in anonymous virtual settings. The lack of physical contact and limited social cues make it difficult for consumers to assess the trustworthiness of e-tailers, which raises concerns regarding opportunistie transactions (Chua et al. 2007; Oh et al. 2009). Furthermore, the high probability of information invasion also serves to heighten consumers' concerns about privacy and transaction security (Pan & Zinkhan 2006). These phenomenon not only cause the productivity paradox in terms of online investment but also hinder the growth of e-commerce (Navarrete & Pick, 2002).
Consumer trust in e-tailer is often portrayed as key to the successftil growth of electronic retailing (Chen et al. 2008). Trust is the catalyst that fosters long-term customer relationships, as it lessens concerns regarding transaction uncertainty and
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facilitates the purchase intentions of consumers (Chen et al. 2010; Oh et al., 2009). To alleviate the concern about the transaction security, e-tailers have provided different types of services and security mechanisms on their website for consumers to examine. For example, return policies, privacy policies, product guarantees, and digital certificates, are such value-added services and controlling mechanisms to build initial website trust. Among these security mechanisms, third-party provided digital certificate has been considered as an important auditing service to deliver important information about the e-tailers (Turban et al. 2006). In addition, previous transaction experience also plays important role in terms of website trust. Gefen (2000) argued that previous experience influences consumers' familiarity with the e-tailer.
Although previous research has enhanced our understanding of the relevant trust dimensions and their impacts, we are still lacking in two respects. First, the certificate provided by an independent third-party vendor has been considered as one of major website security mechanisms (Turban et al. 2006). These certificates provide assurance on the website and related activities to build initial trust and facilitate the online transactions. However, empirical research did not show impact of such external assurance mechanism on either consumer trust or purchase intention. The deviation of the expected effect of digital certificate and favorable commercial outcome requires further investigation. Second, Tan and Thoen (2001) argued that transaction trust comprises both control mechanisms and party trust. Based on Tan and Thoen (2001), we argued that trust of e-tailer is important in terms of transforming security mechanisms and previous experience into ptirchase intention. Thus it is important to understand how and why party trust interplays with digital certificate and previous experience to influence consumer purchase intentions.
The purpose of this research study is to understand the process of trust building that enables e-tailers to successfully convert website visitors into customers; as such, the two-step flow of communication theory is adopted to examine the sources of information that contribute to trust building. According to the two-step flow of communication theory, people acquire information and form opinions based on information received from information medium such as authoritative sources or opinion leaders. Hirschman and Wallendorf (1982) reinterpreted the two-step flow of communication theory from perspective of knowledge-flow and argued that consumers are not necessarily acquiring information from opinion leaders, but from a broad variety of information source. Wu et al. (2011) further illustrated the two-step flow of communications from one-way vs. two-way communications. According to Wu et al. (2011), one-way information transmissions refers to information transmitted from one source to unidentified mass audiences whereas two-way information transtnissions highlights the inter-personal communication between two or more individuals. Based on this point of view, we argue that both public and private source of information play important roles in transmitting information regarding the trustworthiness of the e-tailer. For example, e-certificate issued by an independent third-party manifests the evaluation from authoritative sources. Likewise, previous
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experience reflects individual assessment in terms of the transaction and service qualities of the website. Exposure to both sources of information will result in the acquisition of knowledge regarding trustworthiness of the e-tailer.
The current study supplements previous findings to an extent that it identifies the public and private sources of information which are important in developing transaction trust. Combining the research of Tan and Thoen (2001), Lin and Ding (2005), and the two-step flow of communication theory (Case et al. 2004), the current study demonstrates that third party issued e-certification and previous experience may not directly trigger purchase intention, but do influence purchase intention via the consensus public opinion regarding the trustworthiness of the e-tailer. The research findings should provide actionable guidelines for e-tailers to effectively alleviate consumer concerns regarding online shopping and increasing their marketing success.
The remainder of this paper is as follows: the next section reviews the research model and hypothesis development, while Section 3 outlines the methodology. Section 4 details the results. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of the results and the pertinent implications.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Trust
Trust is defined as a "psychological state comparing the intention to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectation of the intentions or behavior of another" (Rousseau et al. 1998). Trust is an accumulated outcome that can be divided into anteeedents, trusting believe, and behavioral intentions (Chen et al. 2008). Antecedents determine the formation of trust. In e-commerce settings, consumer familiarity (Gefen 2000), situational normality of the Web (McKnight et al. 2002), transaction security, and social networks (Guo et al. 2010) are important factors inducing consumer trust. Trusting believe consists of competence, benevolence, integrity, and predictability (Aramo-Immonen et al. 2011). These attributes refer to the trustor's belief that the trustee will comply with business norms and values to complete the promised transaction. Finally, behavior intentions refiect the outcomes of trust. Consumer trust tends to evoke purchase intention (Chua et al. 2007; Chen et al. 2010). Indeed, trust is important for facilitating and fostering the initial online business contact in inconclusive or unclear evidences (Chua et al. 2007). Trust is the basic element upon which trading parties develop long-term relationships.
E-commerce researchers have previously explored the antecedents and impacts of trust on the online consumer behavior. Gefen (2000), for example, explores the antecedents of trust and finds that consumer familiarity with e-tailers and the transaction process is essential in building trust. Belanger et al. (2002) investigate consumers trust associated with e-commerce and conclude that the ability to handle online transactions and conduct e-commerce professionally is important in developing consumer trust. Further, Tan and Thoen (2001) decompose transaction trust into trust
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in the other party and trust in the confrol mechanisms. They argue that e-tailers should endeavor to provide transaction monitoring and controlling services to foster the online transaction. Chua et al. (2007) investigate the impact of trust on purchase decisions and conclude that trust is essential to reduce transaction dropout rates.
In sum, trust is a salient faetor that affects the proHferation of e-commerce (Oh et al. 2009). Firms can nurture trust through well-designed transaction environments, online services, and advanced online technologies. Developing consumer trust is an essential component for a successful e-commerce venture.
Two-Step Elow of Communication
Examining the flow and impact of mass communication, researehers of two-step flow of communication decompose the flow of information and influence from the media to the public at large into two steps: from media to individual and from individual to the public (Weimann, 1982). This theory highlights the social networks and individuals as important channel in the process of disseminating information and social influence. Opinion leaders are the primary medium through which people acquire and inform of the new information.
Communication researchers have modified and applied the two-step flow of communication to study the channels of information acquiring (Case et al. 2004) and knowledge transferring (Harada, 2003). For example, Hirschman and Wallendorf (1982) studied the motivation of marketing information acquisition and knowledge transfer and argued that consumers may utilize a broad variety of information sources for product .assessment. Case et al. (2004) study the genetic information seeking behavior and find that the public tend to turn to medical professionals, Internet, and public libraries for information seeking. Harada (2003) examines the process of knowledge transfer and argues that internal knowledge transformers play important role in knowledge transfer and dissemination.
In the context of e-commerce, buyers heavily depend upon online experience and information acquisition to evaluate the trustworthiness of e-tailers (Kim et al., 2008). For example, previous transaction experience that leads to the understanding and prediction about an e-tailer's action and response serves as internal assurance structure and source of information (Kim et al., 2008). Such two-way interaction is important to an extent that consumers often develop knowledge of the e-tailer and transaction procedures through business and social interactions (Wu et a l , 2011). In this point, the previous experience is an efficient means by which customers can lessen the concerns in terms of fraudulent transaction (Kim et al., 2008).
While previous experienee manifests the overall individual perception of the Web sites, e-tailers can also enhance online trusting belief through the means of certificates and warranties (Dewally & Ederington 2006). In the context of e-commerce, e- certificate is the information released by legitimate third parties such as government or certificate authorities to evaluate and ensure the quality of product and service. E- certificate is a security mechanism useful for information verification and
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authentication in terms of Web sites, individuals, and products (Turban et al. 2006). E- certificate is often presented through associated logos or system mechanisms. For example, product with a safety or quality logo implies that the product complies with specific government regulations and is endorsed by legitimate authorities. Ftirthermore, consumers can check the security mechanism such as SSL from the tool bar of the Internet browser. Dewally and Ederington (2006) argue that certificates or warranties can narrow any perceived gaps between value expectations and product quality and thus enable the e-tailer to enhance trust belief
RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES
E-Certification and Party Trust
E-asstirance refers to internal and external business mechanisms that help to develop initial consumer trust. For example, privacy policies, free shipping, product guarantees, and website certificates are mechanisms that assist in asstiring both transaction security and information protection. Among the various internal and external e-assurance options, third-party issued e-certification represents one major sectirity mechanism to verify and authenticate the trustworthiness of the e-tailers (Turban et al. 2006). This type of certificate remedies the asymmefric information of the online transaction to the extent that it provides additional information of the e- tailer. E-certificate ensures that the website is normal and the e-tailer will comply with the general commercial guidelines to conduct online transactions.
Party trust represents the interpersonal relationship between the trading parties. Party trust manifests the individual belief that the trustee will perform a certain action on which his/her welfare depends. In the context of e-commerce, the aggregation of customer ratings regarding the overall performance of the website is essential for consumer to differentiate the trustworthiness of the trading partners. Positive consensus information conveys important signals through which e-tailers enhance the customer trust (Benedicktus, 2010).
Party trust reflects the aggregated subjective individual evaluation of the trading entities, whereas e-certificates represent objective assessments of functionally equivalent control mechanisms. E-certificates enhance party trust when information regarding the trading entities is insufficient or unavailable by verifying and authenticating e-tailors, thereby lessening uncertainty and opportunism. Based on the nature of third-party endorsements, e-certification contributes to website reputation and thus helps to develop initial trust in the website (Benedicktus 2011). Based on the above, this study posits the following:
HI: E-certification is positively related to consumer party trust.
Positive Previous Experience and Party Trust
In the e-commerce setting, consumers accumulate online experience from online exposure and systems use (Lin & Ding, 2005). Previous experience refers to prior
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events or activities that an individual has undergone in early contacts (Chen et al. 2010). Previous experience affects the process of trust development in two ways. First, consumers develop their initial impressions of the product and service quality of a fransaction website based on their interaction experience, which in turn assists them to assess the integrity of the frading entities. Second, consumers tend to refer to past experience for outcome predictions when they encounter similar situations. In this regard, previous experienee complements the information insufficiencies surrounding the frading entities, and is an important reference in the decision making process.
Previous experience is a salient factor for party trust, as it serves as a threshold through which the frustor can better assess the intentions and actions of the trustee. Based on previous experience, the trustor predicts if the trustee will comply with shared values and business norms. Positive previous experience tends to enhance the willingness of the trustor to accept that the frading parties will provide accurate information and perform a particular action that is in the interests of the trustor. Such experience also enables one to share information about the website on his/her social network. As such, previous experience is important in e-commerce because the experience determines the expectations of the consumer in terms of whether the e- tailer and the website service is reliable and predictable. Thus,
H2: Positive previous experience is positively related to consumer party trust.
Party Trust and Purchase Intention
Online purchase intention is an important predictor of actual buying behavior. Online purchase intention reflects the desire of consumers to make a purchase through the website. Online purchase intention is an outcome of consumers' criteria assessment regarding websites, products, and service quality (Oh et al. 2009).
Researchers have explored the driving forces of online purchase intention and concluded that both technological and social factors play a role. For example, Jarvenpaa et al. (2000) argue that online shopping is different from fraditional eommerce and suggest that developing customer trust is crucial to increase online fransactions. Meanwhile, Rangamathan and Ganapathy (2002) fmd that security, privacy, website design, and information content are important for B2C websites.
Party trust is an important interface between the trustor and the trustee because reliance on the righteousness of the frustee will lead to confldence in the organization and consequently a long-term customer relationship. Jarvenpaa et al. (2000) suggest that trust is a catalyst to facilitate purchase intention. MeKnight et al. (2002) point out that when customers trust the e-tailer, they tend to eonduct fransactions with the e- tailer continuously. Liu et al. (2004) conduct empirical research and demonsfrate the positive influence of trust on repeat purchasing, website visiting, and website recommendation. E-tailer trust is a prerequisite for online fransactions. Thus,
H3: Party trust relates to purchase intention positively.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sample
This study explores the interaction of e-certificate and previous experiences on party trust and purchase intention. To capture online shopper behavior, it targets active virtual community members from websites including tw.yahoo.com, pchome.com.tw, www.books.com.tw, payeasy.com.tw, and mall.com.tw. These websites are the most well-known and popular shopping websites in Taiwan. The virtual community members of each website include both sellers and buyers.
An online questionnaire was posted on the my3q website (http://www.my3q.com/) to collect data. Research invitations are posted on the virtual community websites mentioned above. A hyperlink is provided for those virtual members who are interested in our research. A description of the research ptirpose, the research objective, and the answering method are provided together with the invitation. IP address allocation is employed to make sure that each response comes from a different location. A total of 457 shoppers response to the survey solicitation.
Of the online respondents, 63% are male and 73.96% of the respondents are 21 to 25 years old. Also, 65.21% of the respondents shop in Yahoo; 52.3% have more than three years of online shopping experience, and more than 96% shop online more than three times. Table 1 summarizes the respondent profiles.
Measurement Constructs
The questionnaire developed for this study measured four constructs: e-certification, previous experience, party trust, and purchase intention. In particular, both e- certificate and previous experience are considered as major external and internal charmels that transmit important information regarding the trustworthiness of the website. All measurement items were validated in previous academic research studies.
This study adopted the measurement constructs of Wu and Chang (2006) and evaluated the source of e-certificates in terms of government certification authority, well-known certificate authorities, and reliable websites. These questions present the major source of the e-certification. This study measured previous experience based on three questions pertaining to expectation fulfillment, satisfaction with early contact, and satisfactory with the transaction decision (Chen et al. 2010). This construct captured the overall customer satisfaction in terms of their interaction with the e- tailers. Party trust was comprised of three dimensions: excellent online reputation, good ratings from ordinary web surfers, and good ratings from business partners (Wu & Chang 2006). Finally, this study adopted the measurement developed by Wu et al. (2010) and measured purchase intention based on future purchases, preference level, and choice priority (Chen et al. 2010).
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Table 1. Respondent Characteristics (N = 457)
Variable |Frequency ¡Percentage Gender
Male
Female
288
169
63.0
37.0
Age
20 years old or less
21 to 25 years old
26 to 30 years old
More than 31 years old
37
338
70
12
8.09
73.96
15.32
2.63
Which website did you purchase products from?
Yahoo
PC home
PayEasy
Books.com
Others
298
53
15
76
15
65.21
11.59
3.28
16.63
3.28
Online transaction experience
Less than 1 year
I year .
2 years
3 years
More than 3 years
8
48
91
69
241
1.75
10.50
19.91
15.10
52.30
Transaction frequency
3 or less times
4 to 6 times
7 to 10 times
11 or more times
15
121
76
245
3.28
26.48
16.63
53.61
Although all measurement constructs have been validated in the literature, it is necessary to ensure that the content of the questionnaire was appropriate and understandable. Forty-six college students participated in a pre-test. Based on their feedback, the wording of the questionnaire was clarified for all four construct items.
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Sample Validity
In order to enstire that the responses were representative of the population, this research conducted split validity test to assess the fit of the data contained in the responses. The results suggest that there were no differences in terms of the sample characteristics. This research further employs both factor analysis and Cronbach's a to examine the validity of the items representing the constructs. Exploratory factor analysis (principle component analysis with varimax rotation) is employed to test the validity of the constructs. According to Hair et al. (2006), only those components with an eigenvalue greater than 1 and items with a factor loading greater than 0.4 are considered representative. All the factor loadings and eigenvalues in the current study were within the acceptable ranges.
Table 2. Results of Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis (N=457)
Research items Mean Standard deviation
Factor loading
Party trust (eigenvalue = 1.93; variance explained = 64.25%; Cronbach's o = 0.72) Websites with a good reputation can enhance its trustworthiness. Websites that maintain high online ratings can enhance its trustworthiness. Websites that obtain good rating from other businesses (ex. wholesalers) can enhance its trustworthiness.
6.2
6.0
5.8
0.71
0.75
0.82
0.79
0.84
0.77
E-certificate (eigenvalue = 1.99; variance explained = 66.28%; Cronbach's a = 0.72) Websites that are certified by the Government are trustworthy. Websites that are certified by other websites are trustworthy. Websites that obtain more than one type of certification are trustworthy.
6.0
5.7
5.8
0.93
0.84
0.82
0.77
0.86
0.81
Previous experience (eigenvalue = 2.15; variance explained = 71.66%; Cronbach's a = 0.80) My past interaction(s) with this website fulfilled my expectations. I think that I made the correct decision to use this website. The experience(s) that I had with this website were satisfactory.
5.6
5.6
5.6
0.76
0.81
0.79
0.86
0.85
0.84
Purchase intention (eigenvalue = 2.11; variance explained = 70.46%; Cronbach's a = 0.80) I would consider purchasing from this website in the future. I believe that this is my favorite online shopping website. When I need to make an online purchase, this website is my first choice.
5.8
5.5
5.6
0.76
0.86
0.89
0.79
0.89
0.84
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To enstxre the consistency of the measurement items, this research also conducted a reliability test where Cronbach's alpha was applied to test the internal consistency of the measurement scales. The Cronbach's alpha for each of the measurement constructs exceeded 0.7. Table 2 summarizes the factor analysis and reliability tests of the research constructs. Table 3 presents the correlation matrix of all variables.
Table 3. Correlation Matrix Variable
E-certificate Previous experience
Party trust Ptirchase intention
Mean
5.84 5.62 5.99 5.64
Standard deviation
0.70 0.67 0.61 0.71
1
1 0.293" 0.498" 0.158"
2
1 0.329" 0.479"
3
1 0.225"
4
1 p<0.01)
RESULTS
This research study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the interactions between e-certification, party trust, previous experience, and ptirchase intention. This research also tests the appropriateness of the research model, and shows a good model fit {y^ /df = 2.49, GFI = 0.959, AGFI = 0.934, IFI = 0.962, CFI = 0.961, and RMSEA = 0.057). All values are within a reasonable range, indicating the appropriateness of the research model (Hair et al. 2006).
The standardized path coefficients are all significant at 0.01. The e-certification-party trust (0.50, t = 7.76, p< 0.001), previous experience-party trust (0.17, t = 3.48, p<0.001), and parfy trust-purchase intention (0.19, t = 3.17, p<0.01) relationships are all significant, providing support for hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. These results suggest that e-certification and previous experience are both essential to the development of party trust. Consensus ratings in trading entities tend to foster online purchase intention. Figure 1 summarizes the interactions between the research variables.
£-certifícation
Positive Previous
Experience
(*": p<0.001)
0.50"*
~-~>>sjW7.76)
- 0 . 1 7 ' "
(t = 3.48)
Party Trnst
0.19"*
(t = 3.17)
Purchase
Intention
Fignre 1. Research Framework and SEM Outcome
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DISCUSSION
This research study applies two-step flow of communication to identify the online sources of information that are critical to form trust judgment and induee purchase intention. Developing consumer trust is a major issue to the success of e-commerce (Gefen 2000). The research results highlight the importance of consumer trust in e- commerce and confirm that trust building processes are multifaceted involving personal experiences and legitimate mechanisms. This research supplements current trust research by providing evidence of frust building mechanism in global contexts.
Comparing and confrasting the research findings with those prior studies are important to gain insight on the similarity and differences of consumer behaviors in cyberspaces. Our findings confirm the research outcome of Chinese society (Guo et al. 2010) and U.S. (Gefen 2000) and suggest that customer familiarity or past experience is an important antecedent faeilitating the development of customer trust. The research findings also conflrm the important role of social relationship in Chinese society (Guo et al 2010). On the other hand, the positive relationship between e-certificate and party frust supplements current research by highlighting the impact of legitimate mechanisms in Taiwan's e-tailing industry. Previous research have demonsfrated the influence of consensus information in developing customer trust (Benedicktus 2010). Our fmdings suggest that Chinese customers place more weights on legitimate website and products when dealing with e-commerce.
The research findings also demonsfrate that prior experience and e-certificate are indirect antecedents of purchase intention. Both factors influence customer purchase intention through party trust. Our fmdings for positive relationship between party trust and purchase intention is consistent with recent work in e-commerce (MeKnight et al. 2002; Pavlou 2003; Chen et al. 2010) and suggest that party trust is a major driving force to facilitate online fransaction in Taiwan's e-commerce context. With the preliminary framework in this study, we identify and reveal how to develop trust and stimulate online purchase in Taiwan. There are several research implications.
Research Implications
The research findings contribute to the trust theory and e-commerce literature in several ways. First, the repositioning of e-certificate and party trust sheds new light on the role of e-certificate, and contributes to a better understanding of the role of consensus information. The mediating effect of party trust on e-certificate supplements the current study of Internet security and consumer behavior by unfolding the sequential process leading to purchase intention. While third-party endorsement is essential to build website reputation, such security mechanism cannot directly induce purchase intention. In contrast, e-certificate is valuable in terms of enhancing customer trust in e-tailers. Such seeurity mechanism influences customer perception and evaluation of the trustworthiness of the e-tailer. This fmding supplements current research to the extent that this research explicitly examines the unique impact of value-added services and social factors on purchase intention. This
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finding suggests that e-tailer failing to attract additional online transactions should not predominantly be ascribed to technical issues. E-tailers may still suffer from limited hits and low transaction volumes when they invest considerable resources to pursuit third-party endorsement if the website certification does not effectively build up consumer trust. This finding also suggests that examining e-certificate alone may fail to detect the impact of digital security mechanisms on purchase intention. In sum, the value of e-certificate is realized through the party trust.
Second, the results regarding the impact of previous experience suggest the strategic importance of developing and maintaining eustomer relationships. Previous experience is considered to be an important antecedent of trust (Gefen 2000; Wu et al. 2010). Thus, constructing a positive experience is essential to enhance the overall ratings of the websites. This finding also suggests that e-tailers should endeavor to provide valuable products and services that frilfill customer needs.
Finally, this research shows that legitimate institutions and third parties serve important source of information for customers. Our findings show that consensus information regarding the website ratings is important to build online trust (Benedicktus 2010) and consequently may lead to purchase intention. This finding suggests that party trust is the key to atfracting online transactions. Online services and website certificate are valuable only when these efforts contribute to a positive website reputation. This finding supplements the two-step flow of communications by demonstrating that aggregate opinions and legitimate institutions are important means to influence the public at large. Based on the findings, e-tailers should endeavor to develop a positive online reputation that can help them to attract customers. Well- designed transaction processes, procedures, and protection mechanisms may also help to retain customers.
Limitations and Future Research
Although this study uncovers the roles of e-certificate, party trust, and previous experience in purchase intention, it remains subject to few major limitations. First, the research targets e-tailers whose popularity is restricted to the Taiwan market. Thus, the research findings are valuable for those e-tailers who are presently involved in the Taiwan market or considering entering this market, but they cannot be applied globally. Future research should test the role of party trust, e-certificate, and previous experience on purchase intention within different culture contexts. Second, this research study was restricted to participating online transactions, and did not consider either the transaction objective or the related transaction expenses. It is possible that the transaction objective or the transaction expenses may influence the perceived importance of the website reputation. These factors may also alter the interaction between e-certificate, party trust, and previous experience. In addition, the respondents were primarily in their early- to mid-twenties, which may further limit the generalizability of the research findings to other demographic groups. Therefore, future research is needed to take these factors into account. Thirdly, this research
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Study is focused on the impact of e-certification and positive previous experience on party trust only. No other factors were examined in this study. Observing trust is accumulated and developed overtime, future research is required to broaden the research scope by incorporating technological and social factors such as privacy policies or website designs to examine the driving forces of party trust. Furthermore, since e-certificate is issued by vary authorities, future research may consider conducting experiments to test group differences among e-certificate issuers. Finally, this research utilized a survey method for data collection; common method bias can result from the use of self-reported data. Future researchers should endeavor to mitigate the eommon method bias.
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Building Online Transaction Trust
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Shu-Hua Chien is a professor in the department of Insurance and Finance, National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Her research focuses on issues related to new product development performance in financial industry. Her Research has been published in The Service Industries Journal, Asia Pacific Management Review, and International Journal of Services Technology and Management.
Ying-Hueih Chen is an associate professor in the department of computer science and information management. Providence University, Taiwan. Her research focuses on E-government, IT capability, and trust issues related to e-commerce. Her research has been published in Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Journal of Business Research, CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Industrial Marketing Management, and Internet Research.
Jyh-Jeng Wu is a professor of Business Administration at National United University in Taiwan, He received his Ph.D. degree in business administration from Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University in 1997. His research focuses on issues related to marketing strategy and e-commerce. His research has been published in Global Information Technology Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Tourism Management, Journal of Business Research, Internet Research, and Behaviour & Information Technology.
20 JGITM, Vol. 16, No. 4, October 2013
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