An Examination of Consumers’ High and Low Trust as Constructs for Predicting Online Shopping Behavior

Introduction

In this research, we examine the constructs of trust with respect to online shopping. Specifically, we looked at high and low trust characteristics in respondents to ascertain online shopping application acceptance. This research is based upon the earlier work of Amoroso and Hunsinger (2009) who validated a model to better understand the factors that are most important in predicting consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase using the Internet. Their research expands the original Technology Acceptance Model by incorporating additional constructs such as trust, privacy, perceived risk, expectations of Internet information and Web site quality, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty. The findings suggest that our expanded model serves as a very good predictor of consumers’ online purchasing behaviors.

Black (2005) investigated whether various factors influence consumer willingness to make online purchases. This study was conducted using regression analysis of 3,386 eBay transactions over a two-year period. The study introduced nine hypotheses evaluating whether such factors as economic and geographic factors, along with trust, responsiveness, and attitude toward using, had an impact on behavioral intention to use and was found to have an effect on consumer willingness to make online purchases.

Amoroso and Hunsinger (2009) developed a model to better understand the factors that are most important in predicting consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase over the Internet. This research incorperated constructs such as trust, privacy, perceived risk, expectations of Internet information and Web site quality, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty (see Figure 1). In the study, 1,850 consumers in the United States and Australia were surveyed using an instrument that yielded respectable reliability and validity. The findings suggested that the expanded model served as a good predictor of consumers’ online purchasing behaviors. The linear regression models showed a substantial amount of variance explained for behavioral intention (R²=.637). This research showed significant relationships with factors including inertia, convenience, perceived value, and e-loyalty, all influencing the e-satisfaction construct with respect to the online shopping application.

Figure 1.

Online shopping research model (Amoroso & Hunsinger, 2009)

The purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to develop a research model and related research questions that may explain the factors of adoption as it relates to trust as a construct, (2) to study the antecedents of trust to understand the relationships, specifically with respect to intrinsic motivationa and online shopping satisfaction.

The value of this research is that it provides an analysis of the trust constuct in the adoption and utilization of a single application, online shopping. We were interested in which specific factors were important to influence the use of that application, and ultimately the decisions and future planning resulting from such an analysis. From a consumer perspective, it is important to ascertain the specification of consumer factors related to a common application, such as online shopping. This research provides an empirical validation into which factors related to high trust and low trust consumer behavior.

Literature Review

Based upon an extensive review of the literature, we have proposed a conceptual model (see Figure 2) for discussion and organization of our literature review.

Figure 2.

Initial conceptual model