Trust in B2C E-Commerce: The New Zealand Maori Internet Shopper

Abstract

This chapter aims to report what issues of trust apply to the Mäori Internet shopper. Mäori arrived in New Zealand from the Pacific about a thousand years ago, and have since become a minority in New Zealand (Belich, 1996). Although it is difficult in defining an ethnic group, the definition of Mäori includes “all those who identify themselves as belonging to the New Zealand Mäori ethnic group, either alone or in combination with any other ethnic group” (Statistics New Zealand, 1998, p. 94). Their culture, language and values have become secondary to those of the dominant European culture (Liu, Wilson, McClure & Higgins, 1999). This chapter will also help the reader to understand trust and Internet shopping from a Maori New Zealander’s perspective. As a result, this chapter will reveal the key trust issues for Mäori that either hinder or assist them to purchase via the Internet.