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

This research examines the constructs of high and low trust on consumers’ behavior with online shopping. The authors developed a research model and instrument to study the trust construct in the acceptance online shopping applications. The authors hypothesized that trust positively influences a person’s intention to purchase from a virtual store and that trust positively affects the consumer’s attitude toward using the e-store. Consumers who trust an online company feel more committed to it. Previous research showed that the causal antecedents of customer confidence in e-tailers included the site’s ease of use, the level of online shopping resources, and existence of a trusted third party seal. The authors developed a survey instrument where in a sample of 940 respondents the constructs yielded respectable reliability and construct validity. The authors conducted analysis for the measurement reliability and validity by Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients and confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 21. The measurement scales for this instrument showed strong psychometric properties. Average Variance Extracted (AVE) was extracted for assessing convergent and discriminant validity showing strong support for the research model. The causal structure of the research models was tested using a Structural Equation Model (SEM). The authors found that intrinsic motivation was more important for attitude toward online purchasing among high truster persons, and under low institution environments, people tended to form positive attitudes mainly based on preserved usefulness without intrinsic motivation. The authors found that attitude toward using acts as a strong predictor of behavioral intention to use and actual usage of online shopping technologies. According to the authors’ results, trust provides the foundation with which intrinsic motivation will work well. In other words, trust may have long-term effects on online shopping behavior. An Examination of Consumers’ High and Low Trust as Constructs for Predicting Online Shopping Behavior