The Importance of Trust and Risk in M-Commerce: A South African Perspective

Despite the hype associated with m-commerce and the massive revenue predictions by research companies, current adoption figures by consumers seem to demonstrate a lack of enthusiasm for more advanced services. A key reason cited in the literature is a lack of trust. M-commerce transactions are often characterised by complex technology, anonymous vendors, lack of transparency and convoluted interactions between stakeholders. Trust becomes more important in situations of increased uncertainty, such as m-commerce. This research investigates a model that incorporates trust and risk factors to explore adoption of Mcommerce. The model is based on the existing trust literature, but complemented with variables that relate to the benefits of mobile technologies, namely Innovation Diffusion characteristics. A survey approach was used to investigate the statistical relevance and importance of trust and risk issues within a population of potential ‘early adopters’, using research models suggested in the academic literature. The study provides several interesting findings. The study determined that personal characteristics significantly influence the perceived trustworthiness of the vendor, technology and the institutional framework. It was further established that trust and risk influence intention to use Mcommerce services. However, amongst early adopters, benefits were more important than both trust and perceived risks.