The Impact of Multi-dimensional Trust for Customer Satisfaction

  • Choi, Jae-Won (Techno-Management Research Institute, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KAIST Business School) ;
  • Sohn, Chang-Soo (Department of Business Computer Information Systems, G.R.Herberger College of Business, Saint Cloud State University) ;
  • Lee, Hong-Joo (Department of Business Administration, The Catholic University of Korea)
  • Received : 2008.03.15
  • Accepted : 2009.12.20
  • Published : 2010.09.30

Abstract

Trust is one of the most important aspects of the relationship between retailers and consumers in e-commerce. Users may have concerns about transaction security or personal information leakage when they engage in transactions over the Internet. It can be difficult to attract customers if the retailers or service providers cannot establish trust with their customers. There have been many studies of trust-building mechanisms between customers and e-storefronts. However, little work has been done on identifying the relationships between customer satisfaction, purchase intention, and trust. In addition, trust building occurs in the pre- and post-purchase phases of an e-commerce transaction, as well as gradually over repeated transactions. Thus we distinguish between cue-based trust and experience-based trust. The objective of this study was to explain the impact of trust on customer satisfaction and purchase intention in relation to e-commerce sites from the perspective of a multi-dimensional concept of trust. We surveyed 350 undergraduate students and obtained 331 responses for analysis. The result of our analysis showed that cue-based trust has a positive relationship with trust based on experience. Although the two concepts of trust have positive relationships with satisfaction, the path coefficient of trust based on experience was higher than that of cue-based trust. In addition, the purchase intention mediates the relationship between cue-based trust and experience-based trust.

Keywords

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