A trust-based consumer decision-making model in electronic commerce: The role of trust, perceived risk, and their antecedents

This paper develops a theoretical framework describing the trust-based decision-making process a consumer uses when making a purchase from a given website, focusing on the roles of trust, perceived risk, and their antecedents. The authors test the proposed model using a structural equation modeling technique on Internet consumer purchasing behavior data collected through a web survey, and then consider the implications of the results.

The study finds that Internet consumers' trust and perceived risk have strong impacts on their purchasing decisions. Disposition to trust, reputation, privacy concerns, security concerns, website information quality, and the company's reputation all strongly affect trust in a website, while, notably, the presence of a third-party seal did not strongly influence consumer trust. These findings mattered for understanding and designing trustworthy e-commerce experiences.