Initial trust and the adoption of B2C e-commerce

Abstract

A possible reason for the delayed acceptance of the Internet as a retail distribution channel may be the lack of trust consumers have in the electronic channel and in the Web merchants. Few prior studies on the adoption of business-to-consumer e-commerce have considered trust in information technology as an important determinant of adoption behavior. This research explicitly encompasses the electronic channel and the merchant as objects to be trusted in a specific e-commerce application, i.e. Internet banking.Our conceptual model posits that initial trust in the electronic channel as a banking medium and trust in bank are the major determinants of adoption behavior. Based on social network theory and trust theory, determinants of trust in the electronic channel such as propensity-to-trust, word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals, structural assurances, are included in the research model.The analyses of independent variables indicated that propensity-to-trust, structural assurances, and relational content of WOM were significant predictors of initial trust in the electronic channel. Our findings also indicated that a significant relationship exists between initial trust in the electronic channel and the adoption of Internet banking. However, further analysis revealed that trust could be a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the adoption of Internet banking.