Making it Personal: How Personalization Affects Trust Over Time

The over-arching purpose of this research is to broaden the study of trust as it applies to developing stable relationships in electronic environments. In contrast, previous research on trust has not progressed to looking at trust through its incremental development. This may be because methods are difficult to develop that study process models and concepts are difficult to operationalize that influence the incremental progression of variables. Exploring previous empirical research, antecedents emerge that enhance initial perceptions of trust, which possibly influence the progression of trust to deeper levels. More conceptual work identifies antecedents that swiftly cultivate trust, allowing for stable relationships to develop more quickly. One antecedent, personalization, has emerged as a popular technique to identify with consumers and is utilized and many popular electronic commerce websites. This research looks the effects of personalization on consumer’s trusting beliefs.