A Unified Model of Trust in E-commerce Relationship Development

Online trust is one of the key obstacles to vendors succeeding on the Internet medium; a lack of trust is likely to discourage online consumers from participating in e-commerce. Previous study most have investigated only a component of e-commerce (e.g., initial adoption or continuance), but neglected the role of good relations with the consumer in ensuring a successful sustained relationship. Therefore, a model that went beyond intention and included key relational concepts (satisfaction, loyalty, etc.) was developed. Trust and its components are a major part of this model, which was based on strong theoretical foundations. Ten hypotheses were formulated. Data on the constructs were collected from 350 respondents and analyzed using lisrel 8.7 to test model validity and the hypotheses. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.