An overview of online trust: Concepts, elements, and implications
Section snippets
Introduction and background
The phenomenal growth in the number of Internet users and the enormous potential of electronic commerce (e-commerce) via the Internet have attracted merchants to conduct their businesses online. The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce reported that the estimate of US retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2002 was $11.061 billion, an increase of 34.3% from the third quarter of 2001.1 However, while
The difficulty of defining trust
Trust, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (1971), is defined as “confidence in or reliance on some quality or attribute of a person or thing, or the truth of a statement” (p. 3423). Trust has existed as long as the history of human beings and the existence of human social interactions. Almost every aspect of a person’s life is based on some form of trust. Undoubtedly, trust is positive and vital to humanity since it is part of love and friendship, and meaningful relationships depend
Characteristics of online trust
Online trust shares similar characteristics to those of offline trust, but there are some important distinctions that are unique in an online environment. These distinctions can serve as starting points for seeking a deeper understanding of the nature of trust in an online context. The characteristics of online trust can be described as follows:
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Trustor and trustee. The two parties, trustor and trustee, are still vital for establishing a trusting relationship in the online world, but they imply
Build online trust by web interface design
Based on the accumulated knowledge and understanding of the elements of online trust in the previous section, online merchants can take many managerial measures to build and enhance merchant–customer relationships before, during, and/or after any online transaction, which can increase consumers’ trust. While those managerial measures might be useful in retaining loyal customers, online merchants need more efficient ways to convey their trustworthiness to first-time visitors and to transform
Conclusion and future directions
Lack of trust has been repeatedly identified as one of the most formidable barriers to people for engaging in e-commerce, involving the disclosure of financial and personal information to online merchants (Hoffman, Novak, & Peralta, 1999). The future of e-commerce is tenuous without a general climate of online trust. Hence, building and sustaining consumer trust on the Internet present a considerable challenge for online merchants and is a research topic of increasing interest and importance.
Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the assistance of Mary Madden, Pew Internet and American Life Project, who clarified our interpretation of the survey data and who improved our presentation of that material.
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