Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Literature review
3. Hypothesis development
4. Study 1: methodology
5. Study 1: results
6. Study 2: methodology
7. Study 2: results
8. Discussion
9. Limitations and future research directions
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Trust transfer studies
Appendix B. Instrument items
References
Abstract
This study attempted to explore the boundary conditions of trust transfer in the online-to-offline commerce context, which is overlooked in prior research. In Study 1, cross-sectional data were collected from 417 consumers to examine the research model. In Study 2, to confirm causality of trust transfer, longitudinal data were collected and analyzed using a cross-lagged panel model. Results indicated that trust in the intermediary platform positively influences trust in the user community, which further positively influences trust in the focal merchant. Perceived effectiveness of dispute resolution strengthens the impact of trust in the intermediary platform on trust in the focal merchant, while perceived effectiveness of the feedback mechanisms strengthens the impact of trust in the user community on trust in the focal merchant. From a theoretical perspective, this study extends insights into trust transfer theory by identifying the boundary conditions of trust transfer. From a practical perspective, it informs intermediary platforms on how to manage dispute resolution and feedback mechanisms effectively to succeed in online-to-offline commerce. It also helps merchants in selecting the most effective intermediary platforms with which to cooperate.
Introduction
In recent years, online-to-offline commerce increased rapidly due to the development of mobile technologies (Xu, 2017). Online-to-offline commerce refers to “the use of online channels to drive offline sales and redemption, or offline purchasing propelled by the web” (Fitzgerald, 2012). Online-to-offline commerce platforms are popular across many countries, such as productreview.com in Australia, openrice.com in Hong Kong SAR, and dianping.com in China (He, Cheng, Dong, & Wang, 2016; Phang, Tan, Sutanto, Magagna, & Lu, 2014). Online-tooffline commerce is seen as an extension of the business-to-consumer (B2C) e-business model, which gives priority to localized life service products, such as catering, fitness, tickets, beauty salons, and car rentals (He et al., 2016; Hwang & Kim, 2018). Since emerging in the e-marketplace, this particular form of e-commerce has been warmly embraced by numerous merchants providing service products, especially small-sized merchants who are unable to provide multi-channel promotion because of financial restrictions (Xiao, Guo, & D’Ambra, 2018). In Korea, the dominant mobile instant message service applications of KakaoTalk and Line have launched online-to-offline services on their mobile platforms (Hwang & Kim, 2018).