فرهنگ ملی و اعتماد مصرف کننده به تجارت الکترونیک
Highlights
Abstract
Keywords
1. Introduction
2. National culture and consumer trust
3. Model development
4. Methodology
5. Results
6. Discussion and conclusion
Appendix A. Constructs, measurement items and standardized regression weights.
References
Abstract
This study uses Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory to explain variance in consumer trust in e-commerce. We model trust as a combination of a consumer’s disposition to trust and context specific trustworthiness of an online store. The study hypothesizes direct effects of national cultural dimensions on disposition to trust, and of disposition to trust on dimensions of trustworthiness. We also examine whether and how disposition to trust mediates the effects between national culture and trustworthiness of an online store. We test the hypotheses with a sample of 616 online bookstore customers from China and Finland, countries that represent opposite cultural poles in many respects. We find that national culture solely explain 23% of the variance in the consumer’s general disposition to trust, and that disposition to trust is a highly significant predictor of the perceived trustworthiness of an online store. We further find that the mediating role of disposition to trust between national culture and trustworthiness depends greatly on the individual cultural dimension studied.
1. Introduction
Trust in the online environment has gained wide interest in research along with the increase in online transactions and electronic commerce becoming more popular. Lack of trust is a major barrier in the adoption of e-commerce (Chang, Cheung, & Tang, 2013) and concerns about an online store’s trustworthiness are among the most important factors distinguishing online buyers from non-buyers (Kim & Park, 2013). Trust, on the other hand, is found to drive the adoption of information and communication technologies across countries (Kirs & Bagchi, 2012). Indeed, e-commerce has internationalized, and buying products online across national borders has become straightforward and convenient for consumers, providing new business opportunities for both domestic and international online stores. Some consumers shop actively online, but others do not, and consequently managers and academics alike are interested in better understanding the underlying factors between these differences. The influence of an individual’s personality on their adoption of e-commerce in addition to disclosing private information online has recently received growing academic interest (e.g. Bansal, Zahedi, & Gefen, 2016). Trust particularly plays a crucial role in e-commerce, because individuals show different levels of trust towards e-commerce, but individuals between national cultures also vary in their overall level of trust (World Values Survey, 1981–2014). Consequently, the current study integrates the theory of national culture with the research conducted on online trust, in order to explore how dimensions of national culture influence consumers’ beliefs of online store’s trustworthiness.