How consumers perceive and experience trust in e-commerce. Literature, case study and empirical research

Abstract

The importance of consumer trust for the success of e-commerce and online transactions has been widely demonstrated by the literature on such matter. Companies that wish to conduct their business online must understand the importance of trust and how to communicate it to final consumers. The lack of consumers trust in an online vendor is one of the most recurring reasons of consumers’ avoidance to purchase on the Web. E-commerce has brought significant transformation in the expectations of both buyers and sellers and, consequently, in their relationship. The characteristics of the online environment, like the absence of physical and personal interaction, the extensive use of technology and the underlying uncertainty, make the establishment of consumer trust a really difficult and intricate process. Its development is a real challenge for online companies, which, nonetheless, need to learn how to manage trust and how to communicate trustworthiness if they want to stay competitive. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore the concept of consumer trust in e-commerce, investigating the contributions made by the literature and providing further conceptualization. In particular, we want to affirm that trust is something necessary to get people buying online and feeling safe in e-commerce, where transactions and interactions happen through a technological device on the Internet. Therefore, we will analyze the definitions and the antecedents of trust in e-commerce, by adopting a model which, then, will be further adjusted. Furthermore, a real case study of how consumer trust is managed by an online retail company is presented. Finally, a survey has been run to prove the validity of some findings highlighted in this dissertation and to provide a personal contribution and possible suggestions to the online company presented. In Chapter 1, a presentation of the Internet and the e-commerce phenomenon, together with some statistics, is given. Chapter 2, deals with the core subject of this dissertation, exploring the notion of consumer trust and its antecedents. Chapter 3 deals with a real case study, analyzing an online retail company, its issues in dealing with consumer trust and its future orientations with respect to this core subject. The empirical part is then contained in Chapter 4, discussing the results of the survey and their application to a possible conclusion. Finally, personal conclusions together with a bibliography, a sitography and an appendix will complete this dissertation.