تاثیر اطمینان در بازار ارز الکترونیکی The role of trust in e-commerce relational exchange: A unified model

Abstract: Recently, studies of B2C e-commerce have used intention theory to understand the role of trust of Internet transactions but most have investigated only a component of e-commerce (e.g., initial adoption or continuance) and 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, value, loyalty, etc.) was developed. Trust and its components are a major part of this model, which was based on strong theoretical foundations. Fifteen hypotheses were formulated. Data on the constructs were collected from 420 respondents and analyzed using elliptical re-weighted least squares as the estimation method to test model validity and the hypotheses. An additional relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty was investigated. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed. Keywords: e-Commerce, Trust, Exchange relationship, TAM, Satisfaction, Value, Loyalty Article: 1. Introduction According to Gartner’s survey [ 11] of 4770 Internet users across 18 countries, three regions, three educational levels, and three income levels, most people use the Internet only for email and search, while online banking ranks third. Moreover, sales of online retailers were only 2.2% of total goods sold in the U.S. in 2005 [25]. Analysts have predicted that even by 2011, online e-commerce sales would account for only 7%. Thus, the Internet is far from achieving its potential due to reluctance of consumers to engage in its use. Lack of trust is the important deterrent. It is one of the fundamental requirements for establishing online exchange relationships. Since its medium of transaction is a web site, the consumer’s perception of technology also affects its use: the web site is an IT application. Prior studies, however, have not examined the impact of trust, technology attributes, and intentions on customer relationship development. In order to develop and maintain loyal customers, e-commerce companies must build good relationships with their consumers for longterm mutual benefit. Therefore, a unified model was developed to aid in understanding trust in the context of Internet enabled exchange relationships with consumers. 2. Theoretical background 2.1. Technology acceptance TAM [6] assumed that system use was determined by behavioral intention (BI) to use it; this in turn was influenced by users’ attitude (A), which was directly affected by beliefs about the system: perceived usefulness (U) and perceived ease of use (EOU). An additional relationship from U to BI assumed that intention was based on expected improvement in performance, regardless of attitude, and that EOU would influence U. 2.2. Trust and electronic commerce Trust is crucial for any long-term business relationship. It is critical wherever risk, uncertainty and/or interdependence exist, as it mitigates risk. Web vendors are interested in building exchange relationships with consumers. Important precursors for the continuation of exchange relationships are consumer’s beliefs and intentions related to trust in the web vendor. Such beliefs depend on the level of risk perceived by consumers as well as their perceived level of control on the information that they must exchange with the web vendor. TRA [8] was a precursor to much of the behavioral work acceptance of various technologies and thus on ecommerce; it held that customers were rational; thus they were affected by their perception of trust in a vendor. Therefore consumers share personal and sensitive information with a web vendor only when they trust aspects of the site. Further, benevolence, integrity and competence become important in establishing trust. 2.3. Relationship development Participating in an e-commerce relationship results in some customer dependence on the web vendor for products and services. While web site usefulness and EOU promote intention to use and actual use, trust mechanisms help people cope with risks in some types of relationships, which may be transactional (short-term) or relational (long-term) and depend on their degree, for example, shallow vs. deep dependence [9,22]. While shallow dependence is founded on deterrence-based mechanisms, deep dependence involves obligation-type mechanisms. Many factors have been discussed about these relationships to e-commerce: value, equity, commitment satisfaction, loyalty, and word of mouth. Value is a consumer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product or service based on perceptions of what is received versus what is given. It is considered to be a higher level abstraction than specific benefits and costs [4,16] and is a precursor to loyalty and commitment [1]. Equity results from satisfaction with a well-defined service. Indeed, user satisfaction has been seen in as a surrogate for system success. The marketing literature is replete with examples of this in studies of buyer–seller relationships and relational exchange. Satisfaction in ecommerce involves customer satisfaction with the entire experience: user information satisfaction and end-user computing satisfaction. Customer satisfaction thus refers to the customer’s perception of the transaction experience as a whole, and is the affective response to experience with the vendor and its site. Commitment is a customer’s psychological attachment to a vendor [3] or “an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity” [۱۸]. Luarn and Lin [ 16] tested a model in which satisfaction and value were antecedents to commitment, and it was an antecedent to loyalty, which is generally considered to be the dependent variable in marketing research. Several authors have investigated loyalty in e-commerce [10]. An important consequent of loyalty is word-of-mouth [5], where customers recommend the vendor to others. Organizations strive for customer loyalty, because strong loyalty can help them weather fierce competition and sustain long-term growth. In addition, there are other factors such as: dependence, cooperation, acquiescence, identity salience, and continuity. 3. Conceptual development In our view, an integrated model is needed to combine both antecedents and consequents. Below, we propose and evaluate a unified model for e-commerce relational exchange (Fig. 1). It was based on four important research streams: TAM, theories on trust and relational dependence, and the integration of these via TRA. In developing the model, we kept it parsimonious: therefore, only the most important variables were retained