Title: Online trust and the importance of interaction

Authors: Panagiota Papadopoulou; Panagiotis Kanellis

Addresses: Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, 15784, Athens, Greece ' Advanced Information Services, 10-12, Aristeidou str., 10559, Athens, Greece

Abstract: Studies show that customers abandon transactions within an online store as they lack trust to proceed to the next interaction stage. Understanding how trust is built during an interaction, as it progresses in stages, is critical for facilitating online vendors in their effort to retain or enlarge their customer-base. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between customer interaction stages and trust in terms of distinct beliefs in an online vendor. We analyse customer interaction into three discrete stages and empirically examine the effect of each stage on trusting beliefs. Our findings show that each interaction stage has a different trust-building effect influencing a specific trusting belief. The study makes an additional contribution to the field by examining the e-vendor's reputation and the customer satisfaction from the interaction as antecedents of each trusting belief. Theoretical implications and practical considerations for building trust are presented.

Keywords: trust; trust in online vendor; trusting beliefs; trust building; e-commerce; electronic commerce; e-commerce interaction; customer promise fulfilment; online vendor; online consumer behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2018.099849

International Journal of Technology Marketing, 2018 Vol.13 No.1, pp.21 - 50

Accepted: 09 Oct 2017
Published online: 24 May 2019 *

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