Title: Trust factors influencing the intention of Saudi consumers to purchase online

Authors: Fai Alnassar; Monira Aloud

Addresses: Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia ' Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Managing consumer trust, satisfaction, perceived service quality, and loyalty attitudes in an e-commerce setting are significant for the long-term growth of e-commerce. Previous research shows that trust plays a critical role in shaping consumers' intention to purchase online. Saudi Arabia is an attractive market for the development of e-commerce and is growing fast. Therefore, this study aims to examine the main trust factors influencing the Saudi consumers' intention to purchase online by considering three trust dimensions. A conceptual framework is created, and hypotheses are developed to study the initial level of trust. The model is tested using 866 valid responses. The results show that four proposed sources - consumer characteristics, firm characteristics, website infrastructure, and experience - all have significant effects on the consumer trust dimensions (competence, benevolence and integrity). Results imply that consumers with high overall trust show a higher intention to purchase online.

Keywords: trust; e-commerce; competence; integrity; benevolence; intention to purchase; antecedents; consumer; Saudi Arabia; likability; reputation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2021.117267

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2021 Vol.15 No.5, pp.545 - 580

Received: 26 Oct 2019
Accepted: 20 Nov 2019
Published online: 31 Aug 2021 *

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