Consumer Perception of Electronic Commerce – Incorporating Trust and Risk with the Technology Acceptance Model

The rapid growth in internet technology and the innovations in smart devices has had its impact on how businesses used to operate a decade ago to how consumers followed traditional shopping behavior when goods or services was required. The rise in internet users presents the opportunity of Electronic Commerce, the idea of providing and accessing goods and services using internet, such as selling goods and services, performing financial transactions and even booking an appointment. The two leading theories - perceived ease of use and usefulness have been employed in numerous information systems research studies to help understand consumer behavior in e-commerce environments. As the acceptance of e-commerce in Fiji is relatively low, this paper integrates the findings of previous researches with the perceived trust and perceived risk of consumers to provide a comprehensive framework of online shopping behavior based on the Technology Acceptance Model. To gain an in-depth understanding of consumers’ acceptance of e-commerce an online questionnaire was used with questions which focused on these disciplines. The outcome of which verified that there were correlations between trust, perceived risk, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and usage of e-commerce. Through the use of this research, businesses in Fiji may incorporate features as per user expectations and have a good background before venturing into e-commerce

A study of the significant factors affecting trust in electronic commerce

E-commerce is the process of buying and selling products and services on the internet. This type of transaction is such that customers are able to see the virtual appearance through images, technical information, and video clips of products/services, but cannot obtain the actual experience of face-to-face touch, smell, and visualization. Such virtual experience coupled with the absence of a seller may create a sense of unreliability and vulnerability in the minds of the customers. Moreover, due to the nature of the internet, users are being susceptible to online frauds arising out of the activities of unscrupulous third parties. All these affect the trust of customers in online transactions and thereby affect online purchase decisions. A number of studies have been conducted to identify the factors that affect trust in e- commerce. However, none of these studies have been able to provide a comprehensive list of the factors that affect trust. Moreover, some of the studies had problems relating to use of inappropriate sampling techniques and using student samples and hence, raising issues of representativeness and affecting generalizability of the findings. Some studies also had also problems relating to the statistical techniques being used to analyze the data. Considering these limitations, the present study is undertaken. This present study is complementary to previous studies and aims at answering the following questions: How do we measure trust in online transactions? What are the factors that affect trust in e- commerce? How do the factors affecting trust relate and inter-relate to each other? To answer these questions, a review of the existing literature on factors affecting trust is conducted. This enables to develop the theoretical framework of the study having a number of hypotheses culminating in the development of a model for trust in e- commerce. For the study, a normative survey technique was used. An online questionnaire made it possible to enumerate 789 respondents, responses of 703 were usable. The data collected was screened and pre-tested to see whether they qualify for multivariate data analysis. Once this was ensured, statistical techniques such as exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) were applied to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study show that the factors directly affecting trust in e-commerce are market orientation, perceived security and technological trustworthiness, and relational benefit. Moreover, the findings show that user interface quality affects relational benefit. The two factors, 'importance of websites' reputation' and 'social presence' affect trust indirectly with perceived security and technological trustworthiness playing the mediating role. Another factor, 'perceived product and service information quality’ proved to have no relationship with relational benefit. The analysis of the results explaining the inter-relationships led to the confirmation of the model for trust in e-commerce. This model was further tested across samples with differing web experience, age, gender, and income. There were no significant differences in the parameter estimates of the relationships in the model. This indicates that the model is generalizable across different populations. In conclusion, the research has certain contributions to existing knowledge. These include - The development of a comprehensive model explaining the dependence and interdependence of the factors affecting trust in e-commerce. Understanding of trust in e-commerce as a multi-dimensional construct consisting of four dimensions― ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability. Understanding the role of the direct and indirect influence of the factors affecting trust that led to reduction in risk perceptions. Additionally, the research contributes to certain managerial and business practices. Online businesses need to develop their websites to enable convenience in navigation by improving layout and design features of the websites. Moreover, to cater to the tastes and preferences of customers, e-commerce websites need to provide products and service desired suitable by customers. To attract customers, a sense of warmth and human touch need to be introduced in the websites. Coupled with this, there is the need to improve security features and privacy issues

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts. Crown Copyright © 2014.PIAP-GA-2008-230658) from the European Union Framework Program and another grant (NPRP 09-1023-5-158) from the Qatar National Research Fund (amember of Qatar Foundation

The Impact Of Technology Trust On The Acceptance Of Mobile Banking Technology Within Nigeria

With advancement in the use of information technology seen as a key factor in economic development, developed countries are increasingly reviewing traditional systems, in various sectors such as education, health, transport and finance, and identifying how they may be improved or replaced with automated systems. In this study, the authors examine the role of technology trust in the acceptance of mobile banking in Nigeria as the country attempts to transition into a cashless economy. For Nigeria, like many other countries, its economic growth is linked, at least in part, to its improvement in information technology infrastructure, as well as establishing secure, convenient and reliable payments systems. Utilising the Technology Acceptance Model, this study investigates causal relationships between technology trust and other factors influencing user’s intention to adopt technology; focusing on the impact of seven factors contributing to technology trust. Data from 1725 respondents was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and the results showed that confidentiality, integrity, authentication, access control, best business practices and non-repudiation significantly influenced technology trust. Technology trust showed a direct significant influence on perceived ease of use and usefulness, a direct influence on intention to use as well as an indirect influence on intention to use through its impact on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness showed significant influence on consumer’s intention to adopt the technology. With mobile banking being a key driver of Nigeria’s cashless economy goals, this study provides quantitative knowledge regarding technology trust and adoption behaviour in Nigeria as well as significant insight on areas where policy makers and mobile banking vendors can focus strategies engineered to improve trust in mobile banking and increase user adoption of their technology

Generating citizen trust in e-government using a trust verification agent: A research note

Generating Citizen Trust in e-Government using a Trust Verification AgentThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern about the extent to which trust issues inhibit a citizen’s take-up of online public sector services or engagement with public decision and policy making. A citizen’s decision to use online systems is influenced by their willingness to trust the environment and agency involved. This project addresses one aspect of individual “trust” decisions by providing support for citizens trying to evaluate the implications of the security infrastructure provided by the agency. Based on studies of the way both groups (citizens and agencies) express their concerns and concepts in the security area, the project will develop a software tool – a trust verification agent (TVA) - that can take an agency’s security statements (or security audit) and infer how effectively this meets the security concerns of a particular citizen. This will enable citizens to state their concerns and obtain an evaluation of the agency’s provision in appropriate “citizen friendly” language. Further, by employing rule-based expert systems techniques the TVA will also be able to explain its evaluation.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK (grant GR/T27020/01