Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
that are necessary for successful e-commerce
activities.
We begin this article with a brief background
discussion of Internet assurance providers, market
signaling, and TPO credibility. The conceptual
framework and hypotheses sections precede a
discussion of the research methodology and the
measures. The article concludes with the results of
data analysis and a discussion of the findings.
hood of online purchases and trusting attitudes
(Houston & Taylor, 1999; Kovar et al., 2000;
Mauldin & Arunachalam, 2001). However, only
a few studies examine user perceptions of Web
seals. Lala, et al. (2002) find that respondents prefer
WebTrust compared to BBB On-line, and Odom,
et al. (2002) examine how the brand awareness
of Verisign, TRUSTe, Good Housekeeping, and
WebTrust relates to purchase intentions. It is not
our objective to evaluate individual TPOs but
rather to identify the mechanisms by which they
convey trust in the electronic marketplace.
Four of the more prominent assurance pro-
viders are included in this study: BBB OnLine,
TRUSTe, WebTrust, and Verisign. We focus on
the relationships between the perceived credibility
of the TPO (Better Business Bureau, TRUSTe,
American Institute of Certified Public Accoun-
tants, and Verisign) and user value perceptions
and purchase risk perceptions. Moreover, we
identify the influence of these variables on trust-
ing attitudes and intent to purchase.
baCkground
web assurance providers
E-commerce assurance services created in the
1990s address issues of privacy and trust related
to online transactions. Internet users indicate that
a main concern with e-commerce transactions
is related to security (Crowell, 2001; Hoffman
et al., 1999; Urban, Sultan, & Qualls, 2000).
Security and privacy issues continue to hinder
electronic transactions, thus promoting a stream
of IS research investigating the operationalization
of trust in the electronic environment (Shankar
et al., 2002).
TPOs (e.g., Better Business Bureau, American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Elec-
tronic Frontier Foundation) address user security
concerns by providing assurance services to
online businesses. Their goal is to promote trust-
ing attitudes that allow electronic transactions
to proceed unhindered. E-retailers that display a
TPO's Web assurance seal signal to the consumer
certain affirmations such as legitimacy, security
of transactions, privacy, and integrity. Research
shows that Web seals promote feelings of security
and trust (Houston & Taylor, 1999; Schneider-
man, 2000; Palmer, Bailey, & Faraj, 2000) and
influence users' intents to purchase online (Kovar
et al., 2000; Mauldin & Arunachalam, 2001;
Wakefield, 2001).
Empirical research also relates the positive
effects of third-party certification to the likeli-
market signaling
The information economics approach to the ef-
fects of information in a market channel is based
on the different parties being privy to disparate
amounts of information related to the transaction.
Specifically, “when one party lacks information
that the other party has, the first party may make
inferences from the information provided by the
second party, and this inference formation should
play a role in the information the second party
chooses to provide” (Kirmani & Rao, 2000, p. 66).
Disparity in information levels has been shown
to exist in a variety of settings (Rothschild & Sti-
glitz, 1976; Spence, 1973), including organization
buyers' uncertainties regarding vendor abilities
(Stump & Heide, 1996). Information disparity in e-
commerce encourages the use of institution-based
assurances, because they are a signal to the user
of legitimacy and trustworthiness. Firms often
employ signals, “which are actions that parties
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