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Salient value
similarity with
previous buyers
Trust
in e-commerce
store
Perceived store
trustworthiness
Perceived
benevolence
Perceived
benevolence
Perceived
competence
Fig. 2.2
Salient value similarity model
of a site, external information is important. According to the SVS model of trust,
people base their decisions on the judgments of others with whom they share salient
values. If we define information about the salient values of previous buyers as
external information, it follows that if potential buyers perceive that they share
salient values with previous buyers, they will trust them and consequently their
judgment of the trustworthiness of a particular e-commerce store. By definition,
previous buyers have already decided to trust an e-commerce store and have made a
purchase. If a person's salient values are very similar to those of a previous buyer,
his or her trust in, and intention to buy from, the e-commerce store also increases.
The SVS-based trust-building model we use in this study is illustrated in Fig.
2.2
.
Based on this model, trust in this study is constitutively defined as a psychological
construct comprised of perceived trustworthiness, benevolence,
integrity, and
competence.
Based on the theoretical development discussed above, we have two hypotheses
to test in this study.
H1: SVS to previous buyers increases trust in e-commerce stores.
Trust in e-commerce is a complex concept that cannot be measured with any
single indicator (McKnight
2001
; McKnight and Chervany
2002
; McKnight et al.
2002
). In this study, we take store trustworthiness, benevolence, integrity, and
competence as four indicators of trust-related variables.
In addition to manipulating SVS in our experiment, we also examine the effect
of basic attribute similarities that potential buyers may have with previous buyers.
Zucker (
1986
) argues that similarities in basic attributes, such as birthplace and
race, can produce mutual trust. It is possible that this type of trust-building process
is also at work in an e-commerce context. In this study, by attributes we mean sex
and age group. If similarity leads to greater trust in e-commerce stores, is it limited
to similarity of salient values, or does it include wider similarity of social attributes?
We must answer this question to clarify the scope of our proposed model.
There are also significant implications for marketing if SVS to previous buyers is
found to have a substantial effect on intention to buy. Although the SVS model of
trust predicts that SVS increases trust, it does not predict subsequent behavior. Even
if SVS to previous buyers increases intention to buy, with our present knowledge we
have no way of predicting whether trust acts as a mediating factor or if SVS directly
affects intention to buy. Therefore, we divide our second hypothesis, that SVS to
previous buyers increases intention to buy, into two competing corollaries: SVS
