Factors Influencing the Adoption of Web-Based Shopping: The Impact of Trust

Business-to-consumer electronic commerce (e- commerce), one form of which is Web-based shopping, is defined as electronic-based economic transactions conducted between individual consumers and organizations. While this form of e- commerce is forecast to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future, it still represents only a small fraction of total consumer spending. To better take advantage of and be prepared for this economic phenomenon, organizations need to identify and understand factors that may impact consumers’ decisions to engage in Web-based e-commerce. Recently, the importance of trust has been discussed in both the academic and practitioner press. The impact of trust on the use of e-commerce has been established empirically. The research reported here builds on those findings by establishing that not only is trust in Web merchants significantly related to purchase intentions via the Web, but this significance holds even when other, more traditional perceptions are considered. A survey of consumers was conducted and results indicate that trust in Web merchants is positively related to intentions to make purchases from Web merchants, even when the impact of other perceived innovation characteristics are considered. The research also contributes to the literature on technology adoption by verifying the impact of perceived innovation characteristics on adoption intentions.