The effects of a third-party assurance seal in consumer behavioral intention

Although e-commerce is evolving at an incredible speed, asymmetric information and opportunism have online purchasing risks and market inefficiencies. To minimize transaction risks and to encourage consumer trustworthiness on online shopping sites, many Web retailers are now using trust-building methods strategies such as third party assurance seals or certificates of e-commerce assurance for their websites. While the research on Third-Party Authorized Seals (TPAS) is not new, the effectiveness of TPAS has not been persuasively addressed by empirical studies. The results of the study show that (1) the effects of TPAS on perceived risk are channeled through perceived trustworthiness, thus demonstrating the mediating role of perceived trustworthiness in B2C E-commerce, (2) perceived risk, perceived usefulness of website, and subjective norm appear to be significant predictors of intention to purchase from the website.