Characteristics of Trustees and Trustors Affecting Consumer Trust in Online Purchasing

In e-commerce, trust is a critical success factor influencing the acceptance of online purchasing. Online shopping involves both online sellers and buyers, and their characteristics are important in determining the success of internet-based businesses. Purchase intention behavior of consumers is greatly affected by trust and therefore examining characteristics of trustors and trustees influencing consumer trust is needed. In this study, measurements of consumer trust include both a trusting party (trustor) and a party to be trusted (trustee). The characteristics of trustees are measured based on perceive reputation; perceive size, and system assurance of online sellers, while characteristic of trustors (online consumers) is determined by propensity to trust. Self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect 250 (83% response rate) completed questionnaire from business students of a public university in Malaysia. In online purchasing, perceived reputation and system assurance of trustees and propensity to trust of trustors positively and significantly affected consumer trust. Perceives reputation exerted higher effect on consumer trust, highlighting how consumer perceived credibility and reputation of online sellers is vital in forming trust-related behavior in online shopping. Perceived size of online sellers business was found to have a negative and insignificant effect on consumer trust. Purchase intention of consumers was significantly and positively affected by their trust towards the online purchasing. Theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed.