Customers E-trust for Online Retailers: A Case in China

Abstract

Online retailers are facing increasing competitions, thus, it is very important for them to attract and retain online customers. However, many factors can affect customer trust in online retailing (E-satisfaction) environment. This paper investigates the factors and their impacts on customer E-trust in online retail (B to C, C to C) in China. Based on the literature review and an exploratory study with 50 online customers, we identified a number of key factors that potentially impact on customer E-trust and proposed a conceptual model for E-trust. This model was used to examine how the factors in B to C and C to C e-retailing context influence E-trust. A large scale survey was conducted with 387 online customers. The analytical results demonstrated that customer perceived reputation has a direct positive influence on E-trust while customer perceived security impacts E-trust indirectly through customers' perceived reputation.