Consumer Trust in an Internet Store: A Cross-Cultural Validation

TLDR

Trust is widely considered essential for online purchases, yet most evidence comes from U.S. consumers, raising questions about its cross‑cultural robustness and how cultural differences shape trust antecedents. The study aims to validate an Internet consumer trust model across cultures. The authors tested a model linking antecedents to outcomes of consumer trust toward a web merchant.

Abstract

Many have speculated that trust plays a critical role in stimulating consumer purchases over the Internet. Most of the speculations have rallied around U.S. consumers purchasing from U.S.–based online merchants. The global nature of the Internet raises questions about the robustness of trust effects across cultures. Culture may also affect the antecedents of consumer trust; that is, consumers in different cultures might have differing expectations of what makes a web merchant trustworthy. Here we report on a cross-cultural validation of an Internet consumer trust model. The model examined both antecedents and consequences of consumer trust in a Web merchant. The results provide tentative support for the generalizability of the model.