Fostering consumer trust and purchase intention
in B2C e-commerce
A thesis subm itted in fulfilm ent of the requirem ents for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Siddhi Pittayachawan
M. Eng., B. Eng.
School of Business I nform ation Technology
Business Portfolio
RMI T University
August 2007
(ii)
De cla r a tion
I certify that except where due acknowledgem ent has been made, the work is that of the
author alone; the work has not been subm itted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify
for any other academ ic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has
been carried out since the official com mencement date of the approved research
program; and any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is
acknowledged.
Siddhi Pittayachawan
31 August 2007
(iii)
Ack now le dge m ent s
I would like to express m y deepest gratitude to my senior supervisor—Associate
Professor Mohini Singh. For the last three years after I changed from the School of
Electrical and Com puter Engineering to the School of Business I nformation Technology,
she constantly guided m e so I could understand how to properly conduct social science
research. Her im m easurable amount of support and excellent input on both planning and
writing m y research, while teaching me to be thorough, enabled m e to com plete this
research successfully is appreciated. Furthermore, her belief in m y research capabilit y
consistently encouraged me to overcome m any obstacles that I encountered in the
research.
I also would like to express my deepest gratitude to the head of School of Business
Information Technology—Professor Brian Corbitt. His active support and advice m otivated
me and helped m e to complete this research.
I would like to express my appreciation to m y second supervisor—Dr France Cheung. His
availability for consultation whenever m y senior supervisor was not reachable allowed m e
to obtain constant feedback and support for my research.
I also express my gratitude to my form er senior supervisor, Professor Richard Harris, at
the School of Electrical and Com puter Engineering, who helped m e start this research.
I also would like to express my gratefulness to m y former second supervisor—Mr David
Jones. My research journey started as soon as he introduced me to trust issues in e-
com m erce.
I would like to express m y indebtedness to Dr Hossein Zadeh, who assisted me with data
collection.
I express deep gratitude and appreciation to Siridech Kum suprom and Naruem on
Choochinprakarn who kindly helped m e in translating the questionnaire, the plain
language statem ent, and the invitation m essage from English to Thai. Their sound
understanding of Thai gram m ar allowed helped m e develop questionnaire in Thai version.
I also would like to thank people who helped m e in recruiting participants for the focus
groups, particularly Jane Green, David Walter, and staff mem bers of Cross Cultures at St.
Jude’s Church.
My thanks to Caroline Tan, Donglin Wu, Hui Chung Liang, Khanh Van La, Muham med
Azizul Islam, Tianshu Liu, and Yue Nan Wang who helped m e in pilot testing the online
questionnaire.
(iv)
I express m y gratitude to those who helped m e administer the survey in Australia,
Thailand, and UK: Professor Chris Whitaker, Wanna Learngprach, Associate Professor
Vanchai Sirichana, Nuntawan Wongwan, Uthai Moonkaew, Assistant Professor Wichan
Lertwipatrakul, Werachart Multitanon, Dr Chavalit Meenuch, Dr Vivat Lauhabut, Sakda
Chailaph, Tanyalak Marujiwat, Associate Professor Mondhon Sanguansemsri, Sititee Jean-
Ead, Kruawan Yaemprang, Pattaraporn Srinuan, Piyam aporn Suwanjarernporn,
Piyapanna Pittayachawan, Associate Professor Pannipa Burapachep, and Jaturong
Jarernpap.
In the School of Computer Systems Engineering and the School of Business Information
Technology, I also would like to thank all research students and faculty who gave m e
encouragem ent, useful feedback and support for my research, particularly Ahmad Mousa,
Dr Anne Rouse, Dushantha Nim al Dissanayake, Feeba Mootheril, Hieu Tran, Horace King,
Irena Atov, Kevin Leung, Kristina Tsoulis- Reay, and Peter Goldsmith, Prue Lam ont, and
Suresh Venkatachalaiah.
Lastly, m y earnest gratitude and feeling, which cannot be expressed in words, go to m y
fam ily: my parents, Paichit Pittayachawan and Pacharee Pittayachawan, and m y late
uncle, Mr Pongsak Samm anondha, who supported m e financially; and m y soul m ate, Mi
Jin Jung, who provided m e m oral support throughout this venture.
(v)
Table of Cont e nt s
DECLARATI ON ................................................................................................... I I
A CK NO W L EDG EM EN TS ..................................................................................... I I I
LI ST OF FI GURES .............................................................................................. XI
LI ST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... XI I
LI ST OF ABBREVI ATI ON S ............................................................................... XI V
LI ST OF PUBLI CATI ON S .................................................................................. XVI
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER 1 I N TRODUCTI ON ................................................................................ 4
1.1BACKGROUND .............................................................................................. 4
1.2MOTIVATI ON OF THE RESEARCH ......................................................................... 5
1.3OBJECTI VES OF THE RESEARCH .......................................................................... 6
1.4RESEARCH QUESTI ONS ................................................................................... 6
1.5ORGANISATI ON OF THIS THESIS ......................................................................... 6
CHAPTER 2 REVI EW OF RELATED LI TERATURE ................................................... 8
2.1STATE OF ONLI NE SHOPPI NG ............................................................................. 8
2.2DEFI NI TI ONS OF TRUST ................................................................................. 11
2.3FUNCTIONS OF TRUST I N ONLI NE SHOPPI NG ......................................................... 13
2.4CURRENT ISSUES AFFECTING ONLI NE TRUST ........................................................ 14
2.4.1Cybercrime ....................................................................................... 14
2.4.2Securit y ............................................................................................ 20
2.4.3Control ............................................................................................. 21
2.4.4Web I nt erface ................................................................................... 22
2.4.5Third Party I nt ervention ...................................................................... 23
2.5RESEARCH HYPOTHESES ................................................................................ 25
2.6PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON TRUST MODELS ............................................................ 26
2.7TRUST THEORI ES ........................................................................................ 39