The Impact of Website Personality on Consumers' Initial Trust towards Online Retailing Websites

Authors: Jasmine Yeap Ai Leen, T. Ramayah, Azizah Omar

Abstract:

E-tailing websites are often perceived to be static, impersonal and distant. However, with the movement of the World Wide Web to Web 2.0 in recent years, these online websites have been found to display personalities akin to 'humanistic' qualities and project impressions much like its retailing counterpart i.e. salespeople. This paper examines the personality of e-tailing websites and their impact on consumers- initial trust towards the sites. A total of 239 Internet users participated in this field experiment study which utilized 6 online book retailers- websites that the participants had not previously visited before. Analysis revealed that out of four website personalities (sincerity, competence, excitement and sophistication) only sincerity and competence are able to exert an influence in building consumers- trust upon their first visit to the website. The implications of the findings are further elaborated in this paper.

Keywords: E-commerce, e-tailing, initial trust, online trust, partial least squares, website personality.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1331649

References:

[1] D. Gefen, E. Karahanna, and D.W. Straub, "Trust and TAM in online shopping: an integrated model," MIS Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 51-90, March 2003.
[2] G. Hackbarth, "Website Revisitation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation)," University of South Carolina, Moore School of Business, 2001.
[3] P. Briggs, B. Burford, A. De Angeli, and P. Lynch, "Trust in online advice," Social Science Computer Review, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 321-332, 2002.
[4] B.N. Schenkman, and F.U. Jonsson, "Aesthetics and preferences of web pages," Behaviour and Information Technology, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 367- 377, 2000.
[5] D.H. McKnight, V. Choudhury, and C. Kacmar, "The impact of initial consumer trust on intentions to transact with a web site: a trust building model," Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol. 11, pp. 297-323, 2002.
[6] D.H. McKnight, L.L. Cummings, and N.L. Chervany, "Initial trust formation in new organizational relationships," Academy of Management Review, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 473-490, 1998.
[7] Y. Bart, V. Shankar, F. Sultan, and G.L. Urban, "Are the drivers and role of online trust the same for all web sites and consumers? a large-scale exploratory empirical study," Journal of Marketing, vol. 69, pp. 133- 152, October 2005.
[8] D.L. Hoffman, T.P. Novak, M. Peralta, "Building consumer trust online," Communications of the ACM, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 80-85, 1999.
[9] V. Shankar, G.L. Urban, and F. Sultan, "Online trust: a stakeholder perspective, concepts, implications and future directions," Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol. 11, pp. 325-344, December 2002.
[10] G.L. Urban, F. Sultan, and W. Qualls, "Placing trust at the center of your Internet strategy," Sloan Management Review, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 39-48, 2000.
[11] Y.D. Wang, and H.H. Emurian, "An overview of online trust: concepts, elements, and implications," Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 21, pp. 105-125, 2005a.
[12] Y.D. Wang, and H.H. Emurian, "Trust in e-commerce: consideration of interface design factors," Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 42-60, October-December 2005b.
[13] A. Poddar, N. Donthu, and Y. Wei, "Web site customer orientations, web site quality, and purchase intentions: the tole of web site personality," Journal of Business Research, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 441-450, 2009.
[14] R.M. Liebert, and M.D. Spiegler, Personality: Strategies and Issues. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1998.
[15] M. Atkinson, and C. Kydd, "Individual characteristics associated with world wide web use: an empirical study of playfulness and motivation," Association for Computing Machinery, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 53-62, 1997.
[16] S. Okazaki, "Excitement or sophistication? a preliminary exploration of online brand personality," International Marketing Review, vol. 23, no. 3, 279-303, 2006.
[17] S. Park, D. Choi, and J. Kim, "Visualizing e-brand personality: exploratory studies on visual attributes and e-brand personalities in Korea," International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 7-34, 2005.
[18] Q. Chen, and S. Rodgers, "Development of an instrument to measure web site quality," Journal of Interactive Advertising, vol. 7, no.1, pp. 33- 46, 2006.
[19] D. Breakenridge, Cyberbranding. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Peason Prentice Hall, 2001.
[20] Y.K. Kim, "The study on construction of e-brand personality and effective factors," Advertising Study, vol. 49, pp. 29-53, 2000.
[21] S.J. McMillan, "A four-part model of cyber-interactivity: some cyberplaces are more interactive than others," New Media and Society, vol. 4, no.2, pp. 271-291, 2002.
[22] S. Rodgers, and E. Thorson, "The interactive advertising model: how people perceive and process interactive ads," Journal of Interactive Advertising, vol.1, no.1, pp. 42-61, 2000.
[23] B.J. Smith, "Buyer-seller relationships: bonds, relationship management, and sex-type," Canadian Journal of Administrative Science, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 76-92, 1998.
[24] F.D. Davis, "Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology," MIS Quarterly, vol. 13, no.3, pp. 319-340, 1989.
[25] D.A. Aaker, and D.E. Bruzzone, "Viewer perceptions of prime time television advertising," Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 15-23, 1981.
[26] W.D. Wells, C. Leavitt, and M. McConville, "A reaction profile for TV commercials," Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 11- 17, 1971.
[27] B.H. Schmitt, Experiential Marketing: How To Get Customers To Sense, Feel, Think, Act And Relate To Your Company And Brand. New York: Free Press, 1999.
[28] J. Kleinbard, and M.H. Erdelyi, "Has Ebbinghaus decayed with time? the growth of recall (hypermesia) over days," Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, vol.4, no.4, pp. 275-289, 1978.
[29] M. Wagner, "L.L. Bean puts folksy feel into its web site," Computerworld, vol. 31, no. 25, pp. 47-49, 1997.
[30] D.A. Aaker, "Dimensions on brand personality," Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 347-356, 1997.
[31] K.K. Kim, and B. Prabhakar, "Initial trust and the adoption of B2C ecommerce: the case of Internet banking," ACM SIGMIS Database, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 50-64, 2004.
[32] G. Yee, "Building consumer trust for Internet e-commerce," in Trust in E-Services: Technologies, Practices and Challenges, R. Song, L. Korba and G. Yee, Eds. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, 2007.
[33] N.M. Menon, P. Konana, G.J. Browne, and S. Balasubramanian, "Understanding trustworthiness beliefs in electronic brokerage usage," in Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Information Systems, P. De and J. I. DeGross, Eds., 1999.
[34] D. Meyerson, K.E. Weick, and R.M. Kramer, "Swift trust and temporary groups," in Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, R. M. Kramer and T. R. Tyler, Eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996.
[35] V. Mummalaneni, "An empirical investigation of web site characteristics, consumer emotional states and on-line shopping behaviors," Journal of Business Research, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 526-532, 2005.
[36] C.M. Ringle, S. Wende, and A. Will, "SmartPLS 2.0 (beta)," www.smartpls.de, 2005.
[37] S.S. Al-Gahtani, G.S. Hubona, J. Wang, "Information technology (IT) in Saudi Arabia: culture and the acceptance and use of IT," Information & Management, vol. 44, no. 8, pp. 681-691, 2007.
[38] W.W. Chin, and P.R. Newsted, "Structural equation modelling: analysis with small samples using partial least squares," in Statistical Strategies for Small Sample Research, R.H. Hoyle, Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999.
[39] C. Fornell, and J. Cha, "Partial least squares," in Advanced Methods of Marketing Research, R.P. Bagozzi, Ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994, pp. 52-78.
[40] W.W. Chin, "The partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling," MIS Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 7-16, 1998.
[41] C. Fornell, and F.L. Bookstein, "Two structural equation models: LISREL and PLS aaplied to consumer exit-voice theory," Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 440-452, 1982.
[42] J. Nunnally, Psychometric Theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill, 1978.
[43] C. Fornell, and D.F. Larcker, "Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error," Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 18, no.1, pp. 39-50, 1981.
[44] R. F. Falk, and N.B. Miller, "A Primer Soft Modeling. Ohio: University of Akron Press, 1992.
[45] P.A. Pavlou, "Consumer acceptance of electronic commerce: integrating trust and risk with the technology acceptance model," International Journal of Electronic Commerce, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 101-134, 2003.
[46] W. Hampton-Sosa, and M. Koufaris, "The effect of web site perceptions on initial trust in the owner company," International Journal of Electronic Commerce, vol. 10, no.1, pp. 55-81, 2005.
[47] Y. Chen, and S. Barnes, "Initial trust and online buyer behaviour," Industrial Management and Data Systems, vol. 107, no.1, pp. 21-36, 2007.
[48] B. Ganguly, S.B. Dash, and D. Cyr, "Website characteristics, trust and purchase intention in online stores: an empirical study in the Indian context," Journal of Information Science and Technology, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 22-44, 2009.