This week we will look through our glasses at whether a customer can trust online businesses ?
In the physical world, consumers use many contextual cues such as the instore merchandising of Tesco to develop their trust towards the company. However, many example have proved that trust is complex to build, maintain and give to a physical person or organization. ‘Trust is an important factor in the decision when people chose others with whom to interact’ (Stewart and Malaga 2009:72). Many of these contextual cues may be missing or less obvious in the on-line world. Consequently, to what extend a customer can trust an online business ?
Mayer, R. C. will be a key author used in order to conduct this critical analysis. According to Mayer et al. (1995: 712) they define trust as 'the willingness to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trust or, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party'. In other words, it is the willingness to take risks in a relationship (Deutsch, I960; Schlenker, 1973; Moorman, 1992; Mayer et al., 1995). Indeed, in their ’integrative model of organizational trust’, Mayer associated with Schoorman and Davis (2007), stated that trust is an essential aspect of relationship. From an organisational perspective, ability, benevolence and integrity contribute to develop a relationship of trust with the customers. For instance, a relationship between a supplier and a buyer is essential; the buyer is entitled to believe that the supplier will be able to provide good quality product and delivered on time. Thus, it will enable the company to have competitive advantage. Therefore by carrying out previous researches they showed that there is an evolution. Not only more associated to reciprocity, the notion of trust influences consumers‘ emotions and which could affect their perceptions. Nevertheless, according to Schoorman, Mayer and Davis (2007), it is more than probable that this feeling disappears after a possible violation of trust. Indeed, it is easily acceptable to understand that experiencing dispute; one party will quickly revert to its previous perceptions.How the notion of trust can be perceived into online business ?
According to Malaga and Stuwart, they perceived that depending on the degree of involvment and the customers‘ knoledge about e-commerce, the level of trust will change. In fact, those who are highly involved referered to hyperlinks such as return policy, warranty, privacy policy, and pricing policy and are likely to pay more attention to and more actively process trust cues. Whereas those with a low level of involvement invest a lot in the accuracy, relevance of their content (Stewart & Malaga 2009:74-76, 89). Nevertheless, by knowing that 
internet allows anyone to open an online store, therefore it can be difficult for consumers to percieve how trustworthy the company is, just from looking at their website. ‘Trust is based on customers' first impression of a company, e.g. website design’ (Buttner & Goriz 2008:45). To disagree, it is not just visual cues on the website which can help a customer to define how trustworthy a company is; some simple websites can also be successful which lead to the notion of Trustworthiness. This, can be defined as combinations of “ability - the trustee’s competence in the area related to the task; Integrity - the trustor’s perception that the trustee adheres to a set of principles that the trustor finds acceptable; and Benevolence - the extent to which a trustee is believed to want to do good”.
internet allows anyone to open an online store, therefore it can be difficult for consumers to percieve how trustworthy the company is, just from looking at their website. ‘Trust is based on customers' first impression of a company, e.g. website design’ (Buttner & Goriz 2008:45). To disagree, it is not just visual cues on the website which can help a customer to define how trustworthy a company is; some simple websites can also be successful which lead to the notion of Trustworthiness. This, can be defined as combinations of “ability - the trustee’s competence in the area related to the task; Integrity - the trustor’s perception that the trustee adheres to a set of principles that the trustor finds acceptable; and Benevolence - the extent to which a trustee is believed to want to do good”.However, it is true that trustworthiness as a component of the company's image can help to gain competitive advantage. Buttner & Goriz (2008) discuss ‘online shops should put effort into the management of trust when comparing one's own trustworthiness to those of competitors’. The development of Customer Loyalty Programmes is a tool for more online businesses to consider. Ha & Stoel (2008) state ‘customers have a higher perception of trustworthiness when they are rewarded with loyalty programmes’. Moreover, customers who trust the company are more likely to sign up to their loyalty programme. We can therefore agree that a Customer Loyalty Programme can be a measurement of consumer trustworthiness, specifically used with business to consumer retail.
ebaY is a great example of peer-to-peer computer-mediated transactions. Obviously, for a trustee, trustworthiness of the trustor is particularly crucial. According to the research of Pardue et al. (2008), more than 60% of trustees’ eBay comments chosen as a sample contained a specific reference to the trustee’s trustworthiness. This sort of feedback is extremely difficult or even impossible to control by the seller/business. And what is more, the stronger the competition is, the more objective and effective people’s feedback gets (Bolton et al. 2008). Therefore in order to be trustworthy, the trustees (the eBay seller, for example) should do their best to post and describe their items, interact with potential buyers and manage the actual payment and delivery process as favourably as possible. It would also be strongly recommended to demonstrate justice and honesty in terms of, for instance, following the established business standards and being transparent about zero intentions of tricking the buyers (Bolton et al. 2008). In conclusion, we can say that trust is very difficult for online organizations to gain customers trust due to the intangible nature of buying online. Providing customers with a guarantee can help with reassurance and anticipating their perceptions of guarantee in return for good feedback and thus obtaining a good brand you can trust. Regarding trustworthiness, we are agree with Buttner & Goriz, (2009) on the point that trustworthiness goes beyond profit making and is one of the main elements within the principles of relationship marketing, which can be studied in further context.
E-talks-2U looked at:
Bolton, G.; Loebbecke, C.; Ockenfels, A. (2008) ‘Does Competition Promote Trust and Trustworthiness in Online Trading? An Experimental Study’ Journal of Management Information Systems, 25 (2): 145-169.
Buttner, B. O.; Goritz, A. S. (2008) ‘Perceived trustworthiness of online shops’ Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 7: 35-50
Ha, S.; Stoel, L. (2008) ‘Promoting customer-retailer relationship building: influence of customer trustworthiness of customer loyalty programme marketing’ Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 7 (3): 215-229
Pardue, J. H.; Landry, J. P.; Shaw, C. E. (2008) ‘Trustworthiness in Computer-Mediated Transactions: A Content Analysis of Trustor Feedback’ Journal of Technology Research, 16-22
Schoorman, F.D., Mayer, R.C., & Davis, J.H. (2007) “An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust: Past, Present, and Future”. Academy of Management Review, Vol. 32, No.2, 344–354.
Steward, K, J.; Malaga, R, S. (2009) ‘Contrast and Assimilation Effects on Consumers’ Trust in Internet Companies’ International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 13 (3): 71–93
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