An Empirical Analysis of Online Consumer Initial Trust Building Based on ELM

Due to perceived high risk in the first transaction and Internet low switching cost, building consumer initial trust is crucial for online vendors. Extant research has often examined determinants of initial trust from the perspectives of TAM and trust transference, and seldom considered the initial trust building from dual-routes. Drawing on ELM, we analyzed the different effect of argument quality via the central route and source credibility via the peripheral route on initial trust. We collected 193 valid papers and conducted data analysis with LISREL. The results show that argument quality, source credibility and self-efficacy have significant effect on initial trust. Moreover, self-efficacy positively moderates the effect of argument quality on initial trust, whereas it negatively moderates the effect of source credibility on initial trust.

I. Introduction

Due to the anonymity, the virtuality, and the temporal and spatial separation (the temporal separation between payment and distribution, the spatial separation between buyers and sellers), e-commerce transactions involve great risk and uncertainty. Especially for the first-time buyers, due to lack of previous interaction experience with the site, they will perceive more significant risk. Thus it is critical for websites to build consumer initial trust. Initial trust develops when consumers first interact with the website. On the other hand, because of the low Internet switching cost, consumers just only need a click to switch from one site to another. This also means websites need to build consumers' initial trust to acquire and retain them.