E-tailer website attributes and trust: understanding the role of online reviews
| Date | 13 August 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-02-2016-0039 |
| Published date | 13 August 2018 |
| Pages | 506-519 |
| Author | Rose Sebastianelli,Nabil Tamimi |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management |
E-tailer website attributes and
trust: understanding the role of
online reviews
Rose Sebastianelli and Nabil Tamimi
Department of Operations and Information Management,
Kania School of Management, University of Scranton, Scranton,
Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to report the results of an experimental study designed to better
understand the role of online product reviews, both valence and volume, in the formation of initial online trust
during a consumer’s exploratory stage with an e-tailer. This is done within the context of simultaneously
varying e-tailer reputation and product type.
Design/methodology/approach –Participants take part in a conjoint task that involves viewing fictitious
web pages and indicating their level of trust in using the site to purchase the product displayed. The web
pages are developed by manipulating four attributes (e-tailer reputation, product type, summary product star
rating and number of online reviews) according to a full factorial design. Conjoint models are estimated to
determine the relative influence of each attribute on trust perceptions, the significance of selected two-way
interactions among the four attributes, and potential moderating effects of varied prior online experiences,
including previous usage frequency of online reviews.
Findings –Results reveal that e-tailer reputation has the greatest impact on initial trust perceptions,
followed by the summary review star rating of the product. Significant two-way interactions show that a
large number of reviews enhance the effect of a positive summary review on trust while shopping for high
priced experience products diminishes the positive influence of e-tailer reputation. Prior online experiences
moderate the relationship between these website attributes and perceived trust by interacting with the two
strongest trust cues in the model. The effects of these attributes on trust perceptions are less for those with
higher levels of prior online experiences.
Originality/value –The study uses conjoint analysis, which requires participants to implicitly “tradeoff”
among website attributes in making overall judgments about e-tailer trustworthiness. Consequently, the
relative influence of online reviews (both valence and volume) on initial trust perceptions is derived
empirically in a realistic setting that involves online shopping contexts with different risk (by varying
product type). Moreover, the authors are able to estimate interaction effects. A significant interaction between
summary product star rating and number of reviews implies that online review volume may be more
important to perceived e-tailer trustworthiness than earlier studies suggest.
Keywords Experiment, Trust, Conjoint analysis, E-tailer, Website attributes
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Retail e-commerce (e-tail) sales continue to grow; the latest published report by the US
Census Bureau estimates the total at $101.3bn for the third quarter of 2016. This
represents an increase of 4 percent over the second quarter of 2016, while total retail sales
increased by only by 0.9 percent over this same period. Since the third quarter of 2015,
e-tail sales increased by 15.7 percent compared to 2.2 percent for total retail sales.
Moreover, e-tail sales in the third quarter of 2015 accounted for a larger percentage of total
sales (8.4 percent) than in previous periods (www.census.gov).
As the virtual marketplace becomes more crowded and competitive, e-tailers need to
understand the factors influencing online purchase decisions. Trust is often cited as a
significant factor affecting consumers’willingness to buy online. Research findings suggest
that higher levels of trust in an e-tailer serve to lower perceived risk and increase the
likelihood of online purchase (e.g. Zhang, 2005; Wakefield and Whitten, 2006).
Trust, however, is a multidimensional construct, and trust for an e-tailer can originate
Online Information Review
Vol. 42 No. 4, 2018
pp. 506-519
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-02-2016-0039
Received 1 February 2016
Revised 4 January 2017
27 April 2017
Accepted 26 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
506
OIR
42,4
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