Abstract

In the Internet-based B2C e-commerce, trust has been recognized as a critical factor to reduce uncertainties, through interacting with a well-known specific shopping mall. In this study, we view customer trust as not a unitary concept but multidimensional one consisted of the trustworthiness of trustee, familiarity with the specific shopping-mall, disposition to trust, and institution-based trust. In this study, first, we considered the trustworthiness of trustee consisted of capability, benevolence, and integrity as one of the major factors to build customer trust on the specific Internet shopping-mall. In the context of the Internet e-commerce, the role of institutional structures is very important to assure the customer trust from the various opportunistic behaviors because of the characteristics of internet-based commerce such as impersonality, the lack of information on the other party, and the transactions with a number of anonymous people. Second, we examined the effect of the institution-based trust built by institutional structures on customer trust. Third, we examined the effect of customer trust and familiarity on retaining customer loyalty. Our findings showed that customer trust and familiarity played a major role in retaining customer loyalty with the specific shopping-mall. In conclusions, we discussed the strategies to build the customer loyalty for maintaining the customer. We suggest customer trust and familiarity for the factors to bind the customer with the specific shopping-mall based on these results.

Keywords

• Customer Trust;
• Customer Loyalty;
• Trustworthiness;
• Familiarity;
• Institution-based Trust