The Role of Trust Dimensions in Online Retailers' Trust Building Efforts

Consumer trust in e-tailers has recently received growing attention within online shopping research. Trust has been studied to determine how it is established and maintained. Three distinct dimensions of trust – competence, integrity and benevolence – have emerged. The present study uses an attribution framework to empirically test how consumer and e-tailer characteristics impact trust within different dimensions, and how trust contributes to willingness to depend on an e-tailer. Results show that e-tailer characteristics may be more important than consumer characteristics for building consumer trust and that trust in an e-tailer significantly contributes to a willingness to depend on an e-tailer. Implications include trust-building strategies for e-tailers within different trust dimensions.