A card-sorting probe of e-banking trust perceptions

This paper investigates the issue of trust mediation in e-Banking. The card sorting technique was used to probe factors influencing subjects' attitudes to alternative e-banking homepage designs. The subjects also provided their trust perceptions for the same sites. These were cross-referenced with constructs generated in the card-sort to investigate the relationship between tangible and intangible trust mediators, including the interplay between site design and usability. The study findings suggest that the degree of effectiveness of tangible factors, such as security policy and trust seals, may be subtly influenced by design phenomena related to usability. The findings are articulated using Gambetta's theory of trust within an e-banking context. These are mapped to the layers of a semiotic trust ladder.