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An Examination of the Effects of WebTrust and Company Type on Consumers’ Purchase Intentions
Author(s) -
Kaplan Steven E.,
Nieschwietz Robert J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of auditing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1099-1123
pISSN - 1090-6738
DOI - 10.1111/1099-1123.00066
Subject(s) - purchasing , business , mediation , marketing , law , political science
This study examines the effects of both WebTrust and company type on purchasing intentions in a B2C E‐commerce setting. While past studies have focused on the incremental effects of Web assurance services on Web sites, this study extends research by exploring whether WebTrust strengthens purchasing intentions for both known, and unknown, companies. Professional literature suggests that Web assurance seals such as WebTrust will primarily benefit unknown companies. A second contribution of the paper is to propose and test a model of how WebTrust and company type each lead to greater purchasing intentions. Based on a mediation model, WebTrust is expected to influence purchasing intentions through assurance beliefs. Alternatively, company type is expected to influence purchasing intentions through the formation of trusting beliefs. Under our model, because each works through a separate mediating variable, WebTrust and company type are not substitutes for each other. The results support the proposed model showing that WebTrust is mediated by assurance beliefs and company type is mediated by trusting beliefs. These results have important practical implications as they show that all companies, not just the unknown, can benefit from displaying a WebTrust seal. Thus, the results from our study suggest that the potential market for Web assurance services should include all B2C E‐commerce companies.