Formation of Consumers’ Perceived Information Security: Examining the Transfer of Trust in Online Retailers

Abstract Set in the backdrop of ever escalating data breach incidents, this paper investigates the seeming paradox between elevated consumer information security concerns reported in surveys and lax consumer security behavior exhibited online. Results from our experiment show that when asked about their information security perceptions, consumers evaluate the issue of information security based on the elaboration likelihood model. As a result, they express concerns. However, when consumers are actually shopping online, they do not separately evaluate the issue of information security. Instead, they mostly transfer their trust in an online retailer to the trusting belief that their information will be secure. This is one of the main reasons why, counter to their elevated security concerns expressed in surveys, consumers engage in lax security practices when they conduct business online.