The impact of relative information quality of e-commerce assurance seals on Internet purchasing behavior

Abstract WebTrust assurance was introduced jointly by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) with much fanfare in the late 1990s. Since then, the WebTrust product has not experienced significant market penetration despite providing the highest level of information quality among seals available in the Internet seal market. One reason often given for its poor market penetration is that consumers are unable to differentiate between the information quality of different Internet seals. The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of this explanation. Marketing theory related to consumer risk is used to provide a conceptual foundation for hypotheses related to consumer preferences for Internet seals in general and high information quality seals in particular. The results of the study fail to find consumer interest in a low information quality seal, but did show a strong effect related to preference for a high information quality seal. Unexpectedly, however, these results were not related to buyers' risk propensities.

[1]  D. W. Barclay,et al.  The Effects of Organizational Differences and Trust on the Effectiveness of Selling Partner Relationships , 1997 .

[2]  Timothy E. Moore,et al.  Subliminal Advertising: What you see is what you Get: , 1982 .

[3]  Richard Levin,et al.  Statistics for Management. , 1979 .

[4]  Donald A. Taylor.  Certification Marks—Success or Failure? , 1958 .

[5]  Elaine G. Mauldin,et al.  An Experimental Examination of Alternative Forms of Web Assurance for Business-to-Consumer e-Commerce , 2002, J. Inf. Syst..

[6]  M. F. Luce,et al.  Constructive Consumer Choice Processes , 1998 .

[7]  Brian R. Kovar,et al.  Consumer Responses to the CPA WEBTRUST™ Assurance , 2000, J. Inf. Syst..

[8]  Shawn P. Curley,et al.  Individual differences in risk taking. , 1992 .

[9]  Steven P. Brown,et al.  Effects of Brand Awareness on Choice for a Common, Repeat-Purchase Product , 1990 .

[10]  Anand Kumar,et al.  Web Assurance Seals: How and Why They Influence Consumers' Decisions , 2002, J. Inf. Syst..

[11]  Ted Roselius.  Consumer Rankings of Risk Reduction Methods , 1971 .

[12]  J. W. Hutchinson,et al.  Dimensions of Consumer Expertise , 1987 .

[13]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[14]  Del I. Hawkins.  The Effects of Subliminal Stimulation on Drive Level and Brand Preference , 1970 .

[15]  Richard J. Lutz,et al.  An Exploration of the Effects of Perceived Social and Performance Risk on Consumer Information Acquisition , 1974 .

[16]  T. Cook,et al.  Quasi-experimentation: Design & analysis issues for field settings , 1979 .

[17]  Edwin R. Stafford,et al.  Comprehension and Perceived Believability of Seals of Approval Information in Advertising , 1993 .

[18]  S. Sutton.  Toward an Understanding of the Factors Affecting the Quality of the Audit Process , 1993 .

[19]  Steve G. Sutton,et al.  A Framework for Evaluating Process Quality for Audit Engagements , 1991 .

[20]  R. Staelin,et al.  A Model of Perceived Risk and Intended Risk-handling Activity , 1994 .

[21]  K. B. Murray.  A Test of Services Marketing Theory: Consumer Information Acquisition Activities , 1991 .

[22]  K. B. Murray,et al.  The impact of services versus goods on consumers’ assessment of perceived risk and variability , 1990 .

[23]  Tom Obremski,et al.  Statistics for management , 1979 .

[24]  Y. Barzel,et al.  Measurement Cost and the Organization of Markets , 1982, The Journal of Law and Economics.

[25]  John Sutton,et al.  Imperfect information, perceived quality, and the formation of professional groups , 1982 .

[26]  Vicky Arnold,et al.  An Analysis of the Market for Systems Reliability Assurance Services , 2000, J. Inf. Syst..

[27]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Factors affecting trust in market research relationships. , 1993 .

[28]  J. Jacoby,et al.  The Components of Perceived Risk , 1972 .

[29]  Tanya S. Benford,et al.  Retraction: The Impact of Electronic Commerce Assurance on Financial Analysts' Earnings Forecasts and Stock Price Estimates , 2000 .