A model for buyer's trust in the e-marketplace

E-marketplace or broker managed online market is regarded as one of the most profitable e-biz models. In these marketplaces, buyers routinely engage with whom they have little or no prior interaction. This makes trust is one of the most important issues in the e-marketplace. Therefore, from the perspective of a practitioner, sufficient understanding of how the buyer's trust is built in the e-marketplace will lead to successful business.In this study, we integrate the theories developed in several disciplines to analyze the structure through which customers can develop trust of a market-maker and sellers in the e-marketplace. The theoretical model presented here is tested on survey data collected from 692 respondents The results show that market-maker's characteristics (reputation, web site's usability and security) and seller's characteristics (reputation and expertise) play an important role in forming and developing buyer's trust toward market-maker and sellers respectively.

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