Date of Award

8-2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

With many online businesses "crashing and burning", building an online relationship with consumers is a crucial endeavor for e-commerce businesses. Other researchers have found that trust play a key role in every business relationship, especially in the faceless realm of e-commerce. The graphical user interface (GUI) of an online retailer's Website serves as the face of the business through which customers form first impressions that may influences their perceptions of trust and decisions to purchase. Therefore, this study was designed to explore how college students from an Upper Midwestern university perceive electronics retailers' Website trustworthiness through GUI design features.

Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in this study to investigate feelings and beliefs of college students perceive about electronics retailer's Website GUis. Data were gathered from an online survey, interviews, and focus group discussion. An online survey explored how college students rate the 14 trust-inducing design features proposed by Wang and Emurian in terms of importance in influencing perceptions of trust. The interviews and focus group discussion gathered primary data by investigating participants' trust perceptions and purchase decisions. The general categories from the participants' perspectives included background information, design factors, trust perceptions, and purchasing decisions. The following three themes emerged from a content analysis of data

  • Design factors of electronics retailer Websites may impact students' trust perceptions about those Websites

  • Students' experiences with online shopping may influence their trust perceptions about electronics retailer Websites

  • Design factors of electronics retailers' Websites may influence students' decision to purchase electronics online

The results of this study provided design factors in Website GUI's that may help electronics retailers target the college student market and gain their trust and business. Experiential narratives and beliefs of the participants provided insights about how their trust perceptions are enhanced by Website design factors, which may contribute to further research on the topic of trust, e-commerce, and the college student market

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