Mark A. Serva

Clarifying the Integration of Trust and TAM in E-Commerce Environments: Implications for Systems Design and Management

Two dominant theories-trust and technology acceptance-have been employed in numerous information systems research studies to help understand consumer behavior in e-commerce environments. In this context of voluntary Web site adoption and use, we provide a more precise understanding of the nomological network related to the cognitive variables (both beliefs and attitudes) that precede this use. Designers and engineers need to be concerned not just with building an objectively better Web site but also with building a Web site that conveys desirable characteristics. Although the theory of reasoned action has been acknowledged as the underlying theory for technology acceptance and some trust research, past studies integrating these two theories have omitted important variables from their models and have posited different causal relationships among model variables. This research argues for the reinclusion and/or clarification of belief and attitude constructs relevant to technology acceptance and trust research streams, explains why these constructs are critical for understanding causality in such models, proposes an integration model that is consistent with this argument, and finally tests this model in a context exploring initial reactions to an e-vendor and evaluates the relative importance of trust and technology acceptance variables in predicting user intentions.

Seeing Is Believing: The Transitory Influence of Reputation Information on E-Commerce Trust and Decision Making

This research examines the transitory influence of reputation information on consumer decision making regarding an e-vendor. Using social judgment theory to explain how reputation informations effect on perceptions may be fleeting, we specifically examined how user trusting beliefs related to an e-vendor change after a simple exposure to the Web site. A total of 369 college students participated in an experiment that found that reputation information was initially strongly related to trusting beliefs regarding the e-vendor, but a brief nonpurchase-related exposure to the e-vendors Web site—that is, direct experience—reduced reputations effects significantly. This research provides insights into why reputation information may be more important in certain circumstances than in others and enhances our understanding of how consumer decision making is affected by different purchasing contexts. This research also has implications on the design and use of trust-building technologies.

Understanding member motivation for contributing to different types of virtual communities: a proposed framework

Previous research indicates that the type and purpose of a virtual community (wiki, blog, and Internet Forum) may play a role in determining a members motivation for contribution to a virtual community, but does not fully explore this idea. This study aggregates the disparate ideas and terminology of previous research on virtual communities and presents a more parsimonious grouping of fourteen motivational factors. These fourteen factors provide a framework for examining what drives members to contribute. Two preliminary studies offer some support for the framework.

Trust and distrust in online banking: Their role in developing countries

Similar to the adoption of automatic teller machines, banks around the world are looking at online banking services as the next technology to reduce costs while maintaining or enhancing services to the customer. In developing countries, the low cost of online banking may enable banks to reach new customers, much like the cell phone offered new possibilities in telephony. Banks must understand, however, that the mediating use of technology increases interpersonal distance between banks and their customers, which can both decrease trust and exacerbate distrust. This article examines the role of trust and distrust in online banking. A framework for categorizing existing and potential online banking users based on their trust and distrust of online banking is presented. Categorizations of users are discussed along with recommendations for how banks can address customer concerns.

Trustworthiness in B2C e-commerce: an examination of alternative models

Advancing research on trust requires clarifying the different conceptualizations of trust and trust-related constructs. The purpose of this study is to advance the theoretical conceptualization of trustworthiness by synthesizing previous research and testing three alternative conceptualizations within the e-commerce context. Data collected from multiple studies involving over 700 participants were used to examine the relative merits of trustworthiness as a one-dimensional construct, a grouping of three first-order constructs, and a second-order construct. Our results indicate that a one-dimensional view may be too simplistic, given the variety of factors that online consumers must weigh. Instead, the study suggests that trustworthiness is multidimensional and that both first- and second-order conceptualizations have a place in e-commerce trust research. Trust researchers should be guided by the research question, hypotheses, and research design in deciding which conceptualization to use.

Aligning What We Do and What We Measure in Business Schools: Incorporating Active Learning and Effective Media Use in the Assessment of Instruction.

Current methods of evaluating learning and instruction have not kept pace with changes in learning theory, or with the transformed technological infrastructure of the modern business school classroom. Without reliable and valid instructional measurement systems, it is virtually impossible to benchmark new pedagogical techniques, assess the value of new technologies, or provide feedback to instructors for improving their classroom performance. This research tests whether active learning and effective media use—two constructs typically not measured in traditional teaching evaluation instrumentation— are important perceptual dimensions of the classroom experience. We also examine the relationship of these two constructs to student perceptions of instructional performance. Results confirm that active learning and effective media use—along with five other historically strong dimensions of instructional evaluation—can play a large role in explaining student perceptions of instructional performance.

Are Trust and Distrust Distinct Constructs? An Empirical Study of the Effects of Trust and Distrust among Online Banking Users

This study provides insights on the trust-related factors that influence consumer intentions to use online banking. Specifically, the study examines the relationships between trustworthiness, trust, distrust, and user intentions to use online banking services. Over 500 college students located across two different universities completed a survey designed to examine the effects of trustworthiness perceptions on trust and distrust, and the downstream influence of trust and distrust on intention to use. As hypothesized, results indicate that trust and distrust are distinct constructs, and that the established nomological network between trustworthiness, trust, and intention hold in the current context. Also supported is the new contention that trustworthiness is negatively related to distrust, and that distrust has a negative effect on intention to use. Finally, our hypothesis examining the relative contribution of trust and distrust on user intentions was not supported. In the context of this study, trust overwhelmed distrust.

Using a Dual Role Assignment to Improve Group Dynamics and Performance: The Effects of Facilitating Social Capital in Teams

This article describes a project that simulates the interplay between management and development project teams in a business environment. Each student team was assigned a management role supervising one project and a development role implementing another project. Results indicate that teams that communicate regularly and interact socially outside of class form more social capital. Development teams with dense social capital also voluntarily completed tasks beyond their responsibilities, and management teams perceived higher performance from their development teams. The authors discuss how this simulation can be used to increase learning, along with how the simulation increases the richness of the learning environment.

“When Do You ASP?” The Software Life Cycle Control Model

Application Service Providers (ASPs) now offer a new alternative for the acquisition and operation of application software, enabling companies to rent or lease applications that are delivered via the Internet. In determining the appropriateness of this strategy, companies must tradeoff the cost and time advantages of this approach with its risks. This paper introduces a Software Life Cycle Control Model that describes the dimensions of control over software features and operations associated with various software acquisition strategies, including internal development and operation, purchasing packaged applications, outsourcing, and ASPs. Transaction cost economics (TCE) is used to identify the key costs and risks that must be considered in the software acquisition decision. We propose when ASPs may be appropriate for companies with existing IT infrastructure and companies lacking infrastructure to develop and operate new applications.

The Productive Tension of Trust and Distrust: The Coexistence and Relative Role of Trust and Distrust in Online Banking

This study examines the effects of trustworthiness perceptions and trustor dispositions on trust and distrust as well as the downstream influence of trust and distrust on intention to use online banking. More than 500 college students located across two universities completed a survey to provide data for the study. The findings from this study suggest that the “blind trust” and “blind distrust” perspectives used in isolation are incomplete and that a more comprehensive model of trust requires the inclusion of both perspectives. As hypothesized, results also support the assertion that trust and distrust are distinct constructs and that the established e-retailing trust nomological network holds in an online banking context. The study also contributes to the literature by establishing several distrust antecedents, as well as illustrating distrusts negative effect on intention to use online banking. Finally, the study illustrates how the influence of trust can overwhelm the effect of distrust in an online banking context.