Factors Influencing the Perception of Website Privacy Trustworthiness and Users’ Purchasing Intentions: The Behavioral Economics Perspective

In this study, we identified the factors that influence consumer purchasing intentions and their perceptions of the trustworthiness of the privacy-related practices of e-commerce websites. We produced a list of website attributes that represent these factors in a series of focus groups. Then we constructed and validated a research model from an online survey of 117 adult participants. We found that security, privacy (including awareness, information collection, and control), and reputation (including company background and consumer reviews) have a strong effect on trust and willingness to purchase, while website quality plays only a marginal role. Although the perception of trustworthiness and purchasing intention were positively correlated, in some cases participants were more willing to buy from a website that they judged as untrustworthy with regard to privacy. We investigated how behavioral biases and decision-making heuristics may explain the discrepancy between perception and behavioral intention. Finally, we determined which website attributes and individual characteristics impact customer’s trust and willingness to buy.