Users’ trust in online situations is influenced by various characteristics of human-computer interaction. Looking at the increasing scope of services online, it remains an up-to-date issue, expanding its meaning for both informational and transactional websites. In this work, the Scale for Online Users’ Trust (SCOUT) was developed to assess the trustworthiness of both types of websites. Based on the scale, the effects of user experience on users’ trust were examined in several studies. For informational websites, hedonic qualities appeared to be significant predictors of trustworthiness in addition to usability. The effects could be confirmed for transactional websites. Furthermore, perceptions of security aspects were investigated in a set of studies. The effects of customer ratings, fictitious graphical elements, web assurance seals and interactive security-related feedback on users’ trust were analyzed. Findings from all together 11 studies of this work allow for inferences for website design that could support academics and practitioners in designing for trustworthy web environments. / Nutzervertrauen in Websites ist sowohl auf informationalen als auch auf transaktionalen Websites nach wie vor ein entscheidender Faktor für erfolgreiche Online-Situationen. In dieser Arbeit wird die Entwicklung des Fragebogens SCOUT (Scale for Online Users’ Trust) beschrieben, mit dem die Vertrauenswürdigkeit von Websites beider Kategorien gleichermaßen erfasst werden kann. Darauf aufbauend wurde die Wirkung des Nutzererlebens auf Vertrauen in mehreren Studien untersucht. Für informationale Websites ergaben sich hedonische Merkmale und Usability als signifikante Prädiktoren von Vertrauenswürdigkeit. Diese Effekte konnten für transaktionale Websites bestätigt werden. Zusätzliche wurde geprüft, wie Kundenbewertungen, fiktive grafische Elemente, Gütesiegel und interaktive sicherheitsrelevante Rückmeldungen auf Nutzervertrauen wirken. Aus insgesamt elf Studien lassen sich Empfehlungen für eine vertrauensförderliche Website-Gestaltung ableiten.

The topic of the thesis was proposed by the company X. The purpose of the thesis is to gather an understanding of how online users perceive web tracking and web analytics. The goal of the thesis is to answer the questions regarding online users’ attitude towards web tracking and web analytics and to further study how users' attitude towards web tracking could impact the future of web analytics tools and their features. To be able to understand what online users feel, a survey was conducted to be able to identify how users feel about their online privacy, sharing personal data as well as other types of data that web analytics tools collect. The results from the survey were then analyzed to identify patterns and understand how the different questions  intertwine together. To be able to answer the first research question, “How does web tracking & web analytics affect online users?”, the answers from the survey were used. The material found underneath the “related work” heading was used to support and verify the result of the analysis.  A qualitative research method called grounded theory was partially followed to be able to answer the second research question: “Which common features of web analytics tools could possibly remain in future web analytics tools?”. The results from the first research question were used to be able to form a hypothesis of how the future of web analytics tools may look like. The qualitative research method was adapted to the context of the thesis and therefore some steps were modified or skipped to be able to answer what the future of web analytics tools will look like based on the opinions of the online users'. It was found that the individuals who do not want a tailored experience on the web are also the ones who trust companies/organizations the least with their personal data. They are also the ones who are the most concerned about their privacy. It was also found that these individuals do the least to protect their privacy whereas the ones least concerned about their privacy were the ones who did the most to protect their privacy online. Participants of the survey were mostly aware of GDPR and the majority of online users do not read the terms and conditions when visiting a website. Lastly the question of which feature would remain in the future web analytics tools was answered. The features in the categories visual maps, user behavior and real-time activity are likely to remain. The categories acquisition tracking, individual user behavior and geolocation is likely to be deemed as irrelevant since they do not align with the beliefs of online users regarding privacy.

This work titled Advertising impact of influencers as perceived by the young online users defines the term influencer in its theoretical part, offering several perspectives through which this phenomen can be viewed. For example, the number of followers on influencers' profiles, the interaction between these two sides, or the characteristic features of influential figures, such as their behaviour on the Internet. Furthermore, this work deals with influencer marketing, some types of collaboration between influencers and companies within social media, and the issue of tagging the sponsored commercial content. Also, one of the chapters summarizes some of the findings from several relevant studies, creating an initial insight into the topic. The research part of this work explores the issue as perceived by the young online users, using the research sample comprising 179 respondents in the range of 16-26 years old. The data collected through the electronic standardized questionnaire revealed, for example, that respondents require tagging sponsored posts on influencers' profiles, even though they trust these commercial posts less. Also, the pattern of behaviour hinting some verifying information before immediate tasting influencers' recommendations was indicated. The analyzed answers also point to the...

Users’ trust in online situations is influenced by various characteristics of human-computer interaction. Looking at the increasing scope of services online, it remains an up-to-date issue, expanding its meaning for both informational and transactional websites. In this work, the Scale for Online Users’ Trust (SCOUT) was developed to assess the trustworthiness of both types of websites. Based on the scale, the effects of user experience on users’ trust were examined in several studies. For informational websites, hedonic qualities appeared to be significant predictors of trustworthiness in addition to usability. The effects could be confirmed for transactional websites. Furthermore, perceptions of security aspects were investigated in a set of studies. The effects of customer ratings, fictitious graphical elements, web assurance seals and interactive security-related feedback on users’ trust were analyzed. Findings from all together 11 studies of this work allow for inferences for website design that could support academics and practitioners in designing for trustworthy web environments. / Nutzervertrauen in Websites ist sowohl auf informationalen als auch auf transaktionalen Websites nach wie vor ein entscheidender Faktor für erfolgreiche Online-Situationen. In dieser Arbeit wird die Entwicklung des Fragebogens SCOUT (Scale for Online Users’ Trust) beschrieben, mit dem die Vertrauenswürdigkeit von Websites beider Kategorien gleichermaßen erfasst werden kann. Darauf aufbauend wurde die Wirkung des Nutzererlebens auf Vertrauen in mehreren Studien untersucht. Für informationale Websites ergaben sich hedonische Merkmale und Usability als signifikante Prädiktoren von Vertrauenswürdigkeit. Diese Effekte konnten für transaktionale Websites bestätigt werden. Zusätzliche wurde geprüft, wie Kundenbewertungen, fiktive grafische Elemente, Gütesiegel und interaktive sicherheitsrelevante Rückmeldungen auf Nutzervertrauen wirken. Aus insgesamt elf Studien lassen sich Empfehlungen für eine vertrauensförderliche Website-Gestaltung ableiten.

Online users struggle with different concerns whenever they use information systems. According to Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001), there are three important categories of concerns for online users: privacy concern, third party fraudulent behavior concern ("system security"), and online website fraudulent behavior concern ("security"). Kim, Sivasailam, and Rao (2004) proposed a similar categorization for web assurance dimensions. They argue that online websites are supposed to address users' privacy, security, and business integrity concerns to decrease user concerns. Although several researchers tried to answer how different factors affect these concerns and how these concerns affect users' behavior, there are so many ambiguities and contradictions in this area. This Essay I in this work develops a comprehensive map of the role of online privacy concern to identify related factors and categorize them through an in-depth literature review and conducting meta-analysis on online privacy concern. Although users have concerns about their privacy and security, there is still growth in the number of internet users and electronic commerce market share. One possible reason is that websites are applying assurance mechanisms to ensure the privacy of their users. Therefore, it could be an interesting research topic to investigate how privacy assurance mechanisms affect users concern and, consequently, their behavior in different concerns such as e-commerce and social networking sites. Different types of web assurance mechanisms are used by websites. The most prevalent among these assurance mechanisms include web assurance seals and assurance statements and privacy customization features. Essay II and III aims to address how these mechanisms influence e-commerce and social networking sites users' behavior. Essay II applies the procedural fairness theory by Lind and Tyler (1988) to explain how and why the web assurance mechanisms affect consumers' perceived risks. Essay III addresses the issue of self-disclosure on social networking sites. Applying protection motivation theory, this study aims to evaluate the effect of web assurance mechanisms on online privacy concern and self-disclosure behavior on the social networking sites.