A Study of factors Influencing Consumers¡¦ Trust in Fortune-Telling Websites Abstract Many people still worry the security problem of shopping on the Internet, although Internet shopping is getting more and more popular. Based on a survey in Asia Pacific region in 2001 by VISA, Taiwanese interviewees have the lowest trust in online shopping. It would seriously impede the development of electronic commerce. However, on the other hand, Fortune-Telling, a very popular activity in Chinese community for thousand of years, has been embedded in almost every hot portal website and become its milk cow. Consumers are willing to not only pay a fee for the service, but also disclose personal information such as birth date, etc. If we can understand more about how consumers¡¦ trust in Fortune Telling website are influenced, it would give some implications for a website to get more trust from its consumers. The purpose of this research is to find factors influencing consumers¡¦ trust in Fortune-Telling websites. This research adopts three major research methods: experiment, interview and grounded theory. Based on literature review and an interview to a professional fortune-teller, a primitive conceptual research framework is developed and an experimental fortune-telling web site is thus established. There are twenty subjects joining the experiment. Most of subjects are interviewed twice, before and after learning the fortune telling results. Then the grounded theory research procedure is applied to the conversations of interviews. Finally, a consumer trust model of the fortune-telling website is established. The model shows that Well-Known, Product, Profession& Integrity, and Content of Website are main factors influencing customers¡¦ trust. Key words: trust, electronic commerce, fortune-telling, grounded theory, trust model

Problem: Facebook is the most frequent and most used Social Media of our time. Facebook shapes new opportunities in communication and collaboration between companies and consumers that have not been possible before. Facebook is a marketing channel that gives companies an easy and free way of sharing fast information and communication online. However, Facebook’s main purpose is to maintain and create relationships online. Researchers say that in order to have a long-term relationship with loyal consumers, trust is needed. Therefore, it is interesting for companies to know the important variables that can create trust on Facebook. Trust generates loyalty and long-lasting relationship that in turn guarantee an income over time. The strengthening the relationship over Facebook is a free and fast way of creating these benefits to a company. Purpose: This study investigates important variables in the trust building process between companies and consumers on Facebook. We also explore how trust can be created in the relationship trough the companies Facebook activities. The thesis contains a case study of three different companies that use Facebook as a marketing channel. The reason behind the case study was to explore how these companies work to create trust. Methodology: The study is qualitative research and is based on three existent cases. In-depth interviews and observations of Swedish companies were the two methodologies used. Conclusions: The Facebook-Trust model was developed and represent how trust can be created through over Facebook. Companies can use the Facebook-Trust model in order to create trust in the relationship with the consumer. The case study revealed that the companies did not work according to the model. Companies are not aware of that they can create trust on Facebook. Therefore, the Facebook-Trust model is useful for the companies in this study.

There is a single thing that is universal to every human being, connection, unit, organisation, population, financial system and civilisation throughout the globe. If disconnected it might devastate the most authoritative government, the most flourishing business, most prosperous economy and the most powerful leadership. On the other hand if developed and influenced, that one thing has the potential to generate incomparable accomplishment and prosperity in every measurement of life. Yet, it is the least understood, largely ignored and most underestimated opportunity of our time. That one factor is trust. The intent of this study is to explore the nature of interpersonal trust relationships by investigating the factors of disposition trust, the domains of trust behaviour, cognition based trust and affect based trust as well as the accuracy of the performance appraisal. Factors that influence trust levels are pre-requisite to further investigate trustworthiness by means of other three factors: the employees’ ability, integrity and benevolence. If trust exists within an organisation, it influences the following factors positively: communication, organisational citizen behaviour, learning inside the organisation, turnover team performance as well as the organisation’s performance. An empirical study was done through a survey consisting of recognized questionnaires to establish the trust levels, as well as the accuracy of the performance appraisal system. This summarised the importance of the trust levels, as well as the accuracy of the performance appraisal system. The survey results were analysed in detail in order to conclude which construct and areas necessitate consideration from management. The trust foundations were understood differently by the employees as indicated by the results of the survey. Another indication from the survey was that there are important dissimilarities on how certain groups understand the leadership’s actions with respect to trust within the organisation. The possibilities for these differences were mentioned. Recommendations were also made to improve the three trustworthy factors along with the other constructs measured in this survey to identify the dissimilarities between the different language groups, different genders, the permanent and the part-time group. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

There is a single thing that is universal to every human being, connection, unit, organisation, population, financial system and civilisation throughout the globe. If disconnected it might devastate the most authoritative government, the most flourishing business, most prosperous economy and the most powerful leadership. On the other hand if developed and influenced, that one thing has the potential to generate incomparable accomplishment and prosperity in every measurement of life. Yet, it is the least understood, largely ignored and most underestimated opportunity of our time. That one factor is trust. The intent of this study is to explore the nature of interpersonal trust relationships by investigating the factors of disposition trust, the domains of trust behaviour, cognition based trust and affect based trust as well as the accuracy of the performance appraisal. Factors that influence trust levels are pre-requisite to further investigate trustworthiness by means of other three factors: the employees’ ability, integrity and benevolence. If trust exists within an organisation, it influences the following factors positively: communication, organisational citizen behaviour, learning inside the organisation, turnover team performance as well as the organisation’s performance. An empirical study was done through a survey consisting of recognized questionnaires to establish the trust levels, as well as the accuracy of the performance appraisal system. This summarised the importance of the trust levels, as well as the accuracy of the performance appraisal system. The survey results were analysed in detail in order to conclude which construct and areas necessitate consideration from management. The trust foundations were understood differently by the employees as indicated by the results of the survey. Another indication from the survey was that there are important dissimilarities on how certain groups understand the leadership’s actions with respect to trust within the organisation. The possibilities for these differences were mentioned. Recommendations were also made to improve the three trustworthy factors along with the other constructs measured in this survey to identify the dissimilarities between the different language groups, different genders, the permanent and the part-time group. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The role of trust in traditional face-to-face mentoring has already been investigated in several research studies. However, to our knowledge, very few studies have examined how trust is established in electronic-mentoring relationships. The purpose of the current study is to examine by means of the Mayer et al. (1995) model how e-mentees perceive a prospective e-mentor's trustworthiness and how these perceptions influence the decision to be mentored by a particular e-mentor. A sample comprised of 253 undergraduate and graduate students from the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa participated as potential mentees by completing a survey after having reviewed the selected e-mentor’s profile. The survey employed quantitative and qualitative measurements to assess the mentee's perception of the prospective e-mentor’s level of trustworthiness. In the quantitative section, both the Behavioural Trust Inventory (Gillespie, 2003) and the Factors of Perceived Trustworthiness (Mayer et al., 1999) were measured. The Behavioural Trust Inventory was designed to measure the extent to which a mentee is willing to be vulnerable in e-mentoring relationships. The Factors of Perceived Trustworthiness (ability, benevolence and integrity) were designed to measure these three attributes’ contributions to the extent to which the mentees perceived the e-mentor as being trustworthy. The factorial structure (confirmatory factor analysis) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the constructs were examined. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the fit of the models (Behavioural Trust Inventory and Mayer et al.) to an e-mentoring context. In the qualitative section, the indicators of trustworthiness were collected by means of an open-ended question and were analyzed by means of content analysis. The results of the quantitative analysis revealed that the models (the Behavioural Trust Inventory and the Factors of Perceived Trustworthiness) have an adequate fit with the e-mentoring model after accounting for some correlated error terms. The results of the qualitative analysis identified some other attributes (apart from ability, benevolence and integrity groups) have an influence on the extent to which the mentees perceived the e-mentor as being trustworthy. The main finding is that the Mayer et al. (1995) model appears to be a suitable device for the measurement of trust in e-mentoring relationships at the initiation phase.

Zugl.: Witten, Herdecke, Univ., Diss., 2007

Background Trust is an important factor in many contexts, especially in inter firm relationships. Here, trust is essential in order to maintain the tenure of inter-organizational relationships. Auditors are in need of trust when it comes to accomplishing their audit tasks. Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate how experienced and newly appointed auditors create and maintain trustful relationships with their clients. The research will focus on how auditors with different levels of experience approach their clients when building trust. By taking the limited mandate period of the auditor into consideration, the study will adopt a further aspect which has not been researched upon before. This will provide auditors as well as other professionals with insight of how to establish and maintain trustful relationships. Method The research will be conducted from an interpretivist standpoint, as the human interest will be in focus. The research method of this study has a qualitative approach, where eight interviews were conducted with auditors who were from the all of the Big 4. The auditor possesses different levels of experience. The empirical findings will be analyzed based on the stages of trust development by Lewicki and Bunker. Conclusion Availability, knowledge, experience and being able to identify the client’s needs were factors that were considered to be important when building trust. Prior relationship building was a deviant strategy used the experienced auditors. The limited term of office was not considered to affect the level of dedication to build trustful relationship with the client, the findings suggested that it rather was a motivation for the auditor to implement trust building strategies in an early stage of the relationship.

The role of trust in traditional face-to-face mentoring has already been investigated in several research studies. However, to our knowledge, very few studies have examined how trust is established in electronic-mentoring relationships. The purpose of the current study is to examine by means of the Mayer et al. (1995) model how e-mentees perceive a prospective e-mentor's trustworthiness and how these perceptions influence the decision to be mentored by a particular e-mentor. A sample comprised of 253 undergraduate and graduate students from the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa participated as potential mentees by completing a survey after having reviewed the selected e-mentor’s profile. The survey employed quantitative and qualitative measurements to assess the mentee's perception of the prospective e-mentor’s level of trustworthiness. In the quantitative section, both the Behavioural Trust Inventory (Gillespie, 2003) and the Factors of Perceived Trustworthiness (Mayer et al., 1999) were measured. The Behavioural Trust Inventory was designed to measure the extent to which a mentee is willing to be vulnerable in e-mentoring relationships. The Factors of Perceived Trustworthiness (ability, benevolence and integrity) were designed to measure these three attributes’ contributions to the extent to which the mentees perceived the e-mentor as being trustworthy. The factorial structure (confirmatory factor analysis) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the constructs were examined. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the fit of the models (Behavioural Trust Inventory and Mayer et al.) to an e-mentoring context. In the qualitative section, the indicators of trustworthiness were collected by means of an open-ended question and were analyzed by means of content analysis. The results of the quantitative analysis revealed that the models (the Behavioural Trust Inventory and the Factors of Perceived Trustworthiness) have an adequate fit with the e-mentoring model after accounting for some correlated error terms. The results of the qualitative analysis identified some other attributes (apart from ability, benevolence and integrity groups) have an influence on the extent to which the mentees perceived the e-mentor as being trustworthy. The main finding is that the Mayer et al. (1995) model appears to be a suitable device for the measurement of trust in e-mentoring relationships at the initiation phase.

The overall purpose of this study is to determine the impact of social media on customer trust in small e-businesses. In addition, this research study seeks to find answers in particular on the level of improvement or enhancement, if any, that the use of social media has on consumer trust. Trust is an essential aspect in any business regardless of its size. Trust is what drives customers to purchase vendor products and services. In this digital age, small e-businesses are selling their products online. However, the lack of trust has been a major concern and a contributing factor to small businesses’ failures. This research uses a mixed-methods research design, utilizing two different approaches both qualitative and quantitative methods used alongside of each other. The first part of our findings presents the qualitative results from the interviews with a number of small e-businesses owners, and the second part shows the quantitative results from online surveys with the consumers. With the analysis of the two components of the study based on the results from the responses of the small e-business owners and the online consumers, we can infer that social media marketing has indeed greatly affected and changed the present small e-businesses trends. Our findings indicate that social media is at the present used as a trustworthy reference to gather information about the products and services of small e-businesses. The power of social media has also allowed customers and small e-businesses owners to build relationships and establish trust from their constant communication.

Ce travail doctoral vise à étudier le rôle de la confiance initiale dans la phase d'établissement de la relation entre le consommateur et une marque. Pour ce faire, nous avons tout d'abord effectué une étude qualitative exploratoire auprès d'un échantillon de 24 personnes. Dans le cadre de cette étude, nous avons opté pour le cas d'une marque nouvelle pour les interviewés car c'est précisément dans ce cas de figure que la confiance initiale devrait être le plus difficile à établir pour la marque. Les résultats de cette étude exploratoire révèlent l'existence d'une confiance initiale du consommateur envers une nouvelle marque. Celle-ci fait référence à une présomption par le consommateur que la nouvelle marque puisse être fiable et intègre. Elle se forme à partir de quatre types de facteurs : les facteurs liés à la marque, les facteurs liés aux tiers, les facteurs liés au consommateur et le facteur situationnel. Enfin, elle engendre deux conséquences : l'intention d'achat de la nouvelle marque et l'intention de recommander la nouvelle marque à l'entourage. Nous avons ensuite réalisé une enquête en ligne auprès d'un échantillon de 421 femmes afin de vérifier nos hypothèses de recherche. Elle s'est effectuée par le biais d'un questionnaire précédé d'un scénario et portait sur une nouvelle marque de crème anti-rides qui a été conçue pour les besoins de la recherche. Les résultats de cette étude montrent que : (1) la confiance initiale envers une nouvelle marque est un concept unidimensionnel et non bidimensionnel ; (2) certains facteurs influencent positivement la confiance initiale envers une nouvelle marque : la perception positive du bouche à oreille, du point de vente, du pays d'origine et du packaging de cette marque ; (3) d'autres facteurs influencent négativement la confiance initiale envers une nouvelle marque (la perception du prix élevé de cette marque) ou n'ont pas d'influence sur cette dernière (la perception positive de la publicité de cette marque, la propension à faire confiance et l'ouverture d'esprit du consommateur) ; (4) le risque perçu lié à la catégorie de produits a un effet modérateur sur les relations entre la perception positive des signaux émis par les entreprises (le prix, le pays d'origine, le point de vente, le packaging et la publicité) et les tiers (le bouche à oreille) d'une part, et la confiance initiale envers une nouvelle marque d'autre part ; (5) la confiance initiale envers une nouvelle marque est un déterminant de l'intention d'achat et l'intention de recommander cette marque.Mots clés : confiance, confiance initiale, marque. / This doctoral research aims to investigate the role of initial trust in the establishment phase of the relationship between consumer and brand. We first conducted an exploratory qualitative study with a sample of 24 subjects. In this study, we opted for a new brand for the interviewees, since it is precisely in this case that the initial trust should be more difficult to establish for the brand. The results of this exploratory study reveal an initial consumer trust towards a new brand which refers to a presumption by the consumer that the new brand is reliable and honest. It is formed from four types of factors: factors related to the brand, to third parties, to individual consumer and to risk perception. In addition, it generates two outcomes that are intention to buy and intention to recommend the brand. We then conducted an online survey among a sample of 421 women to test our research hypotheses. This is done through a questionnaire preceded by a scenario focused on a new brand of anti-wrinkle cream which is designed for research purposes. The results of this study show that: (1) the initial trust towards a new brand is one-dimensional and not two-dimensional concept; (2) some factors positively influence initial trust towards a new brand: the positive perception of word of mouth, point of sale, country of origin and packaging of this brand; (3) other factors negatively influence the initial trust towards a new brand (the perceived high price of this brand) or have no effect on the latter (positive perception of the brand advertising, the propensity to trust, and openness of the consumer); (4) the perceived risk associated with the product category has a moderating effect on the relationship between positive perception of signals emit by companies (the price, country of origin, point of sale, packaging and advertising) and third (word of mouth) on the one hand, and initial trust towards a new brand on the other hand; (5) the initial trust towards a new brand is a determinant of intention to buy and intention to recommend this brand.Keywords: trust, initial trust, brand