Individual Trust in Online Firms: Scale Development and Initial Test

Abstract The importance of trust as a key facilitator of electronic commerce is increasingly being recognized in academic and practitioner communities. However, empirical research in this area has been beset by conflicting conceptualizations of the trust construct, inadequate attention to its underlying dimensions, causes, and effects, and lack of a validated trust scale. This paper addresses these limitations in part by theoretically conceptualizing and empirically validating a scale to measure individual trust in online firms. The proposed scale taps into three key dimensions of trust: trustee's ability, benevolence, and integrity. An iterative testing and refinement procedure using two field surveys of…