1. INTRODUCTION

Customer relation is one of the most important aspect for all companies. Customer loyalty, satisfaction, trust and various other services play a huge role in gaining and retaining customers. This paper’s focus is on the role played by customer trust in the e-commerce platform.

Ecommerce refers to the process when goods and services are bought and sold electronically via channels like internet. Presently, it has become one of the prime area used by business organizations to satisfy customer needs and requirements. E-commerce is a fairly new concept that has been a significant part of the corporate industry for over 2 decades. (Horeishi, 2015)

There are various aspects that played a role in this transition from retail stores to e-retail. In this paper, the concept of Customer Online trust will be talked about majorly. When there is no face-to-face human interaction, then building trust with customers becomes a challenge. Many factors influence customer’s trust on online stores for purchase of goods and services. Major factors that influence customer online trust are as follows:

· Electronic Word Of Mouth (E-WOM)

· Attitude towards technology

· First customer Experience

· Company’s Reputation and Image

· Opinion Leaders

· Offers, Discount and low prices

· Lifestyle based purchases

These factors play a major role in influencing a customer to trust a brand/ company on an online platform and hence purchase products/services, which will in-turn increase sales and profit. These factors will be talked about in detail in the coming sections.

2. SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW METHODOLOGY:

Literature review is an academic paper which has current knowledge and theoretical and methodological contributions to its topic. Traditional or Narrative literature review criticizes and summarizes a paper. It is said that these reviews are mostly biased and support researcher’s own work. Systematic Literature review is said to be the best form of review because it is well defined, more rigorous, and comprehensive and details the method used to evaluate and synthesize the topic in the paper.

The review of literature given in the concerned paper has followed general guidelines of systematic literature review method. According to review method of systematic literature, the following paper reviews this scope, identification of literature relevant and exclusion and inclusion of relevant papers. (Ouirdia, 2015)

2.1 Scope of review:

The scope of this review can be examined by explaining two criteria’s namely content and form. In form, the review has included academic journal articles which have undergone critical review, and it doesn’t include book sections and non-scholastic articles like interviews, short articles in magazines perspectives and publications. Content wise, this article is mostly talking about “Customer Online Trust” and revolves around e-commerce and various factors that impact the judgement of customers for using online services (Ouirdia, 2015).

2.2 Relevant literature identification:

Phase One process of identifying literature and review was conducted in July 2017. The first step was to identify the academic database. Two databases were narrowed down (refer to table: 1) namely: Scopus and Ebsco. Then, the keyword “e-commerce”+ empirical study was used to search academic journals on both Ebsco and Scopus. More specific fields of study were taken, fields like eWOM, customer online satisfaction, online customer behavior, customer loyalty, customer online trust, etc. The research topic of the paper was narrowed down to the topic- "Customer Online Trust”. To find relevant literature for the chosen research topic various filters were used on Ebsco and Scopus. In Ebsco, the keyword used was “Online Trust”. The number papers were limited to 1083. To further narrow down the papers following filters were used- full text, the source type was academic journals, the year was limited to 2013-2017, Language- English, subject- online trust. After putting these filters the number of papers were limited to 86 and 12 papers were chosen from them. In Scopus the key word used was “Online Trust” and 426 papers came in result. Following filters were used- year was limited to 2013-2017, subject area- Business, management and accounting, document type- article, language- English. After putting these filters the number of papers got limited to 79 articles out of which 18 articles were chosen. Finally, 30 papers were chosen as relevant literature.

Table 1: Database Information

Database

Scope and Search Criteria

Date of Search

Number of Items

SCOPUS

Full Text

Source:

Academic Journals

Year- 2013-2017

Language- English

Subject- Online trust

20/07/ 2017

EBSCO

Year- 2013-2017

Subject area:

Business, management and accounting

Document type:

Article Language- English

25/07/ 2017

2.3 Systematic Literature Review Result:

For writing this Review paper, 300 journal articles were screened from EBSCO and SCOPUS, of which 30 matching records were identified and removed, resulting in 270 distinct records(Refer to Figure: 1). The screening was done by three researchers who applied the criteria of inclusion or exclusion and after rounds of discussions and reviews a final agreement was reached. For inclusion in this review final number of 30 articles has been retained. The 30 articles that are included in the review have been published between 2013 and 2017 (Refer to Figure: 2).

Figure 2: Articles Included in the review by year of Publication

Table 2: Research methodologies used in the review literature

	Number of Articles	Percentage (%)
Quantitative	14	18.66
Qualitative	16	21.34
Empirical	30	40.00
Mixed Methods	15	20.00
Total	75	100

4. THEMATIC REVIEW:

Today, Internet is used in B2B (trading, distributing, etc.) and B2C (selling various products and services). This has made e-commerce a huge platform for doing business. One of the major concepts in bringing this change in the B2C e-commerce sector is Trust. “Trust is a fundamental principle of every business relationship” (Corbitt, 2003).

It has been observed that there are various factors that influence Customer Online Trust. These factors determine the intention of a customer. The theory of reasoned action says that intentions to purchase a commodity can predict customer behavior(Fang, 2014). Trust intention means that the first party is willing to(Thamizhvanan, 2013) make themselves vulnerable and depend on the second party. This determines customer retention and expansion of business. To understand this online purchase intention of customers, following are some factors that will help understand customer online trust (Lee, 2014).

4.1 E-WOM:

There are 12 Journal articles, out of the 30 articles chosen for this review paper, which spoke about how E-WOM impacts customer’s trust on online stores. Following is the review taken from those papers.

Traditional WOM is a well-known abbreviation for Word of Mouth. This marketing jargon is very famous and sometimes it is even by customers. WOM has always been a significant factor to influence people to purchase any product or service, may it be retail stores or e-commerce (Debei, 2015). The reason why WOM has such an impact on a customer’s purchase intention is because the second party has experience with the product or service which creates a perception that this person being a customer can give be a better judgement about the quality of product/ service(Chauhan, 2013). It makes the buyer trust his or her word more than a commercial seen on television or internet, which is the company’s portrayal of the product. In simple words, WOM is an interpersonal communication between buyer (consumers) and not marketers, which is perceived to be more truth-worthy and credible. (Elwalda, 2016)

E-WOM, Electronic Word of Mouth, has made it possible for people to know about other customer’s opinions, thoughts and experience of a particular product or service from various online platforms(Kostyk, 2017) like online review, chatrooms, blogs, opinion platforms, online discussions forums and various news groups. So now, WOM is not just limited to face-to-face interaction for exchanging information (Elwalda, 2016).

E-WOM is considered to be an extension of traditional WOM, though they differ in various aspects. E-WOM has higher speed, hence it is more wide spread and has more reach. This makes the review more influential when compared to traditional WOM (Kim, 2017).The traditional WOM is a face-to-face interaction amongst small groups of people which limits its impact. Another difference is that the E-WOM is generally put up by unidentified customers which questions its credibility and can impact the reputation of a brand. On the other hand, traditional WOM is done amongst familiar people which makes it a more credible to make a product’s judgement (Elwalda, 2016). Finally, E-WOM is in a written form and exists for a long period of time which makes it more measurable than traditional WOM.

There are two kinds of E-WOM: Positive E-WOM and Negative E-WOM (Debei, 2015).As mentioned in the above paragraph, on an online platform the reviews are given by unidentified customers. This gives a customer the freedom to give their opinion freely. Positive E-WOM are ways for customers to express their good experiences with products/ services which influences others to buy that product (Banerjee, 2017). Negative E-WOM are by far the most influential and creates a distrust in customers. Customers post negative online reviews for two reasons, firstly to seek help for any complaint, and secondly to take out their frustration and anger. The second reason is a disadvantage of E-WOM which impacts the sales and reputation of a company(Kaur, 2015).

E-WOM is seen to be the most influential factor to influence purchase intentions of customers and greatly impacts customer online trust.

4.2 Attitude towards technology:

There are 5 Journal articles, out of the 30 articles chosen for this review paper, which spoke about how customer’s attitude towards technology impacts customer’s trust on online stores. Following is the review taken from those papers.

Attitude to technology, also known as the network lifestyle has a huge impact on customer’s intention to purchase online. Various aspects(Malhotra, 2017) like time spent online, internet usage, technological skills, etc. are determinants of attitude towards technology. Various studies have shown that a customer who is technologically friendly and actively uses internet is a more potential buyer from online stores. The simple reason is that he or she has a much wider experience in using various platforms on the internet and is more comfortable in exploring new dimensions online. A customer who does not use internet will find online purchasing a major change and will be more comfortable in purchasing from retail stores (Kemeny, 2017)

4.3 First customer experience:

There are 4 Journal articles, out of the 30 articles chosen for this review paper, which spoke about how customer’s first experience with online retailing impact’s customer’s trust on online stores. Following is the review taken from those papers.

The opinions and reviews seen by the customer does have an impact on a customer but a strong judgement formed by a customer is after his or her first purchase experience (Thamizhvanan, 2013). Studies have shown that the first purchase experience of a customer with a company majorly determines customer retention (Klaus, 2013). There are various factors seen in a first purchase: user interface, online help desk, ease of usability, variety of products, quality of products, timely delivery and after sales services. These factors all together if create a positive impact, leads to the customer becoming a permanent customer and builds a strong bond of trust (Mai, 2014).

4.4 Company’s reputation and image:

There are 3 Journal, out of the 30 articles chosen for this review paper, which spoke about how company’s reputation and image impacts customer’s trust on online stores. Following is the review taken from those papers. The reputation of a company and its image has a direct impact on a customer online trust (Hsiang, 2017). A company with a strong reputation increases trust and hence increases the likelihood of a customer to associate with that company. This reduces customer’s uncertainty to make purchase decisions(Choi, 2016).Customer’s perception about the company’s image directly influences a customer’s commitment and trust, and has an indirect influence on purchase intentions. Thus, it can be said that a firm’s reputation and image has a positive impact on purchase intentions and customer online trust(Kaur, 2015)

4.5 Opinion leader:

There are 8 Journal articles, out of the 30 articles chosen for this review paper, which spoke about how opinion leaders impact customer’s trust on online stores. Following is the review taken from those papers.

Opinion leaders are people who are active participants on online forums who regularly post their reviews and opinions(Kaur, 2015). Their active participation creates a perception amongst other customers that they have a wide knowledge about that particular product/ service. This make them believe that the information provided is reliable and trustworthy(Kemeny, 2017). These online opinion leaders are generally very experienced and post helpful suggestions, but their negative suggestions leads to a much wider impact than other reviews (Yingzi, 2016).

4.6 Offers, discounts and low prices:

There are 4 Journal articles, out of the 30 articles chosen for this review paper, which spoke about how offers, discounts and low prices impact customer’s trust on online stores. Following is the review taken from those papers.

Offers and discounts are forever shopping reasons for everyone. Various studies have shown that when companies take out exceptional discounts on online platforms or have low prices as compared to retail stores, various buyer profiles come ahead and purchase variety of products and services (Sekhon, 2013). In these buyer profiles even those people are observed who are not very frequent and first time online buyers. This is one scenario where even though a buyer might not have high levels of trust but still has high purchase intentions (Mai, 2014).

4.7 Lifestyle based purchase:

There are 3 Journal articles, out of the 30 articles chosen for this review paper, which spoke about how customer’s lifestyle impacts customer’s trust on online stores. Following is the review taken from those papers.

Online shopping has considerably increased among people with hectic work schedules(Pandey, 2015). People with such lifestyle find it that online purchasing is less time consuming and in addition gives them the desired product/ service at home or office without any efforts. This makes them more frequent buyers and hence increases their online trust (Pandey, 2015)

5. LIMITATIONS:

There are two major limitations. Firstly, even though 30 papers were chosen from 300 papers, some important papers may have been left out unintentionally which could have given a more in-depth knowledge about the various factors. Secondly, a customer’s trust on online platforms will depend on more factors, than the factors mentioned in this paper. An accurate and efficient conclusion cannot be drawn by saying that these factors can determine the customer’s intention of purchasing from online stores. (Ouirdia, 2015)

6. DIRECTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH:

Customer Online Trust is a very vast topic. The factors mentioned in this paper are just a tip of the ice-berg. There are many more factors that can be looked into. In a culturally diverse country like India, even culture would play a part in being a factor. Demography and gender are also some more factors that should be researched.

Also, the data mentioned in this paper has only taken the urban population into consideration. Many small businesses from rural areas have realized the impact of putting their business online. This should also be included in the data for concluding on the impact of various factors on customer online Trust.

7. CONCLUSION:

This paper majorly identifies various factors that affect Customer Online Trust. With reference to the 30 journal articles, seven factors were mentioned in detailed. All factors play a major role in determining whether a customer will purchase a product/ service online. Electronic Word of Mouth came out to be one of the most important factor (Elwalda, 2016). Customers have been used to buying from retail stores but a trend shifting towards online stores has been seen. This shift in trend shows that customer online trust is increasing. Companies have realized the importance of these factors in this change and are paying making constant changes keeping them in mind.

8. REFERENCES:

1. Banerjee, S. B. (2017). Whose online reviews to trust? Understanding reviewer trustworthiness and. Decision Support Systems, 1-37.

2. Chauhan, A. P. (2013). Role of content strategy in social media brand communities: a case of higher education institutes in India. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 40-51.

3. Choi, S. S. (2016). Influence of Firm’s Recovery Endeavors upon Privacy Breach on Online Customer behaviour. Journal of Management Information Systems, 904–933.

4. Corbitt, T. and. (2003). Trust and e-commerce: a study of consumer perceptions. Electronic Commerce Research and Application, 204-215.

5. Debei, M. N. (2015). Customer attitude towards online shopping. Internet Research, 707-733.

6. Elwalda, K. L. (2016). The impact of online customer reviews (OCRs) on customers' purchase decisions: An exloration of the main dimensions of OCRs. Journal of customer Behaviour, 123-152.

7. Fang, Q. S. (2014). Trust, satisfaction and online repurchase intention: Moderating role of perceived effectiveness of e-commerce institutional mechanisms. MIS Quarterly, 407-427.

8. Horeishi, and. M. (2015). Analysis of factors influencing Online Trust: A unified Model. World of Computer Science and Information Technology Journal (WCSIT), 149-154.

9. Hsiang, C. L.-W.-S. (2017). Understanding online shopping intentions: the roles of four types of trust and their antecedents. Internet Research, 332-352.

10. Kaur, T. K. (2015). Factors obstructing intentions to trust and purchase products online. Asia Pacific Journak of Marketing and Logistics, 1-28.

11. Kemeny, A. N. (2017). Are opinion leader more satisfied? Results of a SEM model about the relationship between opinion leadership and online customer satisfaction. Society and Economy, 141–160.

12. Kim, R. A. (2017). A Meta-analysis of Online Trust Relationships in E-commerce. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 45-54.

13. Klaus, P. (2013). The case of Amazon.com: towards a conceptual framework of online customer service experience (OCSE) using the emerging consensus technique (ECT). Journal of Services Marketing, 443-457.

14. Kostyk, J. M. (2017). Simpler online ratings formats increase consumer trust. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 131-141.

15. Lee, H. J. (2014). Factors Influencing Online Trust. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 41-50.

16. Mai, T. Y. (2014). Determinnats of online customer satisfactopn inan emerging market- A mediator role of trust. International Journal of contemporary Management, 8-30.

17. Malhotra, S. S. (2017). Psychological contract violation and customer intention to reuse online retailers: Exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms. Journal of Business Research, 17-28.

18. Ouirdia, S. and. (2015). Employees' use of social media technologies: a methodological and thematic review. Behaviour and Information Technology, 1-11.

19. Pandey, D. C. (2015). online shopper segmentation based on lifestyles: An exploratory Study in India. Journal of Internet Commerce, 37-41.

20. Sekhon, S. R. (2013). Modelling trust in service relationships: a transnational perspective. Journal of Services Marketing, 76-86.

21. Thamizhvanan, A. (2013). Determinants of customers' online purchase intention: empirical study in India. Journal of Inidan Business Research, 8-30.

22. Yingzi, S. F. (2016). Who is talking, who is listening? Service recovery through online customer-to-customer interactions. Marketing Intelligence and planning, 421-443.

Received on 08.12.2017 Modified on 30.12.2017

Asian Journal of Management. 2018; 9(1):812-816.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2018.00128.2