Influence of Website Characteristics on Initial Trust in M-Commerce for Young Consumers

Abstract: Lack of trust is argued to be one of the key reasons behind buyers’ reluctance to purchase online. In mobile commerce (m-commerce), gaining initial trust upon the first visit from prospective consumers highly depends on the design of the website. However, the number of qualitative empirical studies investigating what and how website characteristics affect initial trust in an unfamiliar m-commerce website remains limited. The aim of this thesis was thus to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of website characteristics on initial consumer trust in a m-commerce website, to provide insights for designers. An exploratory case study of the mobile version of an e-vendor’s website was conducted and qualitatively examined through Think-Aloud sessions and semi-structured interviews. By thematically analyzing the data, the following website characteristics were identified as influencing initial trust in an unknown m-commerce website: purposeful and clear visual design, internal design consistency, mobile adaptation and reading experience, content quality, similarity and expectations, social proof and external validation. Based on the insights, the study further provides recommendations to practitioners on how to design trustworthy m-commerce websites, both as support in the design pro-cess and for evaluation purposes.