Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/1170

Title

Trust in the internet: the key bottleneck

Author(s)

Armstrong, Mark;  Barr, Trevor;  Coutts, Pam;  Coutts, Reg;  Knowles, Ann;  Moore, Susan

Abstract

This study investigated barriers which influence Internet consumers, Internet providers' views of what consumers want/need and factors associated with potential takeup of new forms of mobile phone commercial transactions. The methodology was focus groups and in-depth interviews. Trust emerged as an important predictor of consumer behaviour, for both Internet and potential. M-commerce users. The perception that users have that their transactions lack security on the Internet is a major inhibiting factor to the growth of on-line services. While trust was also an issue for mobile phone users who might consider m-commerce, a mitigating factor against risk perception was the perception of the mobile phone as an extension of self (and therefore somehow more trustworthy). Providers did not see the complex issues of trust in the same light as users. They drew a distinction between the consumer sense of trusting the Internet as a medium of communications as opposed to the 'trusted' brand reputation of the merchants. Implications for Internet futures are discussed.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology

Source

Telecommunications Journal of Australia, Vol. 53, no. 1 (Autumn 2003), pp. 5-11

Publication year

2003

Keyword(s)

Electronic commerce;  Internet;  Internet consumers;  Mobile telecommunication systems;  Risk perception;  User interfaces

Publisher

Telecommunications Society of Australia

ISSN

0040-2486

Publisher URL

http://tja.org.au/index.php/tja/issue/archive

Peer reviewed