Trustworthiness in e-commerce: A replication study of competing measures

The study is a conceptual replication of two widely cited and broadly used measurement instruments of perceived trustworthiness and examines how these mutually alternative measures explain consumer purchase intentions in e-commerce. The authors compare the results using data collected from customers of online bookstores in two culturally distinct countries: Finland and China. The results of the study show that overall, the dimensions of perceived trustworthiness, that is ability, integrity and benevolence, explain consumer purchase intentions notably better in China than in Finland. The results further show that the conceptually equivalent measurement instruments provide remarkably different empirical results. The study highlights the need for proper validation of theoretical constructs before running further analyses, because measurement instruments and items that seem alike can provide seemingly different findings. For this reason, researchers should be cautious when comparing and interpreting the results of different studies using different indicators of the same theoretical construct.