Effect of Trust in Domain-Specific Information of Safety, Brand Loyalty, and Perceived Value for Cosmetics on Purchase Intentions in Mobile E-Commerce Context

In 2016, the safety issues of humidifier disinfectants and some other safety incidents in personal cares caused chemical phobia syndrome in the Korean society. This series of events has created a trend for cosmetic consumers to undermine brand confidence and to self-check the safety of commercial cosmetic formulations through mobile apps. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of trust in domain specific information on the safety rating of cosmetic ingredients on the perceived value and the purchase intention of the cosmetics. The results of structural equation modeling showed that involvement of skin safety (ISS) had a positive effect on trust in domain specific information on safety (TDSI) and brand loyalty (BL). TDSI showed a positive effect on the perceived safety value (PFV) and the perceived social value (PSV), and BL had a positive effect on the PSV. ISS, TDSI, and PSV had a positive effect on the purchase intention (PI) of green-grade cosmetics (GGC). As hypothesized, BL had an adverse effect on PI of GGC. Given the results, utilizing the signal of the domain specific information may be recommended to new entrants to the cosmetic business or manufacturers with relatively weak brand power.