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Effect of product review interactivity, social inequality, and culture on trust in online retailers: A comparison between China and the U.S.

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, Media and Communication.
This study is the first study that compared the predicting strength of the effect of the micro factor (interactivity of product review use experiences) and macro factors (social inequality and culture) on consumers’ trust in online retailers. It examines the predictor of online trust by information asymmetry theory, reciprocity, in-group favoritism and out-group derogation, and social presence. Consumers of the two largest e-commerce sites in the United States and China, Amazon and Tmall, are compared. The results show the interactivity of product use experience is the strongest predictor of consumers’ trust in online retailers compared to social inequality and culture. The interactivity is positively related to consumers’ trust in famous brands, third-party retailers, and fulfilled third-party retailers of both Amazon and Tmall. In contrast, social inequality is negatively related to consumers’ trust in famous brands, third-party retailers, and fulfilled third-party retailers of both Amazon and Tmall. Individualism is positively related to trust in third-party retailers while collectivism is positively related to trust in third-party retailers fulfilled by Amazon or Tmall. Power distance exerts a positive impact on trust in famous brands only. Collectivism plays a more critical role in predicting trust in fulfilled online retailers in Chinese sample than in the U.S. sample. The relationship of trust in online retailers and consumers’ actual online purchases is different across countries. Trust in online retailers is an important direct predictor of online purchase diversity and indirect predictor of the amount of money spent online in both the U.S. and China. And it is a direct predictor of online purchase frequency in the U.S., but an indirect predictor of purchase frequency in China. Trust in online retailers is positively related to the amount of money spent on Amazon/Tmall indirectly by affecting shopping frequency on Amazon/Tmall.
Louisa Ha, Professor (Advisor)
Gi Woong Yun, Associate Professor (Committee Member)
Lisa Hanasono, Associate Professor (Committee Member)
Philip Titus, Associate Professor (Committee Member)

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yang, L. (2017). Effect of product review interactivity, social inequality, and culture on trust in online retailers: A comparison between China and the U.S. [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu149920185828032

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yang, Liu. Effect of product review interactivity, social inequality, and culture on trust in online retailers: A comparison between China and the U.S. . 2017. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu149920185828032.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yang, Liu. "Effect of product review interactivity, social inequality, and culture on trust in online retailers: A comparison between China and the U.S. ." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu149920185828032

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)