CIS Dissertation Defense: Claire Hitosugi, Effects of Culture on Online Initial Trust: Individual Level Analysis (12/5/208)

Title:    'Effects of Culture on Online Initial Trust:  Individual Level Analysis'
Time & Place:  December 5 (Fri)  2 pm   Room Business Administration Bldg C-101
Claire Hitosugi, Ph.D. Candidate, CIS

Executive Abstract:
In this paper I show that culture directly and indirectly effects individual's trust in website.  Building upon McKnight et al.’s trust model (2002), a new integrated trust and culture model is introduced.  The study finds that subjective norm is the most significant variable that effects initial online trust formation.  Not only does subjective norm directly impact all four trust constructs, but it is also a covariate of all four culture constructs.  Thus, all four culture dimensions (masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) indirectly effect trust formation through subjective norm.  In addition, uncertainty avoidance and power distance directly effect trust formation but masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism dimensions have no direct effects.

Detailed Abstract:

Little work has been done on the relationship between online trust formation and culture.  In IS research, culture is often studied either at the national level or at the organizational level.   In this study, how culture effects initial trust formation on the web is studied at the individual level.  The culture instrument is taken from the Srite and Karahanna article (2006).   Four culture dimensions (masculinity/femininity, individualism/ collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) originally proposed by Hofstede (1980) are investigated.  Subjective norm questions are also adapted from Mathieson (1991).

The study was conducted over the 2008 summer. Participants in the experiment were undergraduates at the UH Manoa.  First, students navigated a tourism website and gathered information on the destinations.  Then, they were instructed to go to the online survey site.  First, the initial online trust model by McKnight et al. (2002) was successfully replicated in a tourism context.  And then, subjective norm and culture dimensions were integrated into the trust model using structural equation modeling.

I propose from ‘theory of reasoned action’ (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) that subjective norm is a critical variable in trust formation.  The McKnight et al.’s trust model does not have this component in the model.  My data show that subjective norm has strongest effects on online initial trust formation.  Subject norm directly impacts all four trust constructs (disposition to trust, institutional trust, trusting beliefs, and intention to trust) in the model.

Furthermore, subjective norm is found to be a positive covariate of four culture variables, i.e.  Subjective norm can positively affect the relationship between trust constructs and culture variables.  In particular, uncertainty avoidance has the strongest covariance to subjective norm as well as having direct effects on trust constructs. 

Two culture variables are not only covariates of subjective norm but directly affect trust formation.  Power distance and uncertainty avoidance dimensions have direct effects on three trust constructs (disposition to trust, institutional trust and trusting beliefs), but not on intention to trust.  The dimensions of masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism are found to have no direct effects on trust formation.  

My results show how one perceives what others (peers, family and people they value) think of his/her use of online vendors has significant effects on initial online trust formation.  Furthermore, a person high in uncertainty avoidance not only takes cues from others more, but also s/he has a more trusting disposition and forms trusting beliefs in a particular online vendor more than a person low in uncertainty avoidance.