The contribution of popular trust mechanisms to the growth of the Dutch e-commerce market

The growth in the use of the internet and e-commerce is accompanied by new challenges. The distant and impersonal nature of e-commerce and the use of a global open infrastructure for transactions have rendered risk an inevitable element of e-commerce. This research addresses the contribution of popular trust mechanisms to the increase of consumers’ purchasing likelihood and the growth of the Dutch e-commerce market. According to the ‘Theory of Reasoned Action’ trust mechanisms mitigate overall perceived risk and increase consumers’ purchase intention. For an effective design of the survey, a research framework was developed. A non-probability sampling method was applied, namely snowball sampling, and an online survey research employed. The findings indicate that the main contributors to the growth of the Dutch e-commerce market are familiarity with the online vendor and vendors’ reputation. The other conclusions are: encrypting sensitive information lowers perceived financial risk; online product feedback mechanisms have a positive influence on product performance risk, and third party assurance (only for some assuring companies) has a positive influence on psychological risk.