Impact of Nationality Information in Feedback on Trust in a Foreign Online Store

Abstract

An experimental study was conducted among Japanese consumers in order to investigate the effects of nationality information in feedback on trust towards a foreign online store. Three experimental conditions were created: (1) feedback from Japanese users, (2) feedback from Thai users and (3) a control condition of no feedback. We hypothesized that showing feedback from Japanese users would result in the highest level of trust, and that an increase in trust would then result in lower perceived risk, and higher perceived usefulness and intention of use of the website. A survey was conducted in Japan, obtaining a total of 915 participants who were randomly assigned into three groups corresponding to the experimental conditions. Structural equation modeling was used in order to analyze the proposed hypotheses within a model of consumer behavior. The results indicate that showing feedback from Japanese users resulted in higher trust than showing feedback from Thai users or showing no feedback. However, feedback from Thai users did not result in an improvement of trust when compared with no feedback shown.