The Difference Between Online Trust And Distrust Formation Mechanism Of Chinese Consumers

Online shopping, as the increasingly favorite spending pattern of modernists, has been widely infiltrated into consumers'daily life and routine duties. It is obvious that shopping online has continued its growth trend since 2008 and appears to be the mainstream shopping way of younger generation gradually owing to its rich information and active interaction which provide comprehensive cost comparison for consumers and the price-performance and convenience superiorities as well.Having said online shopping presented a powerful momentum of growth, however, only 24 percent of the populations use it currently and this means we still have a long way to go compared with foreign development. Admittedly, online shopping brings us a newly developing and convenient shopping way, but the trust issue that follows on account of anonymous identity and separation of time and space could not be neglected by both sellers and buyers. Research continues to show that the overriding reason for consumers not to trade online is the lack of trust, and trust appears to be the key factor which restricts online shopping to achieve further development. Thus many scholars have carried on researches on the influencing factors of online trust and how to establish and maintain online trust, but distrust, the opposite of trust, has been ignored all the time. In addition, many studies on Chinese personal trust find that China is a society with high special trust and low general trust, in other words, the Chinese trust mode lies in trusting people on their own side and distrusting strangers naturally .In view of online shopping activities, buyers and sellers do not know each other before and exchange information only by talking online, therefore it is very important for us to study on distrust online in China context. On the basis of the above discussion, this present paper systematically analyzes the issue with three studies as follows.Study1 is designed to analyze the connection between trust and distrust. A large number of scholars think high trust is identical to low distrust and catching on trust means understanding distrust so that research on distrust has been neglected for a long time. But recently, some studies show that distrust is dissimilar but related to trust, and they are not the simple opposite side in the same structure as what people have in mind traditionally. Current researches find that Chinese trust has its own uniqueness which appears to be high special trust and low general trust, and this kind of personal trust mode makes western studies on trust unfit in Chinese situation, and that is why this present paper focuses on the relationship between trust and distrust in Chinese context at first.Study2 analyzes how the dimensions of trust influence trust and distrust respectively. We trust somebody who is worthy of trusting. With regard to the characters of trustee, capability, benevolence and integrity are widely applicable currently which could provide trust-providers with both positive attitude such as hope, confidence and sense of security, and negative attitude such as worry, doubt and fear, by that I mean trust and distrust. Despite that the sources of trust and distrust are the same, many studies find that trust and distrust are separate concepts absolutely, which means that the same dimension exerts different influences on trust and distrust, thus the Study 2 analyzes the effect mechanism of three above dimensions on trust and distrust. In addition, the impacts of trust and distrust on consumer behavior are the topics in which scholars are interested. The present study makes further efforts on the effects of trust and distrust on personal information and purchase intention in order to understand the action mechanism of trust and distrust comprehensively.Study 3 makes further analysis on concrete influence factors of trust and distrust at different stages of development with the purpose of obtaining more practical meaning. Trust develops through a dynamic process which varies with the trading procedures between sellers and buyers. In the early stage of trust development, the perceived uncertain and risk of consumers are extremely distinct because they are unfamiliar with buyers and have never interacted before, therefore it is particularly crucial to build up initial trust of consumers rapidly for the cause of attracting customers and achieving success. But at the sustained trust stage, consumers with repurchase behaviors have already owned their first purchase experiences, thus it is the key emphasis in work for e-commerce sellers to promote repurchase and build up customer loyalty. The stage of trust development is kind of a complicate task whose tactics varies with different stages. For this reason, Study 3 builds up a model to direct at customer traits in initial and sustained trust stages respectively so as to find the differences of influence factors of trust and distrust in two above stages with the result that online sellers could understand the generation mechanism of trust and distrust to build up consumer trust and bring down consumer distrust positively instead of waiting for consumers negatively.On the basis of the present research framework, the author referred to correlative literature and formed the final questionnaire of this present paper through talking with experienced consumers and a small sample pretest, moreover, the writer carried out an large-scale investigation on Changchun colleges and universities students and then use statistical analysis methods, such as basic descriptive statistical analysis, validity and reliability test, structural equation, to analyze the collected data in order to validate the theoretical framework and research hypothesis of this present study.Having considered the empirical analysis above, Study 1 concluded that trust and distrust are separate concepts in Chinese context, then Study 2 found that the function of capability was equivalent to motivational factors, while the function of benevolence and integrity are equal of hygiene factors, moreover, the close examination revealed that the effects of trust and distrust were not distinct on consumers'information provision willingness, but the effect of distrust was more conspicuous than trust on consumer purchasing intention. In the final analysis, Study 3 indicated that trust model at initial stage was supported with better goodness of fit and explanatory power, and web usability, web usefulness, transaction security, and seller reputation all exerted significant influences on trust and distrust. Specifically, for the consumers at initial trust stage, web usability and seller reputation were equivalent to motivator factors while web usefulness and transaction security were the equal of hygiene factors. With respect to the sustained stage, the conclusion of trust model was supported as well with the same better goodness of fit and explanatory power, to tell in detail, the influencing factors, such as web usability, web usefulness, transaction security, seller reputation, service quality, preferential treatment, effective incentive, contact communication, exerted influence on trust and distrust with high level of significance, moreover, the further analysis made it clear that the effects of web usefulness, transaction security and service quality are equal to hygiene factors, while the effects of seller reputation, preferential treatment, effective incentive and contact communication are equivalent to motivational factors ,and the effect of web usability on trust and distrust is insignificant. This present research would not only enrich the theoretical researches in consumer behavior area, promote the local development of academic researches, but also expand the current research on online trust and well complement studies on distrust. Besides, it is harder to transform consumers from distrust attitude into trust attitude than the opposite. This present paper will help us understand the influencing factors of trust and distrust at various stages of development, avoid losing trust for some neglected element. To sum up, making a comprehensive research on trust and distrust will be instrumental for enterprises to deeply understand the mentality and behaviors of consumers, draw up more effective marketing strategies, and provide new guidelines to lower customer distrust, attract new customers, retain regular customers, and develop everlasting trust among customers.