Trust in Online Food Purchase Behavior: An Exploration in Food Safety Problem for Produce E-retailers

摘要

This study develop a theoretical framework describing the trust-based decision making process when a consumer makes a purchase from a given food website. Online food safety problems have become increasingly prominent, which has brought great harm to online food shopping. Survey data from 374 subjects were used to test the proposed model and structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the measurement and structural models. The findings show that trust in the website and trust in the vendor are critical determinants of perceived risk and intention to purchase. Furthermore, the majority of the antecedents are positively affecting consumer trust. These findings show that the food vendor and website managers can enhance trust by providing a secure and user-friendly food shopping environment.