Factors affecting buyers' trust in e-commerce in Palestine

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is relatively a new concept and research topic in developing countries including Palestine. In this form of commerce, the first impression that users create about an organisation is often based on the organisation's website's trustworthiness. This has motivated many researchers to investigate the factors that influence buyers' trust in such websites. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the potential factors affecting buyers' trust in e-commerce in Palestine. More specifically, the study embraces a multi-dimensional construct of trust (integrity, benevolence, ability) rather than examining each single dimension of trustworthiness individually. In addition, the effect of independent variables including website design attitudes, reliability, privacy and security attitudes, customer satisfaction and governmental factors on e-commerce's trust dimensions have been mathematically investigated. To this end, relevant data from a random sample of 354 Palestinian citizens who have experienced the online shopping, or who have interest in online purchasing, were collected. Statistical analyses revealed significant effects of all independent variables except reliability on buyers' trust in e-commerce in Palestine. Also, four linear regression models relating the independent variables with e-commerce's trust and its three dimensions (integrity, benevolence, ability) have been built and statistically validated.