The Moderating Effect of Religiosity on the Relationship between Trust and Diffusion of Electronic Commerce

Electronic commerce, an enormous revolution in today’s business world, has genuinely influenced the financial systems, marketplaces, product manufacturing, service and job industries, logistics and consumers’ mind-set. Consumers, posturing different individual characteristics, act differently in showing their trust in e-commerce business mainly due to the nature of the business. As an important predecessor of customers’ readiness to make use of e-commerce, it is essential to maintain consumers’ level of trust. Importantly, religiosity is one of the leading factors in building Muslim consumers’ opinion, both intra-personally and interpersonally, towards new ideas or latest technologies. This is a conceptual study to explore the moderating effect of religiosity on the relationship between trust and diffusion of e-commerce; in particular in Islamic perspective. Exploring the enlightened moderate version of Islamic teachings toward new ideas and innovations including e-commerce, the study aims to highlight applicability of Islamic traits.