Credible Sustainability Signals, Consumer Trust, and Purchase Intention in Selected Middle Eastern Online Retail Contexts

This research aims to explore the extent to which sustainable e-commerce practices are perceived as credible signals amid digital uncertainty and, in turn, affect consumer responses. The current research fills an important research gap regarding sustainable e-commerce practices and their impact on trust, purchase intention, and willingness to pay a premium over time, specifically within selected e-commerce settings in the Middle East. The current research adopted a two-wave panel data approach to analyze data from 600 active e-commerce users in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the West Bank using PLS-SEM. The current research found significant effects of sustainable e-commerce practices on trust and purchase intention, and that trust is a significant yet moderate mediator between sustainability perceptions and subsequent purchase intention. The current research also found that environmental concern does not have significant moderating effects on the core model, and willingness to pay a premium does not have significant short-term effects. Theoretically, this research contributes to sustainable e-commerce practices by highlighting credibility-based digital cues, rather than positive attributes, as an important yet incomplete mediator between sustainability perceptions and consumer response. In practice, this research has implications for e-commerce managers and practitioners, indicating that they are more likely to benefit from verifiable sustainability communications than from environmental rhetoric, particularly in the short term for building trust and utilization.