The determinants and consequences of consumer trust in online environments: an exploratory investigation

In the relatively new world of e-commerce in consumer markets, managing customer relationships across new channels presents a significant challenge in terms of understanding the antecedent conditions for developing buyer-seller relationships in online environments. Consumer trust in e-retailers has recently been acknowledged as having a role to play in determining the likelihood of using the internet for purchasing. Without building and maintaining trust between consumers and e-retailers, the development of the internet as an e-commerce medium in mass markets is unlikely to reach its full potential. This exploratory study presents and tests a model describing the relationship between the determinants and consequences of consumer trust in online environments.