E-handlarens digitala egenskaper och dess inverkan på konsumentens subjektiva uppfattning : En kvantitativ studie om förtroende och misstro

Sammanfattning: The study examines how online retailers' digital characteristics affect consumers' perception of the online retailer and how the perception affects trust and distrust of the online retailer. The result aims to help online retailers gain an understanding of which characteristics are most salient and strategically important to generate trust among consumers. The digital properties that the study examines are, technical functionality, information quality, user-friendliness, graphic design, navigation, and recognition. A consumer's perception is considered either functional, or motivational. To investigate the relationship between the variables, a quantitative survey was carried out. Collected data was analyzed using statistical measures to investigate the purpose of the study. The internal reliability was calculated, the variables distrust, information quality, graphic design, recognition, and functional perception resulted in an acceptable internal reliability. Correlation analyzes were performed between the independent variables to rule out multicollinearity, then regression analyzes were performed to examine relationships between the variables. The correlation test resulted in exclusion of multicollinearity. The regression analysis resulted in graphic design and navigation being shown to have a significant positive impact on functional perception, which means that an appealing graphic design and an intuitive navigation on an online retailers' website contribute to the website being perceived as functioning well. Graphic design was the only variable that showed a significant positive impact on motivational perception. An attractive graphic design can thus motivate a consumer to choose a specific online retailer and to become a returning customer, furthermore, graphic design also seems to be important for creating a strong connection to the company. The regression analysis also showed that only motivational perception can explain trust and distrust with significance. In other words, a consumer's positive motivational perception can increase its trust and distrust of an e-merchant. The analysis resulted in a generally low degree of explanation, which indicates that there are variables, or dimensions of the investigated variables that the study ignored, that can explain trust and distrust. The factors may therefore be of interest to investigate in future studies.