Asymmetrical Impact of Trustworthiness Attributes on Trust, Perceived Value and Purchase Intention: A Conceptual Framework for Cross-cultural Study on Consumer Perception of Online Auction

Lack of trust has been frequently cited to be one of the key factors that discourage customers from participating in e-commerce, while cultural differences affect the formation of trust. As such, this cross-cultural study aims at establishing a conceptual framework to investigate the primary antecedents of online trust and the mechanism that converts consumer trust into perceived value and purchase intention in online auction. Two elements of our model bear mention here. First, the authors divide the consumer trust into two facets, seller and intermediary trust, and intend to assess their reciprocal relationships. Second, the authors intend to examine the asymmetrical impact of the negative and positive trustworthiness attributes on trust, and the interrelationship among trust, perceived value and purchase intention across cultural groups.