“This paper is cited because it explains clearly that trust is not one concept, but a set of interdisciplinary concepts that relate to each other.”

The paper is cited primarily because of past confusion about what "trust" means. Comparing the trust definitions analytically, it became clear that they tended to differ based on the scientific discipline of the researcher. Psychologists saw trust as a trait concept, sociologists as a structural concept, and economists as an economic choice concept. It was very much like the story of the six blind men and the elephant—each set of researchers "seeing" only one aspect of trust. This paper is cited because it explains clearly that trust is not one concept, but a set of interdisciplinary concepts that relate to each other.

The paper is significant because it explains the major types of trust concepts in use by scientists and illustrates how those types of trust apply to the electronic commerce domain. "Disposition to Trust," from psychology, means the tendency to trust generally in other people. "Institution-based Trust," from sociology, means the extent to which one trusts structures and situations on the web itself. Both Disposition to Trust and Institution-based Trust are important factors that build trust in the specific E-Commerce Vendor, a concept from social psychology and economics. Trust in the E-Commerce Vendor, in turn, leads to consumer trust-related behaviors like sharing information with the e-vendor, purchasing from the website, and following the e-vendor’s advice. Overall, the paper defines 10 different measurable trust constructs. The paper is also cited because it explains some of the reasons that consumers trust and transact with an e-commerce vendor with whom they do not interact in person. The riskiness and uncertainty of impersonal Internet transacting is what makes trust a key factor for Web vending success. Since this article was published, many excellent scholars have examined empirically the trust aspect of electronic commerce.

In 1992, when I first became interested in trust research, I was bewildered by the scores of overlapping and contradictory definitions of trust. It became a challenge to me, like a puzzle to solve.

Harrison McKnight
Michigan State University
Assistant Professor, Accounting and Information Systems Department
Eli Broad College of Business
Michigan State University
Lansing, MI, USA