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Article
Exploring the Impact of Online Privacy Disclosures on Consumer Trust
Journal of Retailing
  • Yue Pan, University of Dayton
  • George M. Zinkhan, University of Georgia
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2006
Abstract

We explore the impact of privacy disclosures on online shoppers’ trust in an e-tailer through a two-phase study. In the first study, we use a between-subjects factorial design to test whether the presence of an online privacy policy influences consumer trust and find that consumers are likely to respond more favorably to a shopping site with a clearly stated privacy message than to one without it, especially when privacy risk is high. In our second experiment, we examine the effects of different forms of privacy disclosures. The results suggest that online shoppers find a short, straightforward privacy statement more comprehensible than a lengthy, legalistic one. However, how a privacy policy is presented (in terms of wording) does not affect a shopper's trust in the store to any significant degree.

Inclusive pages
331–338
ISBN/ISSN
0022-4359
Publisher
Elsevier ScienceDirect
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Keywords
  • Privacy policy; Privacy risk; Consumer trust; E-tailer; Experiment
Citation Information
Yue Pan and George M. Zinkhan. "Exploring the Impact of Online Privacy Disclosures on Consumer Trust" Journal of Retailing Vol. 82 Iss. 4 (2006)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/yue_pan/18/