Trust and Trustworthiness of websites

In relation to internet technologies and commerce trust is seen as an essential part of the stable relationship, vital for the maintenance of certain level of privacy and security. In the business context the idea of trust is affiliated with the relationship built and nurtured over a time which involves the exchange of tangible/intangible favors. Trust is needed whenever the parties recognize the existence of risk or uncertainty so that any future business exchanges will be carried out smoothly. As a result the existence of trust brings alone many advantages in online business such as the reduction of transactional cost and complexity. It enhances the stable co-operation and the maintenance of long-term relationship as well as it enables the reduction of the perceived business risk (Sculli 2002).

Although trustworthiness is frequently confused with trust in the academic literature (Caldwell and Hansen, 2005), one person trusts another when the second person is trustworthy.

Giddens (1990) suggested the hypothesis that trustworthiness is combination of the long-lived well established face contact interpersonal trust and the faceless commitments concerning the development of trust in what Giddens terms abstract expertise systems. According to the author the systems of expertise play fundamental role in allowing people to trust institutions or organizations. He noticed that finding the balance to harmonize those two dimensions on personal and system level trust may ultimately create a strong tie of trustworthiness

Moreover Sztompka (1999) added that let alone trust is crucial factor for successful business enterprise but yet it is not enough. Companies have to take measures to build customers` loyalty because in on-line environment every consumer will be able to assess individually, the trustworthiness to several firms simultaneously, before committing any purchase. Sztompka (1999) has defined three dimensions of trustworthiness: reputation, performance, and appearance. The good organizational reputation can influence the effect of perceived risk which, in turn, will either strengthen or weaken the level of company’s trustworthiness. Furthermore the performance is seen as the object of trust’s recent result. For instance a consumer is offered a trial period for a particular product during which he/she can evaluate and justify whether to buy or refuse the item. As for the appearance in the case of online commerce it can be related to the image of particular web site which further enhances the trustworthiness. In conclusion companies should design the consumer’s trust by building high-quality reputation, by demonstrating excellent product performance, and by preserving a professional appearance in dealing with clients.

From another point of view, trustworthiness of websites relates with some other requirements. It need to be considered that web sites full of banners, pop ups and advertisements may simply lose interest (Hayes et al,  2007).On the other hand having a user friendly website which is easy to navigate and informative would be more appealing. The site more likely to be revisited is the user friendly site, this is because the more user friendly tools you have to navigate the site an increase in trust will be developed with your consumers (Pimmanee et al 2006). But how to be trustworthy on your website? They are couple of tools which can make the website more friendly. Most of this tools are used in all the professional websites. The next paragraph is going to analyse how to be trustworthy, based on the success website of Chealse football club:

Purchasing an own domain name is one of the basic steps. It gives to the site a professional and trustworthy look and it enables to control the content on the website and avoid ineligible advertisements. This will put more emphasis on subject area. Chealse football club chose domain www.chelseafc.com. At the very first visit of the site we can recognise the suspicion of welcome/enter page. The presence of this could divert the attention of the consumer who is seeking for fast information. Including legitimate contact information is another important requirement of trustworthiness. This information is situated on left bottom of the homepage of Chelsea website. This includes all important phone numbers, working hours a business mailing address and an associated email. Furthermore Chelsea is  keeping all his contents up to date. On the home page and in section news we can find the most relevant news updated daily. Users nowadays have no patience. Make sure you pages upload quickly. This will show professionalism and will also boost confidence in your potential buyers/viewers. Adding a "about us" page can give personal touch to the website. Chelsea provides lot of information about the club, such as his history, sponsors and partners. Absence of this information could generate suspicions. In order to make the Chelsea website more trustworthy, it gives to his fans a chance to share they opinions and gives a chance to communicate among them. And finally the Chelsea website provides the latest secure purchase program available to secure purchases your clients purchases. This includes a secure server, a secure gateway, and information that informs you that the customer’s online purchase is as secure as is currently possible. All this tools heps to make the Chealse website as trusthworthy as possible.

 

Reference

 

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 Li, X., Rong, G. and Jason, T. (2009) 'Swift Trust in Web Vendors: The Role of Appearance and Functionality.' Journal of Organizational & End User Computing 21, (1) 88-108

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