The Behaviour and Perceptions of On-Line Consumers: Risk, Risk Perception and Trust

The growth and the expansion of the Internet and the World Wide Web continue to
impact society in new and amazing ways. The role of economic commerce has not
been as dynamic as some predicted, but has still demonstrated remarkable success
and tremendous potential. Any failure to meet some of the expectations may be
explained in large part by questions and concerns surrounding existing methods of
electronic commerce and of the Internet. A key negative perception centres on the
security involved in Internet practice and electronic payment systems. Negative
perceptions are then compounded and reinforced by massive media exposure of
Internet security incidents. Many consumers still lack the necessary trust in on-line
merchants and Internet security procedures and continue to use the Web to simply
browse. The types of attack individuals face include confidence-trick or actual
encounters calculated to extract bank or personal details, computer spyware that
opens on accessing the Internet, enticing users with offers of non-existent free gifts
while copying confidential files, and programmes that can infiltrate networks,
operating within them undetected, ultimately causing them to crash. Social
Engineering is one such method used by an attacker to get information. There are
two main categories under which all social engineering attempts could be classified,
computer or technology-based deception and human based deception. The
technology-based approach is to deceive the user into believing that is interacting
with the ‘real’ computer system (such as popup window, informing the user that the
computer application has had a problem) and get the user to provide confidential
information. The human approach is done through deception, by taking advantage of
the victim’s ignorance, and the natural human inclination to be helpful and liked.
One of the most effective technology-based approach is a scam, called “phishing” as
a form of identity theft. This is a technique used to gain personal information for the
purposes of identity theft, using fraudulent e-mail messages that appear to come
from legitimate businesses. These authentic-looking messages are designed to fool
recipients into divulging personal data such as account numbers and passwords,
credit card numbers and Social Security numbers. This paper provides an overview
of electronic commerce and the impact of risk and trust on on-line shopping
consumer behaviour. Due to the growth and potential of on-line shopping and the
lack of academic-based research on Internet-related consumer behaviour, there is a
tremendous need for impartial, academic investigation into the behaviour and
perceptions of on-line consumers.

Citation:
Jahankhani, H. (2009) ‘The Behaviour and Perceptions Of On-line Consumers: Risk, Risk Perception And Trust’, International Journal of Information Science and Technology’, International Journal of Information Science and Management, 7 (1) 79-90.