Consumer trust: privacy policies and third‐party seals
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
ISSN: 1462-6004
Article publication date: 30 October 2007
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to compare the effectiveness of third‐party seals with self‐reported privacy policy statements with regard to the willingness of potential e‐commerce customers to provide web sites with various types of personal information.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to 374 graduate business students at two Midwestern universities in the USA.
Findings
The results indicated that third‐party seals were not as effective as self‐reported privacy statements with a strong guarantee of security.
Research limitations/implications
This study did not provide any evidence to support the necessity for small enterprises to incur the added costs in terms of money and time required to obtain a third‐party seal. Rather the results suggest small enterprises may increase consumer trust more effectively through strong privacy policy statements.
Originality/value
This study provides useful information on the effectiveness of third‐party seals with self‐reported privacy policy statements with regard to the willingness of potential e‐commerce customers to provide web sites with various types of personal information.
Keywords
Citation
Peterson, D., Meinert, D., Criswell, J. and Crossland, M. (2007), "Consumer trust: privacy policies and third‐party seals", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 654-669. https://doi.org/10.1108/14626000710832758
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited