Understanding of e-service security dimensions and its effect on quality and intention to use

Security has been a critical matter in the development of electronic services. The purpose of this research is to develop a new model to help e-service practitioners and researchers in the evaluation of e-service security and its effect on quality and intention to use e-services.

According to the literature, 13 security dimensions are extracted. Then, exploratory factor analysis is applied to reduce the number of security dimensions. This step is implemented based on end-users’ perception. Afterward, a hierarchical structure of e-service security is established to calculate the weights of security dimensions applying analytical hierarchy process method by contribution of e-service experts and providers. Finally, structural equation modeling using LISREL is applied to test the proposed theoretical model.

Results indicates that confidentiality, integrity, privacy, authentication, non-repudiation and availability are antecedents of consumers’ perceived security in e-service. Considering the high significance of perceived security, it is concluded that enhanced feelings of security will result in improved perception of quality. Furthermore, it is found that users will intend to use e-service if they feel that the quality of e-service is high.

Few studies have been done on users’ adoption behaviors of e-services and even those few have not investigated users’ security perception as a major factor affecting users’ intention to use e-services. Considering the increasing concerns of users about the security of their personal information and how it affects their adoption behaviors, there is a need to conduct more studies on the factors involved in this procedure. In this study, the concept of security from both perspective of objective security and subjective security is evaluated.