Trust and New Technologies: Marketing and Management on the Internet and Mobile Media

Citation

du Preez, M. (2009), "Trust and New Technologies: Marketing and Management on the Internet and Mobile Media", Online Information Review, Vol. 33 No. 6, pp. 1208-1209. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520911011151

Social science researchers find trust an extremely important concept when they deal with people's attitudes and behaviour towards the use of certain technologies, information systems, the Internet, or even mobile communication technologies. These technologies have also affected business management and marketing strategies, especially when considering ways to reduce the perceived risks involved in conducting online business transactions.

The central idea behind Kautonen and Karjaluoto's book is to collect a wide sample of research articles addressing the different roles trust plays in conducting business in an online environment. In 16 the editors have managed to provide a comprehensive overview of current conceptual and empirical research on trust‐related issues from multiple perspectives. The 16 chapters are divided into three thematic parts:

1. 1.

   Consumer trust in online environments.

2. 2.

   Trust and mobile media.

3. 3.

   New technologies and trust within and between organisations.

The authors first address current conceptual problems in online trust research, while focusing on trust related to informational and transactional web sites addressing online consumers. Thereafter issues relating to online brand building, online banking, virtual identities and retailing, and grey market e‐shopping are addressed.

The second part addresses the under‐researched topic of trust in mobile media. Issues discussed include means to mediate effects of privacy and preference management on trust and consumers' participation in mobile marketing initiatives. The authors address the role of trust in consumers' acceptance of mobile advertising, the impact of trust on privacy, the different sources of trust, and the implications of interpersonal trust of the use of mobile communication technologies.

The five chapters in Part 3 deal with diverse issues such as the role of trust in virtual teams and knowledge management, the development of pre‐relational trust in technology service providers, how trust works in the information systems of global business enterprises and the role that trust and uncertainty play in the introduction of new technologies in the market.

Trust and New Technologies is an enlightening collection of research papers on trust. The book should be of interest to scholars, practitioners and researchers focusing on the applications of new technologies in marketing and business management. Since trust also is a key concept in information behaviour studies, researchers interested in this field will also find this book a useful resource.

More could have been made of the index, which mainly includes entries for citations that appear in the text of the source rather than the concepts under discussion. This negatively affects on what could have been a useful resource and in a sense duplicates information already included in the bibliographies appearing at the end of each chapter.