The impact of a third-party assurance seal in customer purchasing intention
Abstract
Although e-commerce is evolving at an incredible speed, asymmetric information and opportunism have increased online purchasing risks and market inefficiencies. The lack of face-to-face contact and the inability of the customer to touch and feel tangible products necessitate that online business must provide customers with reliable information and convince customers of their trustworthiness. While the research on Third-Party Assurance Seals (TPAS) is not new, the effectiveness of TPAS has not been persuasively addressed by empirical studies. Our study is different from previous efforts in that it is comprehensive because it combines consumer trust, perceived risk, and influences of TPAS in the B2C e-commerce context. The results of the study show that (1) the effects of TPAS on perceived risk are channeled through perceived trustworthiness, thus demonstrating the mediating role of perceived trustworthiness in B2C e-commerce, (2) perceived risk, perceived usefulness of website, and subjective norm appear to be significant predictors of intention to purchase from the website, (3) a third-party assurance seal strongly affects online shoppers' perceived trustworthiness toward online retailers, while the seal appears to have little effect on perceived risk directly; perceived risk is strongly associated with intention to purchase from the website.
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Third-party assurances and labelization strongly influence customer buying intentions and purchasing behavior.
“More specifically, third-party assurances and labelization have been shown to strongly influence customer buying intentions and purchasing behavior (e.g., Kimery and McCord 2002; Lee et al. 2004).”
From Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration: Assessment, Certification, and Promotion of 21st Century Skills for the Future of Work and Education (2023) · cites this paper as Lee et al. 2004
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- Authors
- Lee, S. M., Choi, J., & Lee, S.-G.
- Affiliations
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Ajou University
- Venue
- Journal of Internet Commerce
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2004-07-20
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 33-51
- ISSN
- 1533-2861 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-287X
- OpenAlex
- W2033054612
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Internet Commerce (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Keywords
- online purchase intention, perceived trustworthiness, risk perception, consumer trust, B2C e-commerce, subjective norms, information asymmetry
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