View article

Institution-based trust is a buyer’s perception that effective third-party institutional mechanisms are in place to facilitate transaction success. This paper integrates sociological and economic theories about institution-based trust to propose that the perceived effectiveness of three IT-enabled institutional mechanisms–specifically feedback mechanisms, third-party escrow services, and credit card guarantees–engender buyer trust in the community of online auction sellers. Trust in the marketplace intermediary that provides the overarching institutional context also builds buyer’s trust in the community of sellers. In addition, buyers’ trust in the community of sellers (as a group) facilitates online transactions by reducing perceived risk.

Data collected from 274 buyers in Amazon’s online auction marketplace provide support for the proposed structural model. Longitudinal data collected a year later show that transaction …