Trust has long been regarded as a catalyst in consumer-marketer relationships because it provides expectations
of successful transactions [Schurr and Ozanne 1985]. Especially trust has always been an important element in
influencing consumer behavior and has been shown to be of high significance in uncertain environments, such as the
Internet-based EC context [Jarvenpaa and Tractinsky 1999; Jarvenpaa, Tractinsky and Vitale 1999].
Several researchers have proposed trust as an important element of B2C e-commerce [e.g. Gefen 2000;
Jarvenpaa and Tractinsky 1999; Keen 1999; Palmer, Bailey, and Faraj 2000]. Gefen [2000] showed that trust is
essential in the acceptance of Internet technologies. Palmer, Bailey, and Faraj [2000] argued that building consumer
trust in Web retailers is fundamental to the growth of B2C e-commerce. Jarvenpaa and Tractinsky [1999] empirically
showed that trust has a direct significant effect on consumer purchase intentions in multiple cultures. Keen [1999]
proposed that trust is the foundation of EC, focusing on the strategic implications of trust for consumer-marketer
relationships.
Trust is also likely to be an important element in consumer acceptance of MC, considering the uncertainty and
infancy of MC environment. Despite the importance of trust in MC environment, this topic has been little attention
in the MC literature. And there has been little academic study on the relationship between interactivity components
and customer trust in MC context. This study proposes research model for building customer trust and transaction
intentions in MC, focusing on the perceptions of interactivity.
There are several different ways of defining the concept of trust. Morgan and Hunt [1994, p. 23] conceptualize
trust as existing when one party has confidence in an exchange partner’s reliability and integrity. Moorman et al.
[1993, p. 82] define trust as “a willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence”. Based on
previous studies, McKnight and Chervany [2002] presented an interdisciplinary typology of trust that is related to ecommerce
consumer actions. Following the work of McKnight and Chervany [2002], trust in MC is defined here as
the belief allows consumers to willingly become vulnerable to mobile Internet site after having taken the Internet
site’s characteristics into consideration.