ABSTRACT
Abstract: Popular literature touts trust as the hallmark of online consumer commerce. But academic research has concentrated on examining the factors that engender trust without critically questioning the nature, processes, and roles of trust in online consumer commerce. Such neglect may have introduced biases into the trust literature and resulted in overly simplistic recommendations to managers and Internet practitioners on the importance of trust and how to generate it. There exists a need to expand and clarify our understanding of online consumer trust. This article identifies conceptual and theoretical trends on trust that, if addressed in future studies, may help in the overall quest for a deeper appreciation of the nature, processes, and role of trust in electronic commerce.
