Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

Consumer trust toward retail websites: Comparison between

pure click and click-and-brick retailers
Elissar Toufaily 1, Nizar Souiden 2, Riadh Ladhari n
Faculty of Business Administration, Laval University, Quebec, Canada G1V 0A6

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 9 November 2012
Received in revised form
31 March 2013
Accepted 12 May 2013
Available online 25 June 2013

This paper examines the effects of security/privacy and social presence of retailers on consumer's e-trust
in two different contexts: pure click and click and brick retailers. It explores how e-trust affects consumer
attitudes toward websites and WOM. A conceptual model is tested using Structural Equation Modeling,
on a random sample of 989 French customers. Results suggest that perceived website social presence and
perceived security/privacy exert strong and positive impacts on website credibility and benevolence,
which in turn directly inuence website attitudes and indirectly inuence word-of-mouth. One major
difference between pure click and click-and-brick retailers is that the role of social presence in
developing online benevolence is more important in the case of pure click retailers. The study concludes
with managerial implications that may be useful in retail marketing.
& 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Online customer trust
Retailer multichannel
Website security/privacy
Website social presence
Benevolence
Credibility

1. Introduction
The notion of trust has been widely studied in its different
approaches (interpersonal trust, organizational trust, trust towards
the brand, etc.) and in different areas such as psychology, management, nance or marketing (Grabner-Kruter and Kaluscha, 2003).
Also, academics have highlighted the importance of trust in
e-commerce relationships (e.g. Gefen, 2000; Pavlou, 2003).
According to Gefen and Straub (2004), trust is emphasized more
in an e-commerce context than in a traditional one because
e-vendors' unethical behaviors carry a high risk (Gefen and
Straub, 2003; Gefen and Straub, 2004; Palvia, 2009) and sometimes consumers perceive a degree of social complexity in online
transactions. Indeed, higher e-trust levels may lead to a higher
e-loyalty toward a website and more online shopping intentions
(Cyr et al., 2007; Doong et al., 2011; Flavin and Guinalu, 2006) as
well as increased intentions to participate in exchange relationships with online retailers (Palvia, 2009).
Online trust is dened as the conviction that allows consumers
to willingly become exposed to web retailers after having taken
the retailers' characteristics into consideration (Pavlou, 2003). The
importance of trust is further emphasized in an online transaction

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 418 656 2131x7940; fax: +1 418 656 2624.
E-mail addresses: elissar.toufaily@fsa.ulaval.ca (E. Toufaily),
nizar.souiden@fsa.ulaval.ca (N. Souiden), riadh.ladhari@fsa.ulaval.ca (R. Ladhari).
1
Tel.: +1 418 656 2131x3513; fax: +1 418 656 2624.
2
Tel.: +1 418 656 2131x5321; fax: +1 418 656 2624.
0969-6989/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2013.05.001

context (Pavlou and Fygenson, 2006) and is a critical condition for

the success of an online business (Keen et al., 2000).
Because websites act as the store frontage for online retailers
and are considered the essential link with customers (Chen and
Dibb, 2010), the present study examines the role of website
features in the development of online customer trust. A customer's
interaction with a store is, to some extent, similar to his or her
interaction with a website, and consumers develop perceptions of
trust in a website based on their interactions with the site (Bart
et al., 2005). Thus, the study explores the impact of two principal
features of a website, notably its perceived security/privacy and its
perceived social presence, on online trust. Second, this research
explores the impact of online trust on (1) consumers' attitudes
toward the retailer's website and (2) their website recommendation or word of mouth.
To further enhance our understanding of online trust, this
study also attempts to compare two different types of retailers:
click-and-brick and pure click retailers. Most previous studies on
the type/mode of retailing have focused on the implications of
each retailing channel on the rm's performances. For instance,
Berstein et al. (2008) and Ko and Roztocki (2009) examine how the
nancial performance of the rm is inuenced by the retailing
model (i.e., ofine, online or a mix of both). Generally, no
agreement among researchers is reached since some argue that
click-and-brick lead to higher nancial performances, where
others, nd no evidence of such an advantage. Similarly, other
researchers (e.g., Yao et al., 2009) attempt to examine the impact
of the retailing mode (ofine or online) on the rm's inventory

E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

management and the implications of managing the e-channel by

the manufacturer or by a third party. In this present study,
however, the focus is on the consumer side. In particular, we
attempt to investigate the moderating role of the retailer type (i.e.
pure click versus click and brick) on the relationships between
website features and trust. Although research on multichannel has
attracted more attention lately, we believe that there are still gaps
to be lled, especially on the role of social presence within the
multichannel context.
In fact, research is sparse on the moderating effect of the mode
of retailing on the relationships between online trust, on one hand,
and security/privacy and social presence, on the other hand.
Interaction with retail salesperson in stores contributes to building
trust. However, in an online environment, the interaction is
limited to the website functionalities (Gefen and Straub, 2003).
An effective web platform should offer the same characteristics
that a customer service representative would offer, allowing the
customer to, psychologically and socially, feel the presence of
the company's representative. Social presence is manifested when
the medium is perceived to be warm, or conveying a feeling of
human contact, sociability and sensitivity (Cyr et al., 2007).
Keeling et al. (2010) argue that, compared to ofine shopping,
Internet shopping provides little opportunity for exchanges and
lacks many of the trust-building guaranties. Moreover, uncertainty
about the outcome (transaction performance) is lower for clickand-brick retailers than for pure click ones. This led customers to
seriously consider website's security features and privacy statements. Therefore, comparing the two types of retailing in terms of
consumers' perceptions of social presence and security/privacy
and the impact of these variables on consumers' e-trust would
provide managers with useful insights on how to build relationships with customers in the pure online and in the online/ofine
environments. This paper contributes to the current knowledge, by
testing whether social presence and security/privacy manifest
different roles in these two different modes of retailing (click
versus click-and-brick).
The remainder of the manuscript is organized as follows: The
rst section reviews the role and the dimensions of the trust
construct, discusses the antecedents (social presence and security/
privacy) and consequences (website attitude and recommendation/WOM) of website trust and addresses the distinction between
click and brick and click e-retailers. In the same section, the
conceptual model and the hypothesized relationships are also
presented. The second section describes the methodology used to
test the hypothesized relationships. Finally the results are presented followed by a discussion of the ndings and managerial
implications.

2. Literature review

539

obstacle in online businesses (Ratnasingham, 1998). Yousafzai

et al. (2005) conrm this view and state that the lack of consumer
trust in the attributes of an online service provider and in the
overall online environment is a broad hurdle for the increase of eservices (e.g. e-banking). Flavin and Guinalu (2006) state that,
because (i) there is no physical interaction with an online vendor,
(ii) payment is made prior to the delivery of the purchased good or
service, (iii) the received product/service may not be the one that
was ordered, (iv) registering complaints to companies that have no
physical presence is difcult, and (v) reports of hacker attacks are
increasing, consumers may be reluctant to use online transactions.
Yao et al. (2009) add that one of the major reasons of lack of
success for early e-business attempts was the failure of order
fulllment. Thus, owing to the inherent uncertainty of web-based
services and the nature of the relationships that consumers have
with services providers (i.e., distant and impersonal interactions),
online consumer trust is a critical issue to explore in detail
(Reichheld and Schefter, 2000).
Trust has been conceptualized by previous research in a variety
of ways, both theoretically and operationally (Gefen et al., 2003),
and researchers have long acknowledged the confusion in the eld
(e.g. McKnight et al., 2002). According to Rousseau et al. (1998),
trust is a psychological state comprising the intention to accept
vulnerability based on positive expectations of the intentions or
behaviors of another. Trust implies a party's willingness to accept
vulnerability but with an expectation or condence that it can rely
on the other party (Moorman et al., 1992; Morgan and Hunt, 1994).
For the purpose of this study, we focus on online trust. Unlike
ofine trust, the object of online trust is the Website, the Internet,
or the technology (Bart et al., 2005). Thus, according to Bart et al.
(2005: 134), online trust includes consumer perceptions of how
the site would deliver on expectations, how believable the site's
information is, and how much condence the site commands.
In term of measures, trust is most commonly studied as a
global, multidimensional constructencompassing perceptions of
the provider in terms of competence (e.g., perceived skill and
expertise), benevolence, and integrity (e.g. Lewis and Weigert,
1985; Mayer et al., 1995; Moorman et al., 1993; Rempel et al.,
1985). Some authors treat trust as a bi-dimensional construct and
distinguish between credibility and benevolence (Doney and
Cannon, 1997; Ganesan, 1994; McAllister, 1995). This study retains
the same two dimensions proposed by Ganesan and Hess, 1997:
Credibility-based trust and benevolence-based trust. Credibility
perceptions revolve around one's beliefs about the honesty,
dependability and integrity of the other party (Ganesan, 1994).
Benevolence is the belief that the trustee wishes the trustor well,
aside from an egocentric prot motive (Mayer et al., 1995). Walsh
et al. (2010) stipulate that the separation of trust into benevolence
and competence provides a better understanding of its role in
service relationships.

2.1. Role and dimensions of online trust

Since trust is crucial for social and business relationships (Wu
and Tsang, 2008), researchers as well as managers recognize it as a
key ingredient for the success of business transactions. GrabnerKruter and Faullant (2008) state that whether transactions are
conducted in ofine or online contexts, trust is always a central
factor to any economic decision. The importance of trust, however,
is further emphasized in an online transaction context (HarridgeMarch, 2006) and is a critical condition for the success of an online
business (Keen et al., 2000). Online shopping is more prone to
uncertainty and risks than traditional shopping (Lee and Turban,
2001) and, therefore, the importance of trust in online shopping
cannot be underestimated. Although technological advances have
improved security levels; trust in trading partners is still a major

2.1.1. Credibility based trust

According to Ganesan (1994), credibility depends on the
buyer's belief that the supplier has the required expertise to carry
out his role effectively, with competence and reliability. Online
shoppers consider the online retailer as honest and conducting
business according to an acceptable set of principles (Flavin and
Guinalu (2006). Perceived credibility is impersonal and more
related to one's judgment on the security and privacy characteristics of online retailers. Fassnacht and Kse (2007) state that in
order to gain consumers' trust, online service retailers should not
only design better websites, secure transactions, and protect
consumers personal data, but they should also convey the image
of a fair and reliable exchange partner (e.g., communication should
be targeted and credible in order to reduce consumer resistance).

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An online retailer must honor several forms of commitments in

order to increase its online credibility. The risk increases the need
for credibility-based trust in an online context. The virtuality of
products and the unfamiliarity with certain retailers raise the
question of commitment regarding the offer (e.g. actual delivery of
the product, the correspondence of the product to the description).
Protection from fraud and privacy violation is at the forefront of
concerns of the retailer, along with the respect of the information
disclosed by the consumer (personal and nancial data) (Bart
et al., 2005). Perception of investment from the retailer and
customer satisfaction with previous outcomes are also a pragmatic
description of perceived retailer credibility (Ganesan, 1994).

2.1.2. Benevolence based trust

Benevolence is dened as the customers belief that the
company is interested in his or her welfare (Flavin and
Guinalu, 2006), does not intend to show opportunistic behavior
(Larzelere and Huston, 1980) and is looking for mutual benet
(Doney and Cannon, 1997). Ganesan (1994) describes benevolence
as ones perception of the other party being motivated to protect
the best interests of the focal party when new conditions arise for
which no prior commitments were made. Benevolence includes
qualities, intentions, and characteristics attributed to the partner
rather than his specic behaviors (Rempel et al., 1985). Retailers,
who are not only interested in their own outcomes and benets
but also in those of their customers, tend to be more trusted than
those who are solely interested in their own welfare (Ganesan,
1994). It is important to note that consumers can still develop
benevolence-based trust while their objective credibility (credibility-based trust) is not fully reached (i.e., less than perfect).
Benevolence applies in the context of repeated buyerseller
relationships and requires familiarity and prior interaction
between partners (Wang et al., 2003). Hess (1995) shows that
altruism, or the perception that the brand has the consumers best
interests at heart, explain the greatest proportion (40%) of variance
in trust. The traditional acceptance of benevolence refers to
supplier acting on the basis of intentions and attentions that are
benecial to the buyer himself. However, it is difcult for a
customer to conceive that an Internet retailer shows interest for
him in general. In this research, the general conception of
benevolence has been specied as the resolution of problems,
following the conceptualization and measurement of online benevolence described by Gupta et al. (2009).

2.2. Antecedents of online credibility and online benevolence

There is a signicant body of related prior research (e.g.
Belanger et al., 2002; Shankar et al., 2002; Yoon, 2002) providing
conceptual and empirical frameworks of antecedents and consequences of online trust from multiple stakeholder perspectives.
According to Johnson (2007), studies distinguish four sets of
online trust antecedents. The rst set relates to branding (e.g. Bart
et al., 2005; McKnight et al., 2002), the second set to privacy and
security issues (e.g. Balasubramanian et al., 2003; Gefen et al.,
2003; Pavlou and Gefen, 2004; Yousafzai et al., 2005), the third set
to consumers propensity to trust (e.g. McKnight et al., 2002;
Pavlou and Gefen, 2004), and the fourth set to website performance (e.g. Bart et al., 2005; McKnight et al., 2002).
Taking some seminal work on trust into consideration, the
present study investigates two principal website features: security/privacy and social presence, as essential conditions for the
development of online trust. We have mainly focused on these two
website features due to their potential managerial implications for
retailers. In addition, the principal purpose of this study is to test a

parsimonious model of online trust in two different contexts: the

pure click retailers and the click-and-brick ones.
The choice of these features is based on the fact that secure
payments and data privacy on the website are still imperative
concerns for the development of electronic transactions. Even after
two decades of development of this type of transactions, many
customers still seem reluctant to use it. In fact, some websites,
such as transaction-oriented ones, and those with high involvement, entail greater nancial risk than other categories of websites
(Bart et al., 2005).
Also, since every relationship has a social dimension, if not
emotional (Luo, 2002), social presence feature of the website has
been chosen in order to investigate its impact on online trust.
According to the theory of social response, people tend to react to
computer technology as though it is a social entity (Nass and Moon,
2000; Reeves and Nass, 1996; Nass et al., 1995). People are more likely
to love technology and computers when they are matched with their
personality (Luo, 2002). Whenever computer technology exhibits
human-like behaviors, such as taking turns in conversation, and
reciprocal responding, the user is more apt to personify the technology
(Holzwarth et al., 2006; Nass et al., 1995). These emotional and social
factors are important determinants for improving customer satisfaction and their commitment to the online company (Bauer et al., 2002).
Company-customer communication in online environment is mainly
text-based, more impersonal, anonymous, automated, and generally
lack face-to-face interactions (Keeling et al., 2010; Gupta et al., 2009).
Therefore, testing the impact of perceived social presence on online
trust in two different types of retailers seems relevant and offers some
insights into the differences of social presence across website types.

2.2.1. Security/privacy
Security/privacy is among the more challenging issues in online
services and the development of e-commerce (Aladwani, 2001;
Chen and Dibb, 2010; Dong-Her et al., 2004). Many studies on
website usage safety and consumer security and privacy protection have been published (e.g., Chen and Dibb, 2010; Miyazaki and
Krishnamurthy, 2002). Flavin and Guinalu (2006: 604) dene
perceived security as the subjective probability with which
consumers believe that their personal information (private and
monetary) will not be viewed, stored, and manipulated during
transit and storage by inappropriate parties in a manner consistent
with their condent expectations. Security issues in e-commerce
are related to the abilities of e-merchants to protect their online
transaction systems (Angriawan and Thakur, 2008). Consumers
consider security as an important factor when purchasing goods or
services on the Internet (Belanger et al., 2002). For this reason,
seals of approval, which are perceived as indicators of security by
consumers, have been adopted by many websites and have been
reported to have positive effects on trustworthiness (Bart et al.,
2005). According to Angriawan and Thakur (2008), system security perception is a crucial component of online trust.
Privacy, however, is generally dened as the individuals ability to
control the terms by which his personal information is acquired and
used (Galanxhi-Janaqi and Fui-Hoon Nah, 2004). According to Flavin
and Guinalu (2006), the close relationship between the concepts of
privacy and security exists at three different levels: the consumer level
(there is a close relationship between the two concepts in the minds of
consumers); the company level (companies tend to handle both
concepts jointly); and the public level (the public, including government and legislation, views both concepts as closely related). Chen and
Dibb (2010) nd that security and privacy assurances, as well as
product information quality, are among the signicant website-related
antecedents of online trust. Flavin and Guinalu (2006) conrm that
trust in the Internet is chiey inuenced by the security consumers
perceive with respect to the use of their private data. Thus, online

E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

consumer trust may increase by reducing perceived environmental

risks or by improving security (Warrington et al., 2000). Chen and
Dibb (2010) further specify that for users who are unfamiliar with a
website, usability and product information are important factors
affecting trust. However, for those familiar with a website, security
and privacy assurances play the major role in inuencing their trust.
Thus, based on these arguments, we propose the following
hypotheses
H1a. Consumers perception of website security/privacy has a
positive impact on their perception of the websites benevolence.
H1b. Consumers perception of website security/privacy has a
positive impact on their perception of the websites credibility.
2.2.2. Social presence
Social presence is the extent to which a medium allows users to
experience others as being psychologically present (Gefen and Straub,
2003: 11). Kumar and Benbasat (2002) argue that specic communication characteristics of website interfaces will invoke feelings of a
social presence, the feeling that the interaction involves real people.
Several website attributes encourage social presence, including rich
text content, pictures, human audio, avatars, virtual communities,
personalized greeting, intelligent agent, videos and message board
(Holzwarth et al., 2006, Cyr et al., 2007; Gefen and Straub, 2004;
Hassanein and Head, 2007). Burke (2002) stipulate that the same
variables that operationalize social ties on traditional commercial
channels, such as human contacts, advice and service, form the same
expectations of the user on a commercial Website. Many studies have
focused on the impact of social presence on the effectiveness of the
website in terms of attractiveness, retention, persuasion and trust (e.g.
Cassell et al., 2000; Cyr et al., 2007; Hassanein et al., 2009), or in terms
of attitude, purchase intention or satisfaction (Holzwarth et al., 2006).
Literature has showed that the use of an interactive animated
character or avatar, playing the social role of an online salesperson,
provides a source of social presence and increases customer trust
(Keeling and McGoldrick, 2008; Keeling et al., 2010). Cyr et al. (2007)
and Wang et al. (2007) have also highlighted a positive link between
the presence of social cues on a website and the perception of hedonic
aspects of the browsing experience.
In this paper, to operationalize social presence, we will focus on the
concept of social presence that refers, according to Gefen and Straub
(2004) and Cyr et al. (2007), to the impression of being with others,
the impression of human contact, sociability, warmth, to share an
interaction with other entities, to contact them through an online
medium, the Internet. Because human interactions often increase
customer condence and build trust in ofine retailing (Nass and
Moon, 2000), the perception of social presence on a commercial
website inuences customer judgments of trustworthiness. The interface social cues replace the trust- building role of the salesperson
(Keeling et al., 2010; Shankar et al., 2002).
Thus, we propose the following hypotheses
H2a. Consumers perception of a websites social presence has a
positive impact on their perception of the websites benevolence.

H2b. Consumers perception of a websites social presence has a

positive impact on their perception of the websites credibility.
2.3. Consequences of e-trust
With respect to the role of the two components of trust
(benevolence and credibility), few studies focused on their individual impacts. The existing studies report that benevolence positively stimulates consumers emotional commitment toward the
service provider (e.g. Walsh et al., 2010). Other studies argue that

541

credibility has a positive effect on consumer behavioral intentions

to use online services (Wang et al., 2003). In the present study, we
aim to test the effect of these two components of trust on Website
attitude and Word-of-mouth (WOM).
2.3.1. Website attitude
Attitudes are dened as learned predisposition to respond to an
object, person, issue, or behavior in a favorable or unfavorable way
(Rosenberg, 1960; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Attitudes are tendencies to respond in a particular way, signaling their relationship
with consumer behavior.
The literature suggests that trust and consumer attitudes toward a
website are closely interrelated. Trust (considered as a belief) can
indirectly mediate behaviors through attitudes toward the website
(Chen and Dibb, 2010). This is consistent with both the Theory of
Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985) and the Theory of Reasoned Action
(Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), suggesting that beliefs inuence attitudes,
which in turn affect behavioral intentions.
Several studies demonstrate the direct inuence of trust on
consumer attitudes toward a website and the consequent impact
on behavioral intentions. For instance, Kim et al. (2009) show that
perceived online trust in a website inuences consumers overall
attitudes toward the use of the website. Since attitude is developed as people making judgments based on trusting beliefs and
perceptions and because benevolence and credibility are major
components of trust, this study hypothesizes that benevolence and
credibility play a major role in predicting consumer attitudes
toward a retailers website. Thus:
H3a. Perceived benevolence exerts a positive impact on attitude
toward a retailers website.
H3b. Perceived credibility exerts a positive impact on attitude
toward a retailers website.
2.3.2. Word-of-mouth
Word-of-mouth (WOM) is dened by Westbrook (1987: 261) as
all informal communications directed to other consumers about
the ownership, usage or characteristics of particular goods and
services or their sellers. Word-of-mouth is important because
consumers prefer to rely on informal and personal communication
sources instead of formal and commercial sources such as advertising (Bansal and Voyer, 2000).
WOM communications can occur face to face, by phone, email,
mailing list, or any other means of communication (Silverman, 2001).
In addition, there are personal and impersonal sources of recommendations that have to be considered. Friends, family, and acquaintances
are personal sources of recommendations recognized as WOM vehicles (Brown and Reingen, 1987; Duhan et al., 1997).
Effectiveness of word-of-mouth has been demonstrated by
several studies to be based on the overwhelming inuence that
it has on consumer behavior (Goyette et al., 2010). Researchers
have shown that WOM is strongly and positively related with
customers levels of trust (Bergeron et al., 2003), perceived value
(Hartline and Jones, 1996), satisfaction (Athanassopoulos et al.,
2001), service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988), and customers
intention to purchase (Crocker, 1986).
In this study, we believe that a favorable attitude toward a
website would lead to favorable WOM about it. As previously
mentioned, most behavioral models trace links from attitude,
through intention, to actual behavior, implying that behavioral
intentions must be understood to predict behavior from attitudes
(Kim and Hunter, 1993). These evidences demonstrate the importance of consumer attitude in understanding consumers word-ofmouth intention. Therefore, we hypothesize that

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E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

Fig. 1. Conceptual Framework.

H4. Consumers website attitude has a signicant impact on

their WOM.
2.4. Pure click versus click-and-brick retailers
Online channels are considered as a complement to the ofine
ones and a booster of the existing customer relationships (Shankar
et al., 2003). Despite the growing interest in online businesses, several
studies attempted to investigate whether it pays off to go online and
whether online channels have some implications for consumers
(Bernstein et al., 2008). Ko and Roztocki (2009) nd that rms using
click-and-brick channels have higher protability (i.e., nancial performance) than brick-and-mortar or pure click companies, and that
pure click rms have higher overall costs. However, Bernstein et al.
(2008) report that click-and-brick model does not necessarily result in
prot increase for the rm. They add that click-and-brick model is
merely a strategic need since most of the benets are passed along to
consumers who nd it more convenient and cheaper (e.g. online
prices are generally lower) to shop from their homes or away from
physical retailers. Hitt and Brynjolfsson (1996) state that information
technology has mainly improved productivity and created value for
consumers and that no evidence was found that these benets yield
higher business protability.
Although there is no agreement among researchers that a
multichannel model would improve the rms performance, the
impact of such strategy on consumers is likely to be signicant.
According to Frazier and Shervani (1992), a multichannel (e.g.,
online and ofine) retailer increases the variety of services available to consumers. Wallace et al. (2004) suggest that with more
services and points of interaction, consumers have more opportunity to engage with a company, increasing their satisfaction,
trust and company loyalty. Thus, a multichannel company would
increase the opportunity to provide positive customer experiences
because of its varied services and contacts. Wind and Mahajan
(2002) conrm this view by stating that a multichannel company
offers more options and services to clients than a single channel
one. In addition, different customer channels (e.g., search online
and buy ofine, or search ofine and buy online) improve
satisfaction and increase loyalty (Shankar et al., 2003).
Steineld et al. (2002) cite four advantages of click-and-brick
retailers over pure click. These are: (1) lower costs due to harmonization between physical and virtual channels; (2) improved trust due to
a physical presence in the markets they serve; (3) differentiation
through value-added services; and (4) geographic and product market
extension beyond their traditional physical outlets. Among the few
studies comparing pure click and click-and-brick retailers, Merrilees
and Fry (2003) report that the relationship between interactivity and

online trust is similar between both types of retailers. But several

differences may exist between pure click and click-and-brick retailers
due to a retailers features (brand image, physical extended presence,
ofine trust, etc.). According to Cyr et al. (2007), consumers are likely
to use their experience with click-and-brick retailer physical channels
to infer the characteristics and feature of its online operations
Because of the non-physical presence of the company, we
anticipate that the impact of perceived security/privacy and perceived social presence on benevolence and credibility will be more
important in the case of pure click retailers than for click-and-brick
retailers. This is probably because consumers have less tangible
information about pure click retailers than click-and-brick ones. In
the case of click-and brick, the physical (ofine) presence of the
retailer may enhance the customer online trust (Stewart, 2003) and
consumers may use their ofine experience with the retailer
physical store to build trust toward the same retailer online
operations (Kuan and Bock, 2007). Moreover, the uncertainty about
the outcome (performance of the transaction) is lower for clickand-brick retailers than pure click ones. Customers are expected to
consider more seriously the website security features and privacy
statements in the case of pure click retailers. Also, due to the lack of
physical presence of pure click retailers, their online social presence
appears to be an essential element in boosting consumers website
trust. Therefore, we propose that the role of perceived security/
privacy and perceived social presence in developing consumer
website trust is more vital in the case of a pure click retailer.
By investigating the moderating role of pure click and click-and
brick contexts in the relationships between (i) perceived security/
privacy and benevolence, (ii) perceived security/privacy and credibility, (iii) perceived social presence and benevolence, and (iv)
perceived social presence and credibility, we can better understand these relationships. Thus, we postulate:
H5a. Perceived security/privacy has less signicant effect on
benevolence for click-and-brick retailers compared to pure click
retailers.
H5b. Perceived security/privacy has less signicant effect on
credibility for click-and-brick retailers compared to pure click
retailers.
H6a. Perceived social presence has less signicant effect on
benevolence for click-and-brick retailers compared to pure click
retailers.
H6b. Perceived social presence has less signicant effect on
credibility for click-and-brick retailers compared to pure click
retailers.

E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

543

Table 1
Measurement scales.
Constructs and indicators

Security/Privacy
I am reassured by the payment security on this website
I believe that my personal and nancial data are well-protected on this website
I believe that this website guarantees the privacy of my transactions
Social presence
I feel a sense of human contact on this website
I feel a sense of sociability on this website
I feel a sense of human warmth on this website

Cronbach's
alpha

St.
loading

Composite
reliability

Convergence
index

AVEa

0.89

0.85
0.86
0.86

0.89

0.73

0.94

0.92
0.91
0.92

0.96

0.84

0.89
0.81
0.77
0.89
0.82

0.90

0.70

0.91

0.90
0.86
0.88

0.89

0.76

0.94

0.94
0.94

Credibility
I believe this website is an expert in his eld
0.92
I can count on this website to complete my transactions in the promised time delay
I know what to expect from this website
This website respects its engagements in terms of rates and prices posted
I believe the promised service or the product delivered corresponds to the description presented on
the website
Benevolence
I think this website will be prepared to solve my problems
In case of problems, I think it is easy to lodge a complaint on this website
In case of problems, I think this website would make all the necessary efforts to solve them
Website's attitude
My overall opinion on this website is very favorable
This website leaves a very good impression to its visitors
a

0.88

Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for each construct (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).

Fig. 1 shows the theoretical framework of our research, illustrating the proposed relationships/hypotheses:

3. Methodology
3.1. Procedure and sample
An online survey was administered to respondents with online
purchase experience (e.g., books, CDs, DVDs, etc.). Data were gathered
by Easy Panel, an online French company specializing in online
marketing research. Easy Panel has an online Access Panel of approximately 120,000 Internet users, with a response rate of 20 to 30%.
According to Comley (2007), online panels are increasingly being used
as a mode of data collection for market research.
A sample of respondents, drawn randomly from the companys
online panel, was invited by e-mail to participate in the 15-min
survey. The sample included consumers who made a purchase
from one of ve online vendors in the past six months: Priceminister, La redoute, Amazon, FNAC and C-Discount. A total of 1152
consumers answered the survey, and 163 questionnaires were
eliminated from the analysis due to missing data. Therefore 989
questionnaires constituted the nal sample for analysis. The
sample consisted of 51% of men and 49% of women. Respondents
age varied between 18 and 83 years with an average age of 40
years. Of the sample, 69.6% were living with a partner or a spouse.
More than a half of respondents (52%) were employees in public or
private institutions and 22% were merchants or entrepreneurs.
3.2. Measurement
Measures were adopted or derived from previous studies on
online shopping for consistency. The dimensions of trust, credibility and benevolence, were measured by six and four items
respectively. All items measuring trust components were derived
from Hess (1995), Gefen and Straub (2004) and Gurviez and

Korchia (2002). Three items were used to measure security/

privacy and were adapted from Loiacono et al. (2007) and
McKnight et al. (2002). A three-item scale based on Cyr et al.
(2007) was used to assess perceived social presence. Finally, two
items for website attitude were adapted from Rose and Straub
(2001) and a single item was used to measure word-of-mouth (I
would highly recommend this website to my friends and
family).
A 10-point scale format ranging from (1) strongly disagree to
(10) strongly agree was used for all measures to maximize
respondent specicity. Some researchers (e.g. Nunnally, 1978)
claim that a ten point scale is intuitive to respondents because of
the familiarity they have with this rating system and is a
standard that is being adopted by many of the worlds leading
companies.

4. Analysis and results

4.1. Preliminary analysis
In order to assess the dimensionality of each construct scale
and its reliability, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the
principal components method and Varimax Rotation, coupled
with reliability analysis, were performed on the list of 19 items
measuring all the constructs. Items with factor loadings less than
the absolute value of 0.50 on all factors were eliminated (Hair
et al., 2010). The internal consistency of the measures was tested
by calculating Cronbachs alpha for each construct, where an alpha
value of 0.7 or above was considered satisfactory (Hair et al., 2010;
Nunnally, 1978).
The EFA results led to the elimination of two items, leaving a
nal pool of 17 items. To conrm these preliminary results and test
the measurement model, a conrmatory factor analysis (CFA) was
conducted using AMOS 17.0 and the maximum likelihood
estimation.

544

E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

4.2. Measurement model

Conrmatory factor analysis was rst conducted to assess the
adequacy of the measurement model. The value of 2 is 399.997
with 105 degrees of freedom. The Normed-t index (NFI0.98)
and the Comparative-t-index (CFI0.98) are above the recommended cutoff of 0.95 (Bentler, 2005), which reects a good t of
the model to empirical data. Finally, the root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA 0.053) is smaller than the cutoff value of
0.08 (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988; Hu and Bentler, 1999). The t indexes
of the measurement model are all satisfactory, indicating that the
t of the empirical data to the hypothesized model is adequate.
Table 1 shows that the values of Cronbachs alpha () and the
composite reliability () vary between 0.89 and 0.96, and are
greater than 0.70, the value recommended by Nunnally (1978) and
Fornell and Larcker (1981).
Following Fornell and Larckers (1981) approach, convergent
validity was assessed. The factors loadings () are all above 0.70
and the convergence AVE index (average variance extracted) is
higher than 0.50, the cutoff value, meeting the authors recommendations. These results support the convergent validity of each
of the constructs involved in the research model of this study.
The discriminant validity is assessed by comparing the squared
correlations between each pair of constructs with the indicator of
average variance extracted (AVE) of each construct (Fornell and
Larcker, 1981). Table 2 shows that the squared correlation between
each two constructs combination is less than the average variance
extracted by the constructs, supporting the discriminant validity.
4.3. Structural model and hypotheses testing
The hypothesized relationships in the proposed research model
were simultaneously tested via path analysis, and Fig. 2 shows the
Table 2
Discriminant validityinter-correlation matrix.a

1. Security/privacy
2. Social presence
3. Credibility
4. Benevolence
5. Website attitude
6. Word of mouth

0.73
0.21
0.69
0.56
0.49
0.42

0.84
0.18
0.45
0.37
0.20

0.69
0.60
0.62
0.55

results. The structural model ts the data adequately: 2 607.28,

df112, NFI 0.96, CFI 0.97, and RMSEA 0.067.
Results show that consumer perceptions of a websites security/privacy has a signicant and positive impact on their perception of a websites benevolence ( 0.61, t 21.60), and their
perception of a websites credibility ( 0.86, t27.96). Thus,
Hypotheses H1.a and H1.b are supported. The perception of a
websites social presence was also found to have a signicant
and positive impact on consumer perceptions of a websites
benevolence ( 0.40, t16.10), and credibility ( 0.10, t4.3).
Thus, Hypotheses H2.a and H2.b are validated. It should be noted
that security/privacy and social presence together explain 75% of
the total variance of a websites credibility and 53% of its
benevolence.
Hypotheses H3.a and H3.b are also supported since the results
indicate that the credibility of a website ( 0.56, t 15.81) and its
benevolence ( 0.33, t 9.63) exert a signicant and positive
effect on overall attitude toward the website. The two dimensions
of online trust explain 42% of the total variance of attitude toward
a website, conrming that beliefs affect the attitude toward an
object (i.e., the website, in this study) (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975).
Finally, attitude toward a website has a strong positive and
signicant impact on word-of-mouth ( 0.93, t 55.68), explaining alone 86% of the variance of WOM. H4 is supported.
Based on the recommendations of Baron and Kenny (1986) and
Zhao et al. (2010), an alternative structural model, adding the
direct effect of benevolence and credibility on WOM, was tested to
investigate whether or not website attitude plays a full or a partial
mediation role. The results showed that the model t well the data
(2 604.59/df110, NFI 0.96, CFI 0.97, RMSEA 0.067), however WOM is not directly inuenced by benevolence ( 0.046,
t1.76) and credibility ( 0.031, t 1.06). Thus, website attitude
plays a full mediation role between online trust (i.e., benevolence
and credibility) and WOM. The results support the rejection of the
alternative model and suggest that online benevolence and online
credibility have an indirect effect on WOM through website
attitude, supporting the conceptualization of our model.

4.4. Moderation effect of the retailers type

0.77
0.59
0.49

0.88
0.74

0.90

a
Average variance extracted on the diagonal and squared correlations between
constructs off diagonal.

Before testing the remaining hypotheses, splitting the data into

two groups (i.e., pure click and click-and brick) was necessary.
Table 3 presents the descriptive statistics of each of the constructs
as well as t-tests analysis between pure click retailers and click
and-brick ones.

Fig. 2. Results of the causal model.

E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

To test Hypotheses H5.a, H5.b, H6.a and H6.b, it was essential to

establish the cross validity of the proposed model between the
pure click and the click-and-brick contexts. In addition to t
indices (2/df, RMSEA, NFI, and CFI), the sequential chi-squared
difference tests (SCDT) was used to compare successively constrained models in the assessment (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988).
First, the model was estimated independently for each data set
(pure click and then click-and-brick). The results showed that the
model t the data well for each of the two groups (see Table 4).
Second, congural invariance among the two groups was assessed.
The results showed that the reported t indices of 2/df, RMSEA,
NFI and CFI fulll the respective benchmarks (Bagozzi and Yi,
1988). Following this, the metric invariance was veried. The
results indicated that full metric invariance was not well established. Indeed, the model was found to be more appropriate when
one item (social presence 3) of the latent variable social presence
was allowed to vary for the two groups. After releasing it and reevaluating the model, the results yielded satisfactory test statistics
with 2/df of 3.64, NFI of 0.958, CFI of 0.964, RMSEA of 0.052, and a
SCDT of 0.097 (40.05). Thus, the partial metric invariance was
achieved for the model.
Next, the structural invariance of the model across the two sets
of data was tested. Though the results showed adequate test
statistics, the SCDT was not above 0.05, indicating that the
constrained model did not t as well as the partial measurement
model. In order to identify which of the paths caused the
structural difference, the structural invariance of each individual
structural path was assessed (Chun and Davies, 2006). This test
recommended that releasing the path from social presence to
benevolence could enhance the model t. This was done and the
t reevaluated. The result is an adequate t on all indices and the
SCDT was 0.18. Thus, the structure of the nal model was partially
invariant across the two data sets.
A look at the regression coefcients (see Table 5) conrmed that
the impacts of perceived security/privacy on benevolence (b0.742,
t 22.460) and credibility (b0.866, t26.143) do not vary across
the two types of retailers (i.e., pure click and click-and-brick).
Therefore, H5.a and H5.b are rejected. Similarly, no difference was
found in the effect of perceived social presence on credibility
(b0.068, t3.992) between pure click and click-and-brick retailers. Thus, Hypothesis H6.b is also rejected. However, perceived
social presence was found to have less impact on benevolence in
the click-and-brick context (b0.308; t 11.089) than in the pure
click context (b 0.387, t 13.669), indicating that H6.a is accepted.

5. Discussion
This study highlights the importance of nurturing consumer
trust in the context of e-commerce. The results show that
Table 3
T-test comparison between pure click and click-and-brick.

545

perceived website social presence and perceived security/privacy

exert signicant and positive impacts on two separate dimensions
of e-trust, credibility and benevolence, which in turn directly
inuence website attitudes and indirectly (via website attitudes)
inuence WOM. The results of this study conrm previous
established ndings of Johnson (2007) that, because consumers
are concerned with possible violation of their security/privacy
when making online transactions, rms should reassure online
users of a secure Internet environment. Also, the study supports
Chen and Dibbs (2010) nding that the features of a website (e.g.,
usability, security and privacy assurances and product information
quality) have a signicant and positive impact on user online trust.
Our results also emphasize the importance of social presence for
building online trust. The use of social cues on a website provides a
source of lively social presence and increases customer trust (Wood
et al., 2005; Keeling and McGoldrick, 2008; Hess et al., 2009). Keeling
et al. (2010), and Gefen and Straub (2004) as well as Cyr et al. (2007)
show that perceived social presence of a website increases customers online trust. Because of the impersonal nature of electronic
shopping and the lack of human interaction and sociability, online
shopping experiences tend to be more neutral, anonymous and
detached from emotions. To approximate face-to-face interaction
and address this lack of personal contact, companies must embed
their websites with cues that reect a social and personal presence.
Indeed, the higher the perception of social cues and social presence
on a website, the higher the level of trust for the website. Although
many researchers have tried to build online consumer trust by
displaying a sense of social presence (e.g., Hess et al., 2009; Keeling
et al., 2010), very few have done so while taking into account each
dimension of trust separately. The present study, however, shows
that perceived social presence has more impact on benevolence
(0.40) than on credibility ( 0.10), indicating that the more
customers perceive a website as warm, sociable and personal, the
more they feel that, in case of problems, the company behind the
website will make all necessary efforts to resolve the problems,
increasing the perceived benevolence.
As previous research reports (e.g. Chen and Dibb, 2010; Kim et al.,
2009), the current study also demonstrates that perceived online
benevolence and perceived online credibility are positively associated
with attitude toward a website. Website attitude is also found to
affect customer WOM. Both online benevolence and online credibility inuence WOM via website attitude. This implies that customers who believe that the online retailer is sincere, honest, keeps its
promises, and considers the welfare of customers, will have a
favorable attitude toward the website of this retailer and consequently the intention to recommend it to friends and family.
The results of the multi-group analysis show that the major
difference between pure click and click-and-brick retailers is the
role of social presence in developing online benevolence. It seems
that a perceived higher level of social presence enhances more
benevolence in the case of pure virtual retailers versus retailers
with a virtual and physical presence. This result supports the
importance of social cues in the context of online environments.

Construct

Type of presence

Mean (s)

t (sig. 2-tailed)

Security/privacy

Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
Click

600
389
600
389
600
389
600
389
600
389

7.52
7.72
5.62
5.79
7.62
7.77
6.68
7.13
7.22
7.32

1.82 (0.07)n

6. Managerial implications

1.01 (0.31)

A rms success in online businesses depends largely on how it

develops and reinforces e-consumer trust. Despite the growth of
the Internet during the last 15 years and its widespread use in
e-retailing, this study shows that perceptions of security/privacy
still have a signicant impact on e-trust. Security/privacy is an
important issue for both pure click and click-and-brick companies.
Managers in the retail industry can assure customers of
security and privacy by providing a privacy statement and information about the security of the shopping process. Online retailers

Social presence
Credibility
Benevolence
Website attitude

Sig at 10%.
Sig at 5%.

nn

and brick
and brick
and brick
and brick
and brick

(1.6)
(1.7)
(2.1)
(2.0)
(1.6)
(1.7)
(2.0)
(1.8)
(1.7)
(1.7)

1.32 (0.18)
3.52 (0.00)nn
0.81 (0.42)

546

E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

Table 4
Results for the cross-group analysis: pure click versus click and brick.

Click
Click and brick
Congural invariance
Full metric invariance
Partial metric invariance
Full structural invariance
Partial structural invariance

Chi2

df

Chi2/df

RMSEA

GFI

NFI

TLI

CFI

Diff chi2

Action

473.336
362.300
835.667
855.383
851.745
877.815
872.827

112
112
224
235
234
241
240

4.226
3.235
3.731
3.640
3.640
3.642
3.637

0.073
0.076
0.053
0.052
0.052
0.052
0.052

0.915
0.902
0.910
0.908
0.908
0.904
0.904

0.954
0.948
0.952
0.951
0.951
0.949
0.950

0.957
0.956
0.956
0.958
0.958
0.958
0.958

0.964
0.964
0.964
0.964
0.964
0.963
0.963

0.049
0.097
0.05
0.18

Free item social presence 3

Table 5
Regression results for the cross-group analysis: pure click versus click and brick.
Click

Social presence-Benevolence
Social presence-Credibility
Security-Credibility
Security-Benevolence
Benevolence-Attitude
Credibility-Attitude

Click-and-brick

0.387
0.068
0.886
0.742
0.287
0.579

13.669
3.992
26.143
22.460
9.892
15.975

***
***
***
***
***
***

0.308
0.068
0.886
0.742
0.287
0.579

11.089
3.992
26.143
22.460
9.892
15.975

***
***
***
***
***
***

* Signicant at p level o0.001.

should always post their privacy policies on their websites to

demonstrate their vigilance in preventing manipulation of private
information and online fraud. They can thus improve perceived
credibility and benevolence as well as customers' willingness to
share personal information. The use of methods such as digital
signatures, encryption mechanisms, and authorization functionality could relieve customer security concerns regarding online
transactions.
The results of the present study are, we believe, valuable for
virtual retailers. Indeed, to replace face-to-face interactions, which
are almost absent in the virtual environment, pure online businesses should focus on improving their social presence on the
Web by humanizing and infusing social cues through the Web
interface. Certain features may increase the social presence of the
website and should be incorporated when designing websites for
pure click retailers. A human audio and video, virtual communities, chat requests with sales representative, rich text content
and pictures, all may result in an increased perceived benevolence
and credibility of the e-vendor, thus enhancing favorable attitudes
and WOM. This can help bring the virtual interaction closer to the
face-to-face communication found in traditional shopping environments, leading to a better online experience and, ultimately,
greater online trust.
To increase customers trust and electronic WOM, online retailers
should focus on building a responsive personal Web presence. For
instance, having an intelligent interface can make online shoppers
feel they are virtually assisted by the retailer and may increase
their trust. Keeling et al. (2010) propose to integrate an interactive
animated character or avatar on the website playing the social role
of an online sales assistant to provide a potent source of social
presence and hence enhance customer online trust.
Online retailers should also build credibility and benevolence
around their websites to enhance WOM and customers' positive
recommendations. Customers' intentions to talk favorably about a
website are affected directly by their website attitude and indirectly by their beliefs regarding the credibility and benevolence of
the retailer.
Social presence seems to have less importance in the case of
click-and-brick retailers compared to pure click retailers, partially

Free social presence on benevolence

explained by the physical social presence of the former. To

improve online trust, click-and-brick retailers can take advantage
of their physical presence (i.e., physical channel) by offering online
consumers the possibility to pick up and pay for online purchases
in stores. Customers can also be provided with the option of
reserving the product online, going to a physical store to try the
product, and then determining whether or not to complete the
online transaction at the physical store. Multichannel retailers
should also focus on developing cross-channel customer services
designed to increase customers online trust.
With respect to the impact of security/privacy on benevolence
and on credibility, the present study did not nd a difference
between pure click and click-and-brick retailers. This implies that,
from the customers perspective, security/privacy has the same
importance in building online trust for both types of retailers.

7. Conclusion and limitations

This study argues that perceived website social presence and
security/privacy both have a strong impact on e-trust, which in
turn directly inuences website attitudes and indirectly (via
website attitudes) WOM. Based on a panel of 989 French Internet
shoppers from ve e-retailers, the study conrms the models
hypothesized relationships in two business contexts: pure click
and click-and-brick retailers.
The study nds that one of the principal differences between
pure click and click-and-brick retailers is the role of social
presence in developing e-trust since a perceived higher level of
social presence enhances e-trust in the case of pure click retailers.
Social presence, however, has less impact on e-trust in the case of
click-and-brick retailers, who should take advantage of their
ofine social presence. This conclusion agrees with Stewart's
(2003) that retailers' ofine presence could simulate online trust.
Kuan and Bock (2007) also suggest that ofine trust has a positive
impact on online trust.
The present study has some limitations. First, it examines wellknown pure click and click-and-brick retailers. The role of social
presence might be better examined if lesser known retailers were also
included. Second, this study does not consider familiarity with a
website or the number of previous online purchases from these
websites. Future researchers should consider these two variables as
possible moderators of the relationships between the constructs in the
model. Also, additional consequences (e.g., loyalty and repeat purchase) of e-trust could be added to the model for a richer understanding of online consumer behaviors. In terms of measurement,
future studies should consider website attitude as a multidimensional
construct which encompasses cognitive, affective and conative dimensions. Thus, future research are needed to test the inuence of online
trust on each of these websites attitude dimensions.
Further studies should also focus on respondents' background
factors, such as purchase behavior in click and click-and-brick
stores. Finally, customer relationship with retailers (frequency of

E. Toufaily et al. / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 538548

contact and purchases) could be used as a moderator variable to

better understand the development of online trust.
Last but not least, click and click-and-brick classication is
limited considering the multichannel nature of todays rm
channel mix strategy such as telephone call centers, catalogs and
different forms of online shopping such as mobile and tablet
shopping, and social media applications. Future studies should
consider these diverse options to capture the variation in online
customer trust among these different channels.

Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the generous participation of Christian Barbaray, CEO of INIT Marketing, and his consulting company
http://www.init-marketing.fr/ in gathering the data from French
consumers.
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