Modeling the Trust in Online Shops Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping-Edited

Complementary to the increasing popularity of the internet and WWW, e-commerce has become a significant global economic force. The online retail stores need to attract more visitors and convert them to customers. To achieve this goal these stores need to be trustworthy for the visitors and customers. This study investigates the factors influencing customers’ trust in online stores. The research design includes both qualitative and quantitative phases. In the qualitative phase, a cognitive map of the factors influencing online trust using Delphi method is developed. The model carries out 78 factors influencing online trust and has 83 links between these factors. In the quantitative phase, the links in the model are weighted using fuzzy analysis method. The findings show that previous purchase experience, perceived risk, related laws and regulations, culture, online payment risks, updated security systems among all the factors in the model have the strongest effect on online trust. The study is significant as it presents a new and indigenous integrative model.