Website Design and Trust Across Cultures

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of culture related to website design and website trust. This is followed by the documentation of previously unpublished results from cross-cultural comparisons of user reactions to websites related to risk and vendor legitimacy, information privacy and quality, and transaction security. In addition, results are reported for how various design elements statistically impact online trust in Canada, Germany, and China. The paper concludes with suggestions for practice and how to design websites that are more trustworthy.