Individual consumers' trust in B2C automobile e-commerce in Tanzania: Assessment of the influence of web design and consumer personality

Abstract

Trust has often been cited as an important ingredient in any given business. The new trends of dwindling face-to-face business transactions necessitate trust in online transactions empirical studies. The purpose of this paper was to empirically contribute findings on the link between the trust facets and online car purchases. From 335 adult individual car buyers in Tanzania, we present the extent of the web design and personality trust dimensions influence on business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce car purchases using the multiple regression analysis techniques. This study focused on e-commerce trust in the context of expensive commodities like a car done from abroad with payments involving international money transfer. The study's findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge and extend trust and e-commerce theories that guide efforts for implementation of course of actions by consumers of expensive products like cars as well as respective car trading companies. This study is not only inclined towards online practical business implications, but also aims at augmenting the theoretical and policy implications, especially taking the trust—B2C perspectives of potential buyers within the sub-Saharan Africa, which is amid the formal institutional voids that may largely influence adult international business dealing from the sub-Saharan Africa.