Development of trust scale for e-marketplaces and a model recommendation

For both researchers and practitioners, awareness of the importance of trust policies in e-commerce businesses is increasing day by day. However, there is not enough evidence to demonstrate how crucial trust-oriented policies are compared to policies related to other marketing components. The first objective of the research is to develop the "trust scale for e-marketplaces" The second objective is to unveil the "driving force of the trust factor in digital marketing" through model testing. In this regard, our first model aimed to test the relationship between word-of-mouth communication, past experience, and disposition to trust variables, which contribute to the feeling of trust and trust itself. In our second model, the goal was to determine the moderating role of trust between low price perception, advertising value, hedonism, utilitarianism variables, and purchase intention. The research is also part of the TÜBİTAK project number 122K017. In the research, 1226 participants were reached within the scope of the pilot studies for the online trust scale and a total of 703 participants for our model test field study. Looking at the research findings, it has been determined that past experience and word-of-mouth communication affect the perception of trust. Trust has a moderating effect on the relationship between low price perception and hedonism variables and purchase intention, both at high trust levels and low trust levels. This emphasizes that as the perception of trust increases, the importance of hedonism and low price perception, which affect purchase intention, decreases. In the relationship between utilitarianism and purchase intention, an effect is observed only at high trust levels.