An Exploratory Study on the Level of Trust towards Online Retailers among Consumers in the United Kingdom and Malaysia

This study aims to investigate the extant level of trust towards online retailers among consumers in two different geographical and cultural locations – UK and Malaysia based on Michell’s et al. trust model. The objectives of this study are: 1. To identify the predictive variables of customers’ trust towards online retailers 2. To ascertain the extent of the consumer trust variable as being the essential element of online shopping 3. To analyse the differences in perception of online trust between consumers in the United Kingdom and Malaysia The study showed that online retailers are comparatively more trusted in UK than in Malaysia indicative by the higher average levels of trust from consumers in the UK. Additionally, the UK had a higher age group in the 25 – 34 category contributing the highest average trust value compared to Malaysia’s highest average trust value found in the lower 18 – 24 age group. There were a relatively higher percentage of male users; 66 per cent and 78 per cent in the UK and Malaysia respectively. Multiple stepwise regressions were used to analyse the level of trust against the selected trust correlates.