Consumer Perceptions about E-Commerce- The Influence of Public Internet Trust
Abstract
Access to the internet from public places has further strengthened the internet as an anywhere-everywhere concept. Globally more businesses offer free public Wi-Fi for their customers. This research looks at customer attitude towards the use of free public Wi-Fi for e-commerce transactions, specifically, how does trust of the free public internet influence customer perception of the security of the e-commerce retailer websites. We conduct a brief study of participants in both the US and India on their perceptions of conducting e-commerce transactions using free public Wi-Fi. Our results show that the trust of the free public internet is a significant predictor of perceived security of the e-commerce website. Encrypted connections notwithstanding, businesses may need to stress the message that their website is safe to transact over public Wi-Fi.