Influence of Security and Trust in the Use of E-Commerce among Consumers in China - Essay Example

M-com does influence the business activities and consumer behaviour. However, despite these factors such as ease of use and perceived value, the Chinese consumers have been slow to adopt this technology. M-com is still in its infancy in China despite a high rate of mobile phone users (Zhou, 2010). While the e-com revenues are high in China, sophisticated m-com applications are still limited despite China having a mobile subscriber base of 461 million at the end of 2006 – the highest in the world (Xu, Yan & Zheng, 2008).

M-com would continue to remain a supplement to the traditional distribution channel because businesses need to develop their m-com offerings to consumers (Zhihao, 2011). Besides, not every consumer likes to shop without visiting the real stores. Investigations on the reasons need to be ascertained. Aims and objectives Several factors influence the use of m-com and these factors may differ across regions, nations and cultures. With the aim to ascertain how security and trust concerns influence the intentions to use m-commerce, the objectives of the study are: To evaluate the benefits of m-com over internet shopping To evaluate the extent to which security and trust deter consumers from using m-commerce To determine the extent to which Chinese consumers use m-commerce for bill payments Literature Review Studies have been conducted on evaluating the cultural reasons why Chinese consumers have been slow in adopting m-commerce.

The intentions to use m-com have been determined and Dai and Palvia (2009) found that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have significant influence on the Chinese consumers’ intention to use m-com. The study however, did not evaluate the reasons or factors that are responsible for low intentions to use e-com in China. One of the possible reasons cited by the authors is security and trust in m-com. Zhou (2010) finds that system quality and the information quality influence the perceived value and the perceived ease of use of the Chinese consumers.

Service quality impacts the level of trust that consumers have in using m-commerce. Switching costs and commitment can also influence m-com which has not been researched. Using mobile phones for financial transactions can bring many benefits to the banking sector but its usage is limited. It not only benefits the banks but also the consumers who can pay for remote purchasing but many systems had to be closed down (Cognet, 2010). Theoretical framework It thus appears that the intention to use depends to a large extent on the system quality, quality of the website and the content.

The quality of these factors determines the level of trust that can influence the decision to use m-commerce. Hence the theoretical framework for the study would be based upon the elements of relationship marketing and the trust theory. Relationship marketing encompasses relational contracting and working partnerships. Successful relationship marketing requires mutual trust and commitment. This has become important as organizations realize that they have to collaborate to compete. Thus, to what extent the retailers have been able to generate trust among the consumers would be ascertained because this determines the confidence they would have in engaging in m-commerce.

Research Design The youth are more