The Online Experience and Consumers' Perceptions of E-Commerce Security

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of users' interactions with e-commerce web sites on their perception of the security of the sites. Thirty-four participants performed a few typical tasks on three unfamiliar web sites, then rated the sites for visual presentation and ease of navigation, rated the credibility of 3^rd party endorsers and technical security information, noted references to secure processes, then provided a judgment of the sites' security. Multiple regression analyses revealed that visual presentation predicted users' perception of security on all three sites. Additionally, navigation and number of references to security contributed to a security model for individual sites. The willingness to purchase from a site was highly correlated (.88) with the perception of site security. The article presents a model of security perception and provides empirical evidence for claims that security and trust are determined by visual presentation rather than technical security knowledge.