CONTEXTUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE DYNAMIC MEASUREMENT OF TRUST IN WEB SITES ACROSS DOMAINS

The purpose of this study was to better understand user trust in web sites designed for different contexts; commerce, health and news. This research evaluated changes in trust ratings as users interacted with website elements. Differences in user trust ratings were observed between websites, which suggests that these changes in trust ratings are likely related to the website context. Therefore, people may develop different thresholds for trust based on concepts of usability, privacy, and content that are related to the website context. Finally, these results can also be used to inform the design of web sites to foster user trust in websites designed for different contexts.