Customer Perceptions and Trust in E-commerce Transactions: Evidence from Cameroon

Background: In Cameroon, the announcement of the emergence vision of the country by 2035 seems to have been a booster for e-commerce as more and more people are engaging in the use of the internet. Further, in 2017, the e-commerce retail business global revenue generated stood at $2.3 trillion, with 59% of this revenue generated from the online retail business in the Asia-Pacific region, while the Middle East and Africa accounted for just 1% of the revenue. Purpose: Despite the growth of Electronic commerce over the past decades, a significant concern for the successful proliferation of e-commerce is the issue of consumers’ trust in Internet vendors. This study examines the customer perception factors on customer purchase decisions relative to e-commerce platforms, focusing on the trust factor. Methodology: The study was carried out in three key regions in Cameroon, namely Bamenda, Douala, and Yaoundé. The study adopted a survey research approach. Primary data was collected with the use of questionnaires administered to 234 participants. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and Ordered Probit linear regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses of the study. Since the condition for OLS to be used is that the data variables should be continuous, we used the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to compute indices for the data collected, and it was converted into continuous variables. Findings: The findings show that the way customers assess the security, the risk involved in purchasing online and the privacy or confidentiality policy of the e-commerce platforms significantly influence their purchase habits. Customers turn to purchase less regularly if they have negative perceptions of the platforms. The coefficient of the perceived privacy policy is also negative (-0.128), which indicates that perceived privacy policy relates negatively to customer probability of increasing purchase decisions. Further, results revealed that there is a significant partial mediation effect of customer trust as it diminishes the negative effect of customers and potential customers' perceived security and perceived risk on customer purchase decisions. In effect, customer perception influences customer trust positively or negatively and depending on the effect of perceptions on customer trust, customers are likely to modify their purchase decisions. The researchers found that out of the factors studied, perceived security, perceived privacy, and perceived risk have a negative but significant effect on the purchase decisions of e-commerce customers when controlling for the mediator. The study recommends that despite the aforementioned factors which play a great part in determining how and why consumers buy on their platforms, they should not overlook the infrastructure (internet, logistics, shipping) which hosts those platforms and how these products get to their customers. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the body of knowledge on e-commerce and is of great value given the growing nature of digital transactions across the world. Conclusion: The results of this study confirmed that security, privacy, website quality, perceived risk, and guarantees presented significant predictors of trust and purchase decisions. These variables have a significant positive effect on purchase decisions. Likewise, the results demonstrated that perceived security, perceived risk, and perceived privacy are the most powerful predictors of purchase decisions mediated by trust. This further implies that retailers should create websites that model simplicity yet incorporate strong security mechanisms and slick designs that would engender consumer trust and, by extension, promote confidence in online transactions.