A Comprehensive Model of Perceived Risk of E-Commerce Transactions

Perceived risk is an important construct in e-commerce research, but it has not been approached in a manner sufficiently systematic, comprehensive, or detailed to be understood along multiple dimensions instructive for information systems designers. This paper fills the gap by proposing a model of perceived risk based on a well-established marketing theory of risk. It identifies events that expose consumers to harm in e-commerce transactions and measures the dimensions of perceived risk with rigorously developed formative indicators that incorporate the almost unlimited range of unwanted events of potential concern to consumers. This risk construct is placed in a nomological network and tested through an on-line field study of 411 participants aggregated with structural equation modeling. Test results show that the construct e-commerce transaction perceived risk is an aggregate factor with three dimensions: risk of functionality inefficiency, risk of information misuse, and risk of failure to gain product benefit.