Consumer Trust in Internet Marketing and Direct Selling in China

This research aims to examine and contrast trust in consumer-salesperson/organization relationships in direct selling and Internet (online) marketing in China, a large and fast-growing market for both approaches in B2C marketing. A personal interview survey involving two different measures of trust (i.e., cognitive trust and organization trust) was conducted. Two sample groups were obtained independently from southern and northern cities in China. For cognitive trust, there is a significant difference between the two shopping approaches (Internet marketing vs. direct selling), with the value of trust generally being greater for direct selling. In contrast, for organization trust, the value is greater for Internet marketing. However, the overall results show that neither the measure of cognitive trust nor the measure of organization trust is a good predictor of consumer behavior. Managerial implications and recommendations for future research directions are discussed.