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The Rise And Fall Of Webtrust

Author

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  • Emilio Boulianne

    (John Molson School of Business - Concordia University [Montreal])

  • Charles H. Cho

    (John Molson School of Business - Concordia University [Montreal])

Abstract

Despite the growth in electronic commerce (hereafter, "e-commerce") usage, consumers are still reluctant to purchase online due to security and privacy concerns. To alleviate this issue, e-commerce vendors may sign up with an independent third-party web assurance service to obtain a seal that is displayed on the vendor's website. The presence of such seal aims at sending a signal of trustworthiness and security to online shoppers. While prior research mainly focused on the impact of these web seals on consumers' perceptions and purchasing behaviors, little research has been conducted on the managerial decision-making process about the adoption, implementation, and the abandonment of such seals. Of particular interest here is the WebTrust seal, jointly developed by the AICPA and the CICA. We take a qualitative case study approach with the objective of understanding the motivations and rationale of a large North American telecommunications firm's management behind the decisions about the adoption, implementation, and abandonment of its WebTrust seal. Our case company was one of the first to obtain the seal on its online shopping website. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key executive officers involved in the decision-making process related to the seal. Results suggest that the implementation and the subsequent abandonment of WebTrust may be explained by several theoretical frameworks: managerial accounting perspective, organizational slack theory, innovation theory, but primarily and best through institutional theory. First, the case firm's needs of legitimacy, coupled with the endorsement of a recognized professional accountants association and the presence of a Big 4 accounting firm, led to the implementation of WebTrust. Second, when the benefits of WebTrust versus its costs were questioned, and that other companies increasingly abandoned the seal, the case firm decided to follow this trend to conform to prevailing values of appropriate business behavior.

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  • Emilio Boulianne & Charles H. Cho, 2009. "The Rise And Fall Of Webtrust," Post-Print halshs-00459412, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00459412
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00459412
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    References listed on IDEAS

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