Dispositional trust and distrust distinctions in predicting high- and low-risk internet expert advice site perceptions. E-Service

This study examines whether some types of dispositional trust/distrust concepts are better than other types at inducing consumers to trust a Web advice provider. We propose and test a model in which dispositional trust and distrust concepts are given separate roles. This unique approach is based on the growing, but untested theoretical consensus that trust and distrust are separate concepts that co-exist yet differ in terms of their emotional makeup. While trust con-cepts tend to be calm and collected, distrust concepts embody significant levels of fear and inse-curity. Based on this difference, we propose that dispositional distrust concepts will be better predictors of high-risk Internet legal advice site perceptions, while the corresponding trust con-cepts will be better predictors of low-risk Internet legal advice site perceptions. As proposed, the study finds that dispositional trust better predicts low-risk perceptions, while dispositional dis-trust better predicts high-risk perceptions. For e-commerce advice site research, the findings o