Consumer Trust: Privacy Policies and Third-Party Seals

Purpose: This study aims to compare the effectiveness of third‐party seals with self‐reported privacy policy statements with regard to the willingness of potential e‐commerce customers to provide web sites with various types of personal information. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was administered to 374 graduate business students at two Midwestern universities in the USA. Findings: The results indicated that third‐party seals were not as effective as self‐reported privacy statements with a strong guarantee of security. Research limitations/implications: This study did not provide any evidence to support the necessity for small enterprises to incur the added costs in terms of money and time required to obtain a third‐party seal. Rather the results suggest small enterprises may increase consumer trust more effectively through strong privacy policy statements. Originality/value: This study provides useful information on the effectiveness of third‐party seals with self‐reported privacy policy statements with regard to the willingness of potential e‐commerce customers to provide web sites with various types of personal information