Using humanness and design aesthetics to choose the “best” type of trust: a study of mobile banking in France
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
ISSN: 0959-0552
Article publication date: 15 December 2021
Issue publication date: 18 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The research aims to addresses the limitations of previous literature regarding choosing the appropriate conceptualization of trust (i.e. interpersonal trust or system trust) and the role of design aesthetics in generating system trust and intention to adopt mobile banking.
Design/methodology/approach
The research conducts two studies. Study 1 determines the degree of humanness in a mobile banking application. Study 2 tests the research model. A total of 261 respondents participate in Study 1 and 491 in Study 2. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (study 1) and SmartPLS (PLS software) (study 2) are used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Study 1 establishes that the mobile banking application is perceived to have low humanness. Thus, it is expected that system trust is more appropriate to use than interpersonal trust. Study 2 demonstrates that (i) system trust is more useful than interpersonal trust in the mobile banking context and (ii) design aesthetics positively influences consumer system trust and intention to adopt.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, the current research is the first to distinguish empirically between system trust and interpersonal trust and identify the best choice of mobile banking trust type. Specifically, the study determined the choice of system trust for mobile banking through a priori humanness measures and validated this choice by measuring both system trust and interpersonal trust, which has not been done before. In addition, retail banking should consider the influence of design aesthetics on consumer trust and incorporate elements that enhance consumers' opinions about the mobile banking application's functionality, reliability and helpfulness.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The research project was supported by a grant from the Research Center for the Humanities, Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University. Research Group No. (HRGP-1-19-01).
The author (Walid Chaouali) would like to seize this opportunity to pay tribute to Mariem Tissaoui who left us on September 19, 2021. The author knows she would be proud of him. The author will be forever grateful to her for her support and the values she instilled in him. Rest in peace.
Citation
Abdulrahman Al Moosa, H., Mousa, M., Chaouali, W., Mjahed Hammami, S., McKnight, H. and Danks, N.P. (2022), "Using humanness and design aesthetics to choose the “best” type of trust: a study of mobile banking in France", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 251-275. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-04-2021-0159
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited