Berkman Luncheon Series >

may
31
2011

Communicating Trustworthiness - Drivers of Online Trust

Miriam Meckel, University of St. Gallen

Tuesday, May 31, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor
RSVP required for those attending in person to Amar Ashar (ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu)
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after.

User trust has been identified as a key success factor of online business: A user's willingness to provide personal data is a prerequisite for online transactions. Research has shown that this willingness is based on the perceived trustworthiness of the transaction partner. While antecedents of online trust have been studied extensively from a marketing and information systems perspective very little is known about the role of corporate communication in online trust management. Our studies in this field based on qualitative and quantitative analysis (indepth interviews and standardized sampling) examine trust in online businesses distinguished by industries and business models. We identify 9 core drivers of online trust from a corporate communication's as well as the user's perspective and differentiate the contribution of the corporate communication function to these drivers. Communicating trustworthiness is more than luck of the draw. It is based on an approach of strategic communication based on premises that will become increasingly important in digital life.

About Miriam

Miriam Meckel, PhD., holds a professorship for Corporate Communication at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and is the Managing Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Management (since 2005). She is also an adviser for Public Affairs and Business Communication. More...

Links

• David Weinberger liveblogged the talk