The role of THEQA, as a government-led trustmark, in developing consumers’ trust in local e-commerce websites

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how THEQA, a government-led trustmark program in the State of Qatar, provides local vendors with mechanisms to establish online trust. This is the first study to explore a government-led local trustmark, and the only one that studies THEQA from the local online vendor’s perspective. The research used semi-structured interviews with both THEQA representatives and online vendors. A research model was established based on the conducted interviews. Both quantitative and thematic content analysis were used. Results show that THEQA trustmark establishes online trust in local e-commerce vendors through four mechanisms: initial-trust related mechanisms, reputation-related mechanism, website-quality related mechanisms, and security-related mechanisms. The study provides managers and decision-makers with trust-building and risk-reduction mechanisms to reinforce trust in e-commerce through e-government initiatives. This study is limited by its small sample size. Further, THEQA trustmark is a newly developed program and still in the growing stage.