THE MODERATING EFFECT OF E-MARKETPLACES FAMILIARITY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRUST AND RISK REDUCTION BASED ON PRODUCT TYPES

The objective of the research, conducted with 733 participants in the United Kingdom, is to reveal the moderating effect of e-marketplace familiarity on the relationship between trust and risk reduction in the context of product types using a structural model. The research model was tested by randomly presenting participants with one of two different, each containing three different product types. Products were considered in 3 different categories as search and experience goods. In the research model, the moderating effects of familiarity and product type on the relationship between trust and risk reduction were evaluated with regression analysis based on the Bootstrap method using PROCESS Macro. The results show that the moderating effect of familiarity within the relationship between trust and risk reduction is managed by product types. This research also provides important findings in terms of marketing strategies. It is suggested that unknown e-marketplaces should give more importance to marketing communications by using trustworthy messages.