Description
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Electronic (eCommerce) related risks are new to the typical consumer, so, it was not yet known how consumers judged the risks. Using the psychometric paradigm, respondents were asked to judge the riskiness of various risk objects in a pair-wise fashion using a similarity/dissimilarity scale, e.g., how dissimilar is Risk-object 1 to Risk-object 2 on a scale of 1 to 7? The collected data were analyzed using a Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) technique to infer the set of dimensions across which respondents evaluate risks. The data collection method and analysis aided in answering two research questions: a) the dimensions consumers use when they judge online risks, and, b) how risk perceptions differ across customers from two countries. The study found that consumers employ a fine-grained schema to distinguish and group risks in their minds, characterize risks with more than two dimensions, and that none of the dimensions can be interpreted as pure probability or pure value. Analysis suggests that differences exist in how U.S. and Nigerian subjects view online risks.
(Author portrait)
Ugbaja Monica Dr. Monica Ugbaja holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, and a Master of Science degree in Management Information System (MIS), both from Bowie State University, in Bowie, Maryland, U.S.A. In the year 2007, she obtained a Ph.D in Information Systems from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida, U.S.
