Effect of Presentation Flaw Attribution on Website Quality, Trust, and Abandonment

Using scenario-based experiments we examine how users’ perceptions of online store quality and trustworthiness are affected by their attribution of website flaws. The attribution of online store website flaws can be internal (i.e., an action taken by the online store's site developer) or external (i.e., an action taken on the part of the site’s service provider) to the website. Perceived quality of the online store was found to be lower for users who attributed the flaws to internal factors. Findings also showed that the presence of a flaw, regardless of whether it was attributed to an internal or external condition, negatively affected the users’ level of trust in the website