First impressions with websites: The effect of the familiarity and credibility of corporate logos on perceived consumer swift trust of websites

Abstract

The current study extends theory related to the truth effect and mere-exposure effect by detailing how increased familiarity with third-party vendor logos will increase consumer short-term trust in unfamiliar websites, based on short-term impressions. The study uses a controlled 254-participant experiment. The results indicate that familiarity with a third-party logo positively impacts the credibility and short-term (swift) trust of an unfamiliar website. Additionally, the study finds that credibility of a third-party logo positively impacts the swift trust a visitor has in a website. Overall, the study concludes that both familiarity and credibility of third-party logos positively impacts swift trust in consumer websites, and familiarity has a positive impact on increasing credibility. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.