An Empirical Study on Purchase Intention with Different Purchase Frequency for Online Automobile Insurance: A Trust-Based Decision-Making Model Approach

Customer trust and perceived risk are critical factors influencing a customer's purchase decision-making process in the area of e-commerce. Accordingly, there have been numerous studies on customer trust and perceived risk in this area. As a representative study, Kim et al. (2008), using their trust-based consumer decision-making model, examined the roles of customer trust and perceived risk in e-commerce transactions. This study, employing the Kim et al. (2008) model, analyzes how the factors of customer trust, perceived risk, and perceived benefits, along with the repeat purchase factor, affect the purchase intention of online automobile insurance. This study finds that both customer trust and perceived risk are the two most important factors influencing a customer's purchase intention of online automobile insurance. The results of the study suggest that higher customer trust in the information, product, and service provided brings about lower perceived risk in the area of online automobile insurance. In addition, the results indicate that regardless of a customer's purchase frequency, building trust with the customer in particular is most critical for an online automobile insurer in enhancing his or her purchase intention of the product. The results of this study will be able to provide useful strategic implications for both existing online auto insurers and future online auto insurers in enhancing their competitiveness through evolving more efficient and differentiated customer relationship management (CRM).