Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants : Differences in Online Trust Formation

Online applications support and affect an extensive variety of today's social and business interactions. Trust has been identified as a key prerequisite for the acceptance and adoption of online services or applications. Research has come a long way in exploring antecedents and drivers of online trust. A range of authors have hypothesized that user characteristics, such as web experience and demographics, impact online trust formation. Based upon a survey among German internet users, we differentiate two user groups, "Digital Natives" and "Digital Immigrants", and find significant differences in their trust formation. While "Digital Natives" look for a balance in perceived risk and benefit as well as convincing third party endorsements when choosing an online service, "Digital Immigrants" are more interested in large, well-established providers with a recognizable offline presence.