Abstract The current researches of trust in e-commerce mainly focus on the first level of trust, namely, the trust between technology and merchant. Though it was known the importance of the second level of trust, few studies made in-depth research. Based on the approach of element analysis towards literature, we provide a conceptual framework of three-level technology trust. Besides, we propose that the three-level structure of dynamic transfer should be formed by a cross or simplex dynamic adaptive process. Precisely, such adaptive process exists between the current social structure and structural factors. Meanwhile, the adaptive process also exists among structural factors such as individuals, technologies, formal institutions and informal institutions etc. With this theoretical lens, it can better explain why e-commerce rapidly expands in China’s context of low social trust. Our studies expand the previous trust of e-commerce research from the primary first level to the following second and third level of technology trust. It can promote the path of e-commerce trust studies from the simplex factor or single causal relationship to the research with multiple factors or modes.
2014, Vol. 31 
