The Role of Trust in E-CRM: An Empirical Study Naser Aniba, Hassan Makhmali, Mazen Qteishat, Jawed Siddiqi and Babak Akhgar Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Naniba@my.shu.ac.uk , a9039260@my.shu.ac.uk, mazenqteishat@hotmail.com, J.I.Siddiqi@shu.ac.uk , B.Akhgar@shu.ac.uk Abstract-The paper reports is on a major piece of research investigating the role of certain key factors of e-CRM in customers’ use of airlines. It investigated these through an empirical study involving a large scale survey that gathered data from Afriqiyah Airways customers and the data collected was analysed using exploratory factor analysis. The report here focuses on trust and shows empirically the importance of trust as primary factor in explaining and predicting e-CRM. 1 Introduction Various definitions exist for e-CRM. Ab-Hamid and McGrath (2005) use the term to describe elements of CRM that are delivered through the Internet. The Internet functions as the channel for communication between the customer and the firm, with many of the processes automated to personalise the experience for the customer. Sanayei et al. (2010) consider e-CRM as a system for creating knowledge from process automation and the collection of information through Internet and information technology-based interactions between a company and its customers. Harris and Goode (2010) argued that the online environment is substantially different from the physical environment, and requires firms to adopt practices tailored to the environment to create an effective e-CRM system. Al-Momani and Noor (2009) suggested that the only difference between CRM and e-CRM is the use of Internet technology as a medium for communications with the customer. In contrast, Chen et al. (2007) noted that e-CRM systems 'can stand alone as web-based collaborative communication systems, or may be connected to powerful CRM analytics, or may serve as an interaction engine for enterprise-wide CRM systems.' This suggests that the design of e-CRM is flexible, with firms using multiple e-CRM strategies. 1.1 Determinant of E-CRM We are conducting a major study involving the exploration of the key determinants of e-CRM in Airline usage .The five key determinants from a extensive literature review are Trust, Pre-sales services, After-sales services, Perception and Attitude ; for further details see [Aniba20011]. The investigation was empirical in nature in that we conducted a survey at Afriqiyah Airways (AAW).It explored the five key determinants which we mentioned above .However, in this study we focus exclusively on trust because it is one of the most important factors in e- CRM. 1.2 Trust Trust is generally defined as the 'reliance on the integrity, ability or character of a person or thing' (Lilien and Bhargava, 2008). In many online transactions, trust is implicit, with a user obtaining information or providing data to a website based on an assumption that the entity operating the website is trustworthy. Research examining the perception of trust among online users has determined that the presentation and content of a website produced by an unknown entity positively influence the belief that a website is trustworthy (Chang and Chen, 2009). Online users make inferences about the unknown based on the information and cues available in the environment, with factors such as website usability functioning as surrogate factors to assess trustworthiness. Factors such as the level of security provided by a firm and any history of breach of security can also influence the trusting belief (Fjermested and Romano, 2009). Trust not only affects the interaction of a user with a website, but also influences the loyalty of the user to that website which results in repeat visits (Flavian and Guinalu, 2006). From our extensive literature review we have classified the nine attributes into three categories: security, fairness and privacy & confidentiality. The nine attributes of Trust correspond directly to the nine questions see Appendix. Security The literature indicates that security remains a very critical issue with which customers are concerned (Lai et al., 2010). In regards to the development in e- commerce, Nasir et al. (2007) stated that customers’ initial concerns regarding online trust mainly focused on the issues of security and privacy on the Internet; that is because perceived security control and perceived privacy control are essential features of online transactions, which affect the development of online customers' confidence in e-commerce. The goal of security is to protect the confidentiality of customers' data collected by a firm (Charney, 2008). The usage of the most recent security technologies is crucial to improving the level of trust between a firm and its customers (O’Reilly and Finnegan, 2005). Fairness The literature suggests that the perception of fairness in an organisation is a contributing factor to the amount of trust various stakeholders, including customers, place in an organisation. An individual who perceives the organisation as fair and equitable is more likely to use that organisation's services, including its e- CRM system. To some degree the perceptions of the power imbalance when using an e-CRM system relate to the perception of fairness. For example, users often consider an e-CRM system unfair if it does not provide