Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

www.elsevier.com/locate/dsw

A study of the roles of trusts and risks in information-oriented

online legal services using an integrated model
Vincent Cho *
Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong
Received 4 June 2003; received in revised form 1 November 2005; accepted 20 December 2005
Available online 14 February 2006

Abstract
This study examined the effect of the four constructs – trust in online media, trust in online services, perceived risk with online
media, and perceived risk with online services – on the use of information-oriented online legal services. Using past theories on
adoption studies, a three-level framework was developed. This framework helped to formulate a new research model. A quantitative
survey was conducted to identify the important factors affecting the intention of customers to adopt information-oriented online
legal services in Hong Kong. Findings indicated that there is a hierarchical relationship among the four constructs. Perceived
usefulness was the most important belief that drove people to adopt the online services. Perceived risk and trust were less important
at present, probably because online legal services are still somewhat immature and mainly focus on less risky areas, such as
information dissemination and marketing.
# 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Adoption; Trust; Online legal services

1. Introduction that the perceived risk with online media was different
from that with online services [47], and trust also differs
The Internet has enabled e-commerce to flourish. in these two aspects [28], but no research has put these
Nevertheless, it is still not as popular as face-to-face four constructs together. My work attempted to explore
transactions. Customers are uncomfortable when they are the relationships and impacts of these on attitude towards
physically separated from the sales persons and response adopting online services. However, according to the
is not rapid. These effects make e-commerce seem risky three-level framework which I described later, other
due to fear of monetary loss or privacy exposure. In order factors such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of
to reduce the perceived risks, online service providers use, compatibility, and facilitating conditions are needed
attempt to establish trust through means such as to be included in order to provide a full picture.
encryption, firewalls, or assurance from a trustworthy The application domain of the study was online legal
third party. Many studies have explored the impact of services. In the past, lawyers were the only interface
perceived risk and trust in the Web retailers on the attitude between people and the law. This channel has been
of adoption of e-commerce [40,41] and have investigated hindered by the high hourly charges normally imposed
the antecedences of trust [19]. Though past studies stated by lawyers. The emergence of the World Wide Web has,
however, allowed people to gain access to legal
information through online facilities and provided
* Tel.: +852 27666339; fax: +852 27650611. transparent legal practices, lowering the charges (see
E-mail address: msvcho@polyu.edu.hk. Appendix A).

0378-7206/$ – see front matter # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.im.2005.12.002
 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 503

Surprisingly, few have been using such new services. suggested the inclusion of social determinants in their
Indeed, online legal services are in the beginning stage study on the adoption and use of e-mail systems.
and mainly focus on information dissemination and The technological and system levels are mainly
marketing. They do not provide full-fledged legal focused on the technology itself. Its application would
counseling through interactive online media. Moreover, be related to services or products that help people to
customers may perceive a high level of risk if they must accomplish their daily tasks. Thus, e-mail is regarded as
provide details of their personal information and a tool to facilitate communications as well as the
particulars of their case before an online legal adviser performance of complicated tasks such as online
can provide information or advice. Thus, past studies on negotiations, which represent a change in business
online banking or Web retailing may not apply to practice and may not be compatible with normal
information-oriented online legal services. business style. For that reason, the adoption and use of
online activities may be perceived as difficult and, in
general, the task-technology fit should be considered;
2. Formulation of the framework studies on new technology adoption should include an
examination of its compatibility with the normal style.
A variety of theoretical perspectives have been used Moreover, the success of a change will be highly
to study the determinants of IT usage. The use of dependent on the extent to which the technology itself
intention-based models is one way of predicting usage can be adopted and this, in turn, is a prerequisite for its
by identifying the determinants of the behavioral application.
intentions of individual users. TAM, TRA, TPB, and IDT, which concentrates on both technology and its
the Triandis model are examples of intention-based compatibility, provides some understanding of the
models while another approach is the use of innovation adoption of a standalone technology in the application
diffusion-based models, such as the Innovation Diffu- level. For instance, the adoption of an e-photo album
sion Theory model (IDT); for a brief description of that can store up to 20 GB and allow people to view
these, see Appendix B. digital photos in a 3 in.
4 in. LCD screen, could be
Besides studying the adoption of technology, we may studied by IDT by assessing the effect of its replacing a
classify studies on adoption, as shown in Fig. 1, into traditional photo album.
three levels: technological, system, and application. At Chen et al. [8] combined TAM and IDT in their study
the technological level, standalone technology is the on online consumers. Dishaw and Strong integrated the
main focus. Davis [11] developed the constructs of PU TAM and task-technology fit models to study software
and PEOU to explain the adoption and use of a given development tools for software maintenance. However,
technology in the TAM model. they did not include social and facilitating conditions.
In addition, the technology and its environment Table 1 attempts to classify the factors in the adoption of
involve social and facilitating support as a system and different major theories into the three-level framework.
should be studied under the Triandis framework, which For a standalone technology such as a wireless mouse
includes an examination of technological and environ- that is highly compatible with the wired-mouse, TAM is
mental concerns. Karahanna and Straub [26] explored a reasonable predictor of its adoption. For a technology
the psychological origins of PU and PEOU, and such as short message service in a mobile phone,
Triandis is more relevant. For a technology involving
the application of a new idea, IDT is more suitable if it is
standalone. Otherwise, it is necessary to combine TAM,
Triandis, and IDT to predict adoption. In the application
level, compatibility or TTF should be an influential
factor affecting the attitude, intention, and behavior of
people in adopting a new technique.
In this study of online legal services, PEOU and PU
were adopted in the integrated model. Past studies had
indicated that PEOU was a better predictor of attitude
for inexperienced users while PU was a better predictor
of the intention for experienced users [20].
Fig. 1. The three-level framework for the adoption of a given tech- Given that trust and perceived risks, being elements
nology. in the IDT [44] are the primary focus in this study, their
 504
Table 1
Classification of adoption theories in the three-level framework
TRA, TPB [1,16,41] TAM [11] Triandis [7,51] IDT [27,44] ETAM [8] Our model
Technological level  PEOU  Complexity  Relative advantage  PEOU  PEOU
- Characteristics of  PU  Perceived consequence  Complexity  PU  PU
the technology
 Long term  Trialability  Trust in the online media
 Short term  Observability  Perceived risk with
the online media
 Perceived risk
System level  Subjective norm  Social factors

V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

- Other people’s attitudes
and behavior
System level  PBC—the  Facilitating condition  Facilitating condition a
environmental aspect
- Environment
Application level  Compatibility  Compatibility  Compatibility
- Task/service characteristics  Trust in the online
service
 Perceived risk with
the online service
Self-efficacy  PBC—the
aspect of self-ability
- Self-ability and experience
Attitude, intention and behavior  Attitude  Attitude  Habit  Attitude  Attitude
 Intention  Intention  Affect  Intention  Intention
 Behavior  Usage  Attitude
 Intention
 Usage
Study focus  Adoption and  Adoption and  Adoption and behavioral  Adoption study, specific  Adoption study,  Adoption study,
behavioral study, behavioral study, study, specific to IT, to IT, e.g., spreading of specific to IT, specific to IT,
not specific to IT specific to IT, e.g., e.g., PC, Internet, WWW, quality management e.g., online e.g., online legal
Internet or WWW or EIS software retailing services
 Focus on the  Focus on the system level  Focus on the  Focus on the  Focus on the
technological level technological application level application level
application level
a
The facilitating conditions specified here, including factors that make the behavior easy or difficult, are conceptualized as accessibility to the Internet and user self-efficacy.
 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 505

effect in online media and online services was e-commerce [30]. Following Stewart [48], McKnight
incorporated in the integrated model as beliefs that et al. [37], Parlov, and Gefen et al., trust is defined here
shape the behavioral intention of customers. as the belief that allows individuals to be willing to react
Chen et al. showed that compatibility, which after having taken the characteristics of the providers
influences PU and attitude, can improve the TAM and the underlying Internet infrastructure into con-
model; the integrated model also included compatibility sideration. This definition, consistent with Tan and
from IDT, while the other attributes of innovation Thoen [50], captures both the traditional view of trust in
(trialability and observability) were discarded because a specific party and reliability of the transaction
they had not been shown to be consistently related to medium.
adoption. Trust in online media is a behavioral belief relating
From the Triandis model, the construct of facilitating to security in using the Internet. This may be guaranteed
conditions was incorporated, though the construct had a by a security service provider or by using encryption.
broader meaning, including users’ self-efficacy and Trust depends on past experience and social cues about
objective factors that facilitate behavior. Self-efficacy the ability of the system designers. On the other hand,
here used the definition that it is ‘‘the belief that one has trust in online legal services is a behavioral belief that
the capability to perform a particular behavior’’ [33]. the service provider is competent, has integrity, and is
As online legal services are still in an early stage and benevolent.
not many people have experience with them, habit, Strengthening trust by reducing environmental
affective feeling, and social factors were discarded in uncertainty should have a direct effect on the trust in
the model. the online service. Moreover, trust should depend on the
trust in online media, in general. Once a customer has a
3. An integrated research model feeling of insecurity about accessing the Internet,
worrying that information may be trapped during the
TAM, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the transmission, the customer will also lack trust in using
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Triandis model, any online service. DeLone and McLean [13] have
and IDT provided a fundamental framework for applied this argument for the links among user
technology adoption at the application level. In satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational
particular, trust and risks were integrated into the impact in their study of system effectiveness. People
comprehensive framework as shown in Fig. 2. need to establish a belief of trust in online media before
they can establish the belief of trust in online services.
3.1. Trust Thus, the hypothesis is:
H1a. The customer’s trust in online media will posi-
Trust has long been an essential variable of economic tively affect his/her trust in online legal services.
and social interactions where uncertainty, delegation of
authority, and fears of opportunism are present [32]. It The relationship between trust and attitude draws
is especially true in the uncertain environment of from ‘‘perceived consequences’’ [51] and the Theory of

Fig. 2. The integrated model.

506 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

Reasoned Action. Trust enables favorable expectations Environmental risk mainly exists because of the
that no harmful outcomes will occur if a trustor unpredictable nature of the technology that is beyond
undertakes a behavior and the trustee will protect the the control of the online service provider or individual.
trustor’s interests [3,22]. Consumers are more likely to While retailers have an important influence on the
have a positive attitude towards buying from a merchant security of the medium, there is still a possibility for
they trust. In sum, trust creates favorable perceptions third parties to compromise the process.
about the outcomes of the service provider’s actions, Therefore, the hypothesis is:
thus creating positive attitudes. This was also shown in
H2a. The perceived risk with online media will posi-
studies by Ruyter et al. [45], Jarvenpaa et al. [25],
tively affect the perceived risk with online legal ser-
McKnight and Chervany [36], and Pavlou: trust has a
vices.
positive impact on consumers’ attitudes towards both
Once the perceived risks associated with an online
traditional and Internet stores.
service are reduced, customers will have a more
In terms of obtaining information from an online legal
favorable attitude towards the online service and will be
service provider, trust creates positive expectations that
more willing to engage in transactions. This idea was
the service provider will post credible information and
supported by Jarvenpaa and Tractinsky [24] in their
trust in online media attenuate infrastructure concerns
study on online shopping.
[21]. According to Pavlou and McKnight et al., the trust
When engaging in an online transaction process,
of online media is an antecedent to the trust of online
consumers are alarmed about the two types of risks
services; and the influence on attitude towards online
(with online media and online services). The overall
legal services will depend on the trust of online services.
expectations will be influenced by the service providers’
Based on this, the hypothesis is:
behavior and ability to protect critical information
H1b. The trust that customers have in the online legal during the transaction [43]. Thus, the hypothesis is:
services is positively related to their attitude towards
H2b. The perceived risk with online legal services will
these services.
have a negative effect on the attitude of customers
towards engaging these services.
3.2. Perceived risk
3.3. Trust and perceived risk
Murphy and Enis [38] defined perceived risk as
customer’s subjective assessment of the negative
Trust is influenced by the way that risk is evaluated
consequence when making a mistake in a transaction.
and perceived. The level of perceived risk is offset by
Jacoby and Kaplan [23] classified consumers’ perceived
the level of trust [17,39]. Trust is also linked to
risk into five types: physical, psychological, social,
increased risk-taking behavior [34] and a reduction in
financial, and performance. In general, it represents an
opportunistic behavior. When an online legal service
individual’s assessment of the relative probability of
provider can be trusted to show competence, integrity,
positive and negative outcomes of a given transaction or
and benevolence, there is much less apparent risk in
situation [10]. As online legal services involve the
interacting. Thus, trust in online media and trust in
exchange of more personal information, they will be
online services have been considered especially
perceived to have a greater privacy risk [29]. Two forms
important for mediating the respective risks. Hypothesis
of risks are naturally present:
3 predicts:
(a) behavioral risks from the online service providers; H3a. The customer’s trust in online legal services will
(b) environmental risk derived from the underlying negatively affect the perceived risk with these services.
technological infrastructure [4].
H3b. The customer’s trust in online media will nega-
tively affect the customer’s perceived risk with these
Behavioral risk arises because Web retailers have the
media.
chance to behave in an opportunistic manner and the
government’s inability to adequately monitor all Moreover, a trusted service provider should take steps to
transactions. Examples of opportunistic behavior could reduce environmental uncertainty and related risks in
include exposing the user’s personal data to a third party the Internet infrastructure by imposing encryption,
and the fear of receiving low quality and unreliable firewall, and authentication mechanism. In general,
online legal advice. trust in the services should improve the consumer’s
 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 507

beliefs about online service providers and the associated with traditional legal services. The PU of online legal
infrastructure, attenuating the perceived level of risk services is measured by savings in money and time,
associated with the online services and media. Hence, increased flexibility, and greater access to information
the hypothesis is: about a legal case. It influences both attitude and
behavioral intention [2]. The more useful it is perceived
H3c. The customer’s trust in online services will nega-
to be, the more positive the user’s attitude will be
tively affect his/her perceived risk with online media.
towards the adoption of online legal services, and the
However, the Internet media, which consist of routers
greater the intention to make use of the services.
and public wirings, are not under the control of the
service providers. Thus, the hypothesis is: H6a. Perceived usefulness is positively related to the
customer’s attitude towards online legal services.
H3d. The trust in online media will negatively affect
the perceived risk with online legal services. H6b. Perceived usefulness is positively related to the
customer’s intention to adopt online legal services.
3.4. Behavioral intention and attitude
3.7. Compatibility
Behavioral intention refers to ‘‘instructions that
people give to themselves to behave in certain ways.’’ This has not been included in most studies on the
Therefore, here it refers to a customer’s intention to adoption of technology. The exceptions are IDT and a
adopt information-oriented online legal services. study by Chen et al. Compatibility refers to the
According to Fishbein and Ajzen [16], ‘‘attitude is a congruence of innovation with the values and beliefs of
learned predisposition to respond in a consistently users and with previously introduced ideas and needs
favorable or unfavorable manner with a given object.’’ [35]. It is worth considering when the task makes use of
Attitude is directly related to behavioral intention because new methods or approaches. Thus, adoption of a new
people will only intend to perform behavior for which application depends on its compatibility with existing
they have positive feelings. Thus, the hypothesis is: practice. Here, compatibility represents the congruence
H4. Attitude is positively related to the customer’s of the online legal services with the people’s lifestyle in
intention to adopt online legal services. seeking legal advice or services. Thus, the hypotheses
are:
3.5. Perceived ease of use H7a. Compatibility is positively related to the per-
ceived usefulness of online legal services.
PEOU is the belief that a particular technology H7b. Compatibility is positively related to the custo-
would be applied with no effort [15]. It should directly mer’s attitude towards online legal services.
influence the user’s attitude towards a particular
technology. Applying this to online legal services, a 3.8. Facilitating conditions
Web interface perceived to be user-friendly will have
greater appeal to customers than one that is not, and will These are the environmental factors that make a
facilitate use of the services. In some studies, PEOU behavior easy or difficult. Users with sufficient skills
was found to have an indirect influence on attitude and ability will find a new application easy to use.
through PU. Here, PEOU refers to the ease of Therefore, aside from objective factors such as the
navigating, searching for information, and obtaining availability of resources, implicit factors like the
services from legal websites. Thus, the hypotheses are: confidence of users in their use of a technology are
H5a. Perceived ease of use is positively related to the considered as facilitating condition.
customer’s attitude towards online legal services. In the Triandis model, facilitating conditions are
important determinants of behavior. If habits are well
H5b. Perceived ease of use is positively related to the established and physiological arousals are optimal,
perceived usefulness (PU) of online legal services. there may be no action/behavior once objective factors
do not warrant user behavior. The facilitating conditions
3.6. Perceived usefulness in the Triandis model are similar TPB, which suggests
that the skills of users and the availability of resources
There are some relative advantages to using directly affect the intention of users to perform a
information-oriented online legal services compared behavior [14]. Empirical investigations have shown that
508 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

facilitating conditions could also have a significant services. Its measurement scale was based on the work
positive impact on attitude [7]. Thus, the hypotheses of Chen et al. and Davis. The measurement has three
include: items focusing on the respondents’ perceptions of the
ease of using an online medium and two items on the
H8a. Facilitating conditions are positively related
ease of learning to use online legal services.
to the customer’s attitude towards using online legal
services.
4.5. Perceived usefulness
H8b. Facilitating conditions are positively related to
the customer’s intention to adopt online legal services. PU emphasizes the expectations of value derived
from using online legal services: the relative advantages
4. Research methodology of increased flexibility, efficiency, effectiveness, etc.
The measurement scale was also based on those of Chen
4.1. Developing the measurements et al. and Davis.

A questionnaire was constructed (see Appendix C) 4.6. Compatibility

for collecting user perceptions of online legal services.
Compatibility was measured by five items under-
4.2. Trust lining the congruence of using online legal services with
the existing value and beliefs, and task needs. The items
Most often, trust is viewed as a three-dimensional were adapted from Chen et al. and Davis; they measured
construct of competence, integrity, and benevolence the compatibility of using online legal services, which
[5,18]. Competence is the belief in the trustee’s ability include searching and downloading legal information
to do what the trustor needs. Integrity is the belief that and seeking legal advices, with respect to the
the trustee will be honest and keep his or her promises. respondents’ lifestyle.
Benevolence is the belief that the trustee will not act
opportunistically. In the area of online legal service 4.7. Facilitating conditions
providers, the information must be valid, credible, and
accurate [42]. A trusted online legal service provider The facilitating condition had four items in its
fears that false information may expose a consumer to construct, consisting of the objective factors that make
adverse outcomes. Thus, the trust of online services has the behavior easy or difficult. For online legal services,
two perspectives—competence (ability) and integrity facilitating conditions were considered to be accessi-
(honest). The three items for these aspects were adopted bility to the Internet and self-efficacy of users. One item
from Gefen and Lee and Turban [31]. For the trust in adapted from Chang and Cheung measured ease of
online media, the measure was adopted from the latter. access to the Internet. The other three items for
measuring the self-efficacy of users were adapted from
4.3. Perceived risk Tan and Teo [49].

PR here is about the risks to security and privacy that 4.8. Attitude
may deter consumers from making use of the services.
In the first three questions, the respondents were asked Fishbein and Ajzen’s suggestion that attitude should
to rate their perception of Web security (perceived risk be predicted from a person’s beliefs was followed here.
with online media). The measurement scale was A four-item scale is adopted from Chen et al. and Davis
adopted from that of Salisabury et al. [46]. The to measure the attitude of respondents towards using
respondents are asked about the level of risk in online legal services.
searching for legal information, downloading legal
documents, and seeking legal guidance. The measure- 4.9. Intention to use
ment scale was based on that devised by Pavlou.
One item was used to measure the respondents’
4.4. Perceived ease of use intention to use online legal services. Since most of the
respondents did not have prior experience in using
PEOU stresses how comfortable customers will be online legal services, this question asked whether they
with the Internet as a purchasing medium for legal intended to use such services in the future.
 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 509

4.10. Sampling target and research method A total of 207 questionnaires were returned; of these,
187 were usable for data analyses. Thus, there was
The scope was restricted to online legal services and response rate of 62%. Forty-four percent of the
‘‘virtual lawyers.’’ Based on current online legal respondents were male. A profile of respondents is
services, which primarily delivered information- shown in Table 2.
oriented services, we could only interpret the result
for this specific range of services. The population of 5. Findings and discussion
respondents to the survey was potential users of online
legal services; they were chosen to be Internet-literate, 5.1. Reliability and validity
having adequate experience in using legal services and
in shopping online. The sample involved part-time Factor analysis was used to reduce the number of
postgraduate students, law students in local universities, items in each construct to maintain its reliability and
and employees in public organizations and government discriminant validity. Factors were extracted by using
departments. All subjects were educated and Internet- the principal component method and varimax rotation.
literate and potential users of online legal services. Variables were eliminated if they were not factorially
Since the objective was to study the behavioral pure.
intention of customers, measures of beliefs, attitudes Thus, the following items were discarded:
and behavioral intention were more appropriate than
direct observation. Approximately 300 questionnaires  Two items in the PEOU: ‘‘It is easy to interact with the
were distributed to the target subjects by mail or e-mail. Internet’’ and ‘‘It is easy to shop on the Internet.’’
 Two items in compatibility: ‘‘Using the Internet fits
my lifestyle’’ and ‘‘Using the Internet fits my
practices in seeking information.’’
Table 2
Demographic characteristics
 One item in facilitating condition: ‘‘I am confident of
being able to communicate my legal problems
Age (years)
effectively with the Internet.’’
18–29 74 (40%)
30–39 86 (46%)
40–49 23 (12%) After removing these items, the constructs focused on
50 or over 4 (2%) online legal services and they examined a person’s
Sex perception of online legal service in various ways.
Male 82 (44%) Table 3 shows the items that remained for modeling the
Female 105 (56%) structural equation and also summarizes the result of a
Education Level reliability analysis of the variables. All factors had quite
Post-graduate 92 (49%) high a values (over 0.7), except for trust in online media
Tertiary educated 78 (42%) (a = 0.69) which was still acceptable. This may be due
Secondary school 16 (8.6%)
to the relatively small number of questionnaire items
Primary school 1 (0.5%)
(two) used to measure the scale of trust in online media.
Experience in using legal services Overall all of the variables were reliable. Moreover, all
Yes 135 (72%)
No 52 (28%)
of the measures of constructs had been used in past
studies, and had been validated.
Occupation
Average variance extracted (AVE) determines the
Academic 19 (10%)
Executive 33 (18%) average variance shared in a construct. It is calculated
Manager 26 (14%) by the sum of the loadings squared, divided by the
Professional 49 (26%) number of items in the construct; e.g., the AVE of PEOU
Self-employed 3 (1.6%) is 0.52. It should be greater than 50% in order to be
Student 14 (7.5%)
considered reliable.
Technician 3 (1.6%)
If the items in a construct correlate more highly with
Others 40 (21%) each other than with items measuring other constructs,
Frequency of Internet shopping the measure is considered to have adequate discriminant
A few times a year 90 (48%) validity. Table 4 presents the squared intercorrelations
A few times a month 7 (3.7%)
among the study variables. They represent the shared
Never 90 (48%)
variance among the variables and did not exceed the
510 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

Table 3
Reliability and factor loadings
Mean Standard Factor Reliability AVE
deviation loading
Perceived ease of use 0.77 0.52
It is easy to obtain services on the Internet 3.6 0.86 0.71
It is easy to learn how to seek legal services on the Internet 3.0 0.90 0.76
Online legal services would be easy to use 3.0 0.85 0.70
Perceived usefulness 0.85 0.54
Using online legal services would improve the flexibility in 3.7 0.79 0.69
seeking legal services (e.g., by saving money)
Using online legal services would increase the efficiency of 3.7 0.85 0.78
seeking legal services (e.g., by making it possible to
search for legal information more quickly)
Using online legal services would enhance the effectiveness 3.6 0.87 0.82
of seeking legal services (e.g., by making it possible to
find more information about a legal case)
Online legal services are very useful 3.4 0.79 0.63
Perceived risk with online media 0.86 0.73
The Internet is a secure means through which to send personal information 2.4 0.84 0.84
I would feel secure sending sensitive information through the Internet 2.2 0.84 0.86
The Internet is a secure means to conduct online transactions 2.5 0.83 0.85
Perceived risk with online services 0.72 0.53
Searching for legal information on the Internet 3.1 0.82 0.81
involves an insignificant amount of risk
Downloading legal documents from the Internet 3.2 0.93 0.68
involves an insignificant amount of risk
Seeking legal advice on the Internet involves an 3.1 0.79 0.68
insignificant amount of risk
Trust in online media 0.69 0.60
Online media are unreliable 3.1 a 0.69 0.85
I do not trust the Internet as a transaction medium for online legal services 3.0 a 0.88 0.69
Trust in online services 0.71 0.61
Legal service providers are honest with their customers 3.1 0.63 0.63
Legal service providers have sufficient facilities 3.0 0.68 0.86
to handle online transactions
Legal service providers have sufficient expertise 3.0 0.70 0.83
to conduct online transactions
Compatibility 0.75 0.50
Online legal services are suitable for searching for legal information 3.6 0.81 0.85
Online legal services are suitable for downloading legal documents 3.6 0.82 0.61
Online legal services are suitable for seeking legal advice 3.2 0.80 0.64
Facilitating condition 0.76 0.57
I can easily access the Internet 4.4 0.79 0.85
I am confident about using the Internet 4.1 0.81 0.86
I am confident about using online legal services 3.5 0.96 0.52
just from reading the online instructions
Attitude 0.74 0.55
Using online legal services is convenient 3.7 0.77 0.84
Using online legal services can save time 3.7 0.79 0.69
Using online legal services can save money 3.7 0.68 0.67
Intention 0.63
I intend to use online legal services in the future 3.1 0.80 0.79
a
The scale is reversely coded, and the rating is thus reversed before it is fed into the analysis.
 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 511

Table 4
Squared intercorrelation among the study constructs
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 Perceived ease of use 0.52
2 Perceived usefulness 0.22 0.54
3 Perceived risk with online media 0.01 0.01 0.73
4 Perceived risk with online services 0.00 0.01 0.09 0.53
5 Trust in online media 0.02 0.03 0.02 0.04 0.60
6 Trust in online services 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.00 0.61
7 Compatibility 0.11 0.14 0.00 0.13 0.07 0.04 0.50
8 Facilitating condition 0.06 0.16 0.01 0.02 0.06 0.02 0.18 0.57
9 Attitude 0.11 0.33 0.00 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.18 0.15 0.55
10 Intention 0.17 0.19 0.02 0.02 0.14 0.00 0.20 0.07 0.22 0.63
Note: All correlations are significant at the 0.05 level. The diagonals represent the average variance extracted.

average variance explained. Thus, discriminant validity number of statistics were generated to evaluate the
was again justified. overall fitness of the model. The x2 value of 426
All 28 items among the constructs were tested (d.f. = 45) with a p-value of 0.000 indicated a good fit of
against the demographic controls (gender, age, level of the model. However, as the x2 test is sensitive to sample
education, and occupation) using ANOVA. The mean size and may not be very stable, supplementary
scores of the items were all indifferent among the measures, such as goodness of fit index (GFI), normed
demographic controls except for the item related to fit index (NFI), and comparative fit index (CFI), were
perceived usefulness ‘‘Using online legal services investigated. For the SEM, the GFI was 0.92, the NFI
would enhance the effectiveness of seeking legal was 0.91, and the CFI was 0.95. All are over 0.9, which
services’’ with significant differences in mean with shows a good fit. The root mean square error of
respect to different age groups. However, as there were approximation (RMSEA) was also computed to
only four respondents in the top group (50 or over), we measure the expected error of the model; its value
can still regard the means of the item to be indifferent. was a little less than 0.20, and this is acceptable. As
As a result, the survey responses could be mixed as a expected, our integrated model was consistent with
single dataset for further analyses. previous studies and most of the hypotheses were
Compatibility, facilitating conditions, PU, and supported as shown in Table 5 and Fig. 3.
attitude receive relatively high mean scores (all items
were above 3.5 except for ‘‘Online legal services are 6.1. Trust
very useful’’ and ‘‘Online legal services are suitable for
seeking legal advice’’). This indicated that the There is no significant influence of trust in online
respondents regarded online legal services as useful media to trust in online services (b = 0.02, p = 0.68),
and compatible with their way of seeking legal services, this suggests that the link between two beliefs due to
and that they had a positive attitude towards trying out the effort of the service providers enabling a better
these services. This is justifiable in view of the high secure environment with encryption, firewall, and
level of education of the respondents and of the authentication may not be adequate to join them. On
widespread access to the Internet in Hong Kong. At the the other hand, there is a temporal and logical
other extreme, the score for the perceived risk with sequence between them though they are conceptually
online media was relatively low, which suggested that different. Though there may be some overlapping
the respondents felt that the Internet was not a secure between these two beliefs, it may be too weak to be
medium for conducting transactions and exchanging validated.
personal information. Nevertheless, our findings show that trust in online
services has a significant though weak impact on the
6. The structural equation model attitude towards adopting online legal services
(b = 0.04, p < 0.05). This can be explained by the fact
We formulated an SEM using AMOS 5.0 [6] to that most providers of online legal services use their
analyze our model. Significant paths were found. A website for marketing and for the dissemination of
512 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

Table 5
Hypothesis-testing results
Hypotheses Effects Standard path coefficient p-Value
H1a Trust (online media) ! trust (online services) 0.02 0.68
H1b Trust (online services) ! attitude 0.04 0.02
H2a PR (online media) ! PR (online services) 0.26 0.00
H2b PR (online services) ! attitude 0.04 0.65
H3a Trust (online services) ! PR (online services) 0.11 0.04
H3b Trust (online media) ! PR (online media) 0.16 0.05
H3c Trust (online services) ! PR (online media) 0.09 0.21
H3d Trust (online media) ! PR (online services) 0.11 0.04
H4 Attitude ! intention 0.37 0.00
H5a PEOU ! attitude 0.04 0.48
H5b PEOU ! PU 0.34 0.00
H6a PU ! attitude 0.43 0.00
H6b PU ! intention 0.28 0.00
H7a Compatibility ! PU 0.26 0.00
H7b Compatibility ! attitude 0.18 0.01
H8a Facilitating conditions ! attitude 0.12 0.03
H8b Facilitating conditions ! intention 0.02 0.79

information. Thus, trust in using the service provider is 6.2. Perceived risk
still not a major concern at present.
According to Hoffman, one of the main barriers to the Perceived risk with online media had significant
diffusion and adoption of e-commerce is that consumers impact on that with online services (b = 0.26, p < 0.001).
do not trust Web providers to ‘‘engage in ‘relationship Negative consequences could be expected when using
exchanges’ involving money and personal information the online services because they are dependent on the
with them.’’ This can be applied to online legal services, online media.
the use of which requires entrusting the provider with There is an insignificant link between perceived risks
personal details. Some respondents expressed distrust in with online services and attitude. Thus, convenience,
Internet technology and said that they felt insecure about time, and money saving were not apparently influenced
seeking legal advice on the Internet. by the perceived risk of searching, downloading legal

Fig. 3. Model showing the results of the SEM; the solid and dashed lines are significant and insignificant paths, respectively.
 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 513

documents, and seeking online legal advice. From the feedback, and extent of interaction with virtual lawyers
mean statistics, people had a positive attitude towards determined the usefulness of online legal services.
online legal service and the perceived risks were at an
acceptable level. 6.6. Compatibility
Nevertheless, few respondents expressed any con-
cern on privacy and security of data and the possible Table 5 indicates that respondents are prone to agree
leakage of personal information when transmitting that online legal service is compatible with their
information online. lifestyle: the means of the items are all above 3. In the
path analysis, which was consistent with the studies by
6.3. Trust and perceived risk Chen et al., compatibility was strongly correlated with
PU (b = 0.26, p < 0.001). It also evinced positive
The survey validated the view that trust and influence on intention through attitude (b = 0.18,
perceived risk are closely related. The trust in online p < 0.01). Apparently, early adopters of the online
media has a significant impact on the perceived risk of legal services are people with a ‘‘wired lifestyle.’’
online media (b = 0.16, p < 0.05). Similarly, the trust in
online services has a significant impact on the perceived 6.7. Facilitating conditions
risk of them (b = 0.11, p < 0.05). Because the items in
perceived risk were reversely coded (e.g., ‘‘The Internet These do not appear to have significant effect on
is a secure means through which to send personal intention (b = 0.02, p = 0.78). Although they did not
information’’), the coefficients bs in both of the above have a significant factor for adoption intention, it was a
relationships were positive. significant factor affecting the attitude to adopt online
Results showed that trust in online media had a legal service (b = 0.12, p < 0.05) due to environments
significant but moderate impact on the perceived risk and self-efficacy. Thus, skillful people having good
with online services (b = 0.11, p < 0.05). Thus, trust in Internet access will have a positive attitude towards the
online media due to the competence of the Internet adoption of online legal services. However, its impact
technologies’ designers or user’s experience on the was moderate (b = 0.12, p < 0.05).
Internet reduced the perceived risk with online services.
On the other hand, trust in online services had no 7. Conclusion
significant impact on perceived risk with online media
(b = 0.09, p = 0.21). This study was developed to investigate the relation-
ships among the four constructs of trust and perceived
6.4. Attitude and intention risk in the online media and online services and how they
influence the attitude and behavior intention to adopt the
The findings agree with TPB and other attitude– information-oriented online legal services. A three-level
intention models: the attitude of adopting online legal framework was developed to explain the adoption of
services had a positive impact on the intention to use the information-oriented online legal services at the applica-
services (b = 0.37, p < 0.001). tion level. The results of an experiment showed that once
the trust had been established, the perceived risk would
6.5. PEOU and PU be reduced. Also, perceived risk with online media, trust
in online media, and the trust in online services were the
Although perceived ease of use was not significantly fundamental beliefs that influenced the perceived risk of
related to attitude (b = 0.04, p = 0.48), there was an online services. We found that the intention to adopt an
indirect impact from PEOU on attitude and intention information-oriented online legal service was signifi-
through PU (b = 0.34, p < 0.001). As predicted, PU had cantly affected by a customer’s trust in the online service.
strong correlation with attitude (b = 0.43, p < 0.001) In anticipation of a new vista for online services, these
and intention (b = 0.28, p < 0.001). The results findings may give law firms some insight into customer
demonstrated that PEOU does not engender customers’ behavior.
intention to use online legal services. The results confirmed that trust in online media is an
In designing a legal website, developer should pay underlying belief affecting the perceived risk of online
attention to functionality and the respective PU. media. Also, the perceived risk with online services was
Responding to the open-end questions, respondents affected by trust in online media, perceived risk with
stated that the scope of service, responsiveness of online media, and trust in online services.
514 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

In practice, our research shows that online service specific cost for downloading. Online legal directories
providers should pay more attention to the value of their and referral services also help people in their search for
website as a means of disseminating information or of a lawyer.
conducting transactions. Its usefulness is the most Legal information providers in the U.K. such as
important factor in its adoption. Also, a website must be Free Lawyer, EmpLaw, Divorce Online, and LAW-on-
compatible with the lifestyles of people seeking legal the-WEB are not law firms, although all have lawyers
advice and the online legal service provider may need to working with them. EmpLaw and LAW-on-the-WEB
consider using more verbal or visual aids in disseminat- use their information and services to attract sub-
ing information or consider using video conferencing scribers and potential clients seeking the services of
for online discussions. Some respondents stated that it is law firms, earning their revenues through referral
hard to read or understand legal terms. Moreover, the schemes. Estimates of the monthly visits are 175,000–
provision of personalized and follow-up services would 200,000 [12]. USLaw, an online legal service provider,
help to create a ‘‘personal feeling’’ that would boost the has a legal chat room where people can interact with
trust of customers and bolster the reputation of the legal lawyers. MyLawyer.com provides standard legal
service provider. Finally, perceived risk with online documents, such as wills and testaments that provides
services did not significantly affect the users’ attitude in software to lead them step-by-step through the
adopting of online legal services. process, passing all concerns back to the company;
the proposed version is then be e-mailed to the user for
8. Limitations of the study any adjustments.
There are currently three types of online legal
Some limitations existed in this study. First, as online services: marketing the website, virtual legal practice,
legal services were still in their infancy and many and Web-enabled legal practices. In Hong Kong, law
respondents were not familiar with them, therefore the firms such as Johnson Stokes and Master (www.jsm.
study could not include the relationship between the com.hk) and Herbert Smith (www.herbertsmith.com)
intention to use and actual behavior (actual usage). use websites as marketing tools to promote their firms
Second, cultural, ethical, or regulatory issues, which are and services. However, the legal website www.thebroke.
probably relevant to legal services, were not considered. com, established by Yip, Tse, Tang Solicitors, is a one-
stop shop to answer some of the most frequently asked
Acknowledgements questions about bankruptcy and to connect lawyers with
would-be bankrupts. At present, there are no virtual law
This work has benefited from suggestions of firms in Hong Kong.
colleagues at the Conference of the Academy of LegalStudio, a commercial online legal service
Business and Administrative Sciences, 2003. Special provider, is a pioneer in offering online resources for
thanks go to Iris Cheung who helped to organize the legal solutions to individuals and businesses. Apart
survey, and Edgar Sibley and the three anonymous from providing general legal information and answering
reviewers for their helpful comments in the develop- common questions, do-it-yourself legal kits for con-
ment of this article. veyancing, divorce, setting up a company, declaring
bankruptcy, and drawing up legal agreements (e.g.,
Appendix A. Current trend and situation with wills, trust, and sales of goods) can be downloaded
online legal services relatively inexpensively. A legal forum where lawyers
will answer questions by e-mail is also available. The
In the U.S.A. and the U.K., law firms, governments, fee charged is modest compared with traditional legal
legal aid societies, and commercial providers of legal services.
information are starting to provide online information
and advice. Legal websites, virtual lawyers, and online Appendix B. Brief descriptions on TRA, TPB,
systems of providing legal guidance are examples of TAM, Triandis, and IDT
online legal services.
Linklaters, a law firm in London, is offering legal B.1. Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of
services via its Blue Flag expert systems and charges a Planned Behavior
subscription fee to its corporate clients for using
question-and-answer advisory services on the Web. The Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of
Most legal websites offer legal forms or documents at a Planned Behavior have been widely adopted as the
 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 515

theoretical basis for studies on the adoption of IT B.5. Similarities among different theories
systems and the Internet. TRA is a well-accepted model
to explain the attitude–intention–behavior relationship. Although these theories focus on different determi-
nants to explain consumer behavior in the adoption of
technology, they have similarities:
B.2. Technology Acceptance Model
 TRA, TPB, TAM, and the Triandis model assume an
TAM was derived from TRA to explain general attitude–intention–behavior relationship which, in
human behavior in IS usage. The constructs of turn, influences behavioral intention and actual usage.
perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (PEOU)  Perceived usefulness in TAM is similar to relative
are two beliefs that form its basis. advantage in IDT and, to a certain extent, to perceived
consequences in the Triandis model.
B.3. Triandis model  Perceived ease of use in TAM is obviously close to the
complexity construct in IDT.
This model assumes an attitude–intention–behavior  Perceived behavioral control in TPB refers to a
relationship but includes a number of relevant variables, person’s perceptions of control over a process and
such as habit, social factors, and facilitating conditions access to the resources to facilitate a behavior. In the
(the necessary resources and support to perform a Triandis model, this is also considered, but it posits
behavior—time, money, expertise, hardware, software, that facilitating conditions only affect the actual
network connection, etc.). The Triandis model was behavior, while perceived behavioral controls in
widely adopted in studies of social and consumer TPB affect both the behavioral intention and actual
behavior. In recent studies, the Triandis model has been usage.
applied to the adoption of technology such as World
Wide Web usage [9]. Appendix C. Questionnaire

C.1. Questionnaire on customer adoption of online

B.4. Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) legal services

IDT also deals with the adoption of online This is a survey on the intention of customers to
professional services. It helps to explain the innovation adopt online legal services in Hong Kong. Online legal
decision process, the factors determining the rate of services are online resources of legal information and
adoption, and different categories of adopters using five legal advice (e.g., www.legalstudio.com) that can be
attributes: relative advantage, compatibility, complex- accessed through the Internet. Compared with the
ity, trialability, and observability. A sixth attribute of conventional practice of direct consultation with
perceived risk has been used in other studies lawyers, online legal services provide all sorts of legal
(www.comp.nus.edu.sg/gohky/Ibank/ITUsage.htm). information (e.g., court cases and sample legal
Generally, only relative advantage, compatibility, and documents/agreements) and legal advice (e.g., on
complexity are consistently related to the adoption of whether or how to pursue a claim for an unpaid debt
innovations. or rent) more cheaply and in an efficient manner.
516 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

C.1.1. Part I
V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 517
518 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520

C.1.2. Part II

C.1.3. Part III

 V. Cho / Information & Management 43 (2006) 502–520 519

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[44] E.M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, The Free Press, New Vincent Cho is an assistant professor in the
York, 1995. Department of Management and Market-
[45] K. Ruyter, M. Wetzels, M. Kleijnen, Customer adoption of e- ing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic Univer-
service: an experimental study, International Journal of Service sity. He obtained his PhD from the Hong
Industry Management 12(2), 2001, pp. 184–207. Kong Science and Technology University,
[46] W.D. Salisabury, R.A. Pearson, A.W. Pearson, D.M. Miller, Hong Kong. His teaching interests are man-
Perceived security and World Wide Web purchase intention, agement information systems, e-com-
Industrial Management and Data Systems 101/F, 2001, pp. 165– merce, IT strategies, and IT
176. infrastructures. His research interests lie
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Information Systems and e-Business Management 2, 2004, pp. techniques on Internet, yield management, database marketing, tour-
31–55. ism forecasting, and expert systems. He has published in Knowledge
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Wide Web sites, in: P. De, J.I. DeGross (Eds.), in: Proceedings of Computer Information Systems, Expert Systems, The Journal of
the 20th International Conference on Information Systems, Computational Intelligence in Finance, Tourism Management, and
Charlotte, NC, December 1999, pp. 459–464. Annals of Tourism Research.