4. Research methodologyTo test the research model, we employed an empirical studyusing data from online survey responses. The survey participantswere undergraduate students at a large university who voluntarilyparticipated in the survey for extra credit. Although student par-ticipants may not fully represent the online shopper population,many previous studies (Bhatnagar, Misra, & Rao, 2000; Featherman& Pavlou, 2003; Gefen, 2000; Jarvenpaa et al., 2000; Jarvenpaa &Tractinsky, 1999; Lee & Turban, 2001; Pavlou, 2003) showed thatcollege students are a good surrogate for online consumers. Indeed,the data collected in the present study also indicated that the par-ticipants are active online consumers: over 90% of the respondentsreported that had shopped online least once in the last six months.