Trust and Privacy Concerns as Antecedents of Purchase Intention among Shopee Users in Batangas City, Philippines

This study examines the influence of trust and privacy concerns on the purchase intentions of Shopee users in Batangas City, a rapidly ‎urbanizing area in the Philippines with growing engagement in digital commerce. Guided by the Trust and Privacy Concerns Model, a ‎descriptive–correlational design was employed using a structured survey of 172 respondents selected through stratified proportional random ‎sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t tests, and structural equation modeling. Results reveal that trust exerts ‎a significant and positive effect on purchase intention, while privacy concerns show a negative but non-significant influence. Security, ease ‎of use, and perceived usefulness emerged as strong predictors of trust, whereas third party certification heightened privacy concerns. Trust ‎also mediated the relationship between platform features and purchase intention. From an applied sciences perspective, these findings ‎highlight that functional trust mechanisms—secure systems, user friendly interfaces, and transparent data practices—are more effective than ‎symbolic privacy cues in shaping consumer behavior. The study contributes to applied information systems research by demonstrating how ‎platform-level trust mechanisms directly shape consumer purchase intention‎.