Is Firm Trust Essential in a Trusted Environment? how Trust in the Business Context Influences Customers

Abstract

Customers are influenced not only by how much they trust a company and its representatives but also by how much they trust the broader context in which the market exchange is taking place. In this article, the authors test two rival sociological perspectives regarding the influence of customer trust in the broader context. One perspective proposes that trust in the context replaces trust in individual firms and their representatives. This view suggests that firm/representative trust is not always critical, especially for customers with high trust in the context. An alternative perspective is that trust in the context fosters and legitimates trust in firms and their representatives. This view implies that firm/ representative trust is a necessary mediator of the influence of trust in the context. The authors test predictions based on both perspectives, using empirical results from two studies implemented in two countries.The results from both studies support the proposition that trust in firms and their representatives is a necessary mediator of trust in the broader context.

Trust in financial services: Retrospect and prospect

“…Clearly, in financial services, the degree of trust in the system (or otherwise) can be in important influence on consumers. The difference between narrow-scope and broad-scope trust has also been noted in the literature (Grayson, et al, 2008). The former is focussed directly on particular representatives or branches of a particular organisation.…”

Trust transfer in the continued usage of public e-services

“…It occurs when a person develops trust in an entity because of her or his trust in a related entity [90]. The transmission depends on the person's assessment of the entities' similarity, proximity, or belongingness to a trusted referent [40,90]. In the relatively scarce stream of literature on trust transfer, Doney and Cannon [29] propose that trust moves between independent but related entities, such as firms and their salespeople; other authors propose typologies in which trust in an industry transfers to new firms operating in that sector [40,64].…”

“…Trust in the community of sellers -Trust in the intermediary managing the e-marketplace -Feedback mechanism -Escrow services -Credit card guarantees [40] Trust in the business context or the industry (broad-scope) transferred to trust in a firm (narrow-scope)…”

“Trust but verify”? The performance implications of verification strategies in trusting relationships

“…Drawing on prior work addressing interfirm and group relationships (Ganesan 1994;Kumar et al 1995), Doney and Cannon (1997, p. 37) define trust as the "perceived credibility and benevolence of a target of trust." Similarly, others (e.g., Geyskens et al 1998;Grayson et al 2008) define trust as a belief that an exchange partner is benevolent and honest. Conceptions of trust common to both the interfirm and interpersonal domains capture the widely held view that trust involves the willingness to rely upon another, which has as its basis an expectation that the motives, intentions and behavior of the trusted partner are worthy of one's trust (i.e., they are trustworthy) (Blois 1999).…”

“…Participants in exchange who trust one another reportedly may obtain a variety of performance related benefits including: (1) eliminated duplication of activities (Scanzoni 1979), (2) system and transaction savings (Ouchi 1980;Dore 1983;Noordewier et al 1990;Sako 1992), (3) enhanced adaptability (Zand 1972), (4) lower opportunism (Rindfleisch and Moorman 2003); (5) greater commitment, cooperation, collaboration, interaction, integrative bargaining, loyalty (and less propensity to switch), relationalism, satisfaction, and anticipated long-term interaction (Agustin and Singh 2005;Anderson and Weitz 1989;Cannon and Perreault 1999;Chiou and Droge 2006;Doney and Cannon 1997;Ganesan 1994;Grayson et al 2008;Jap and Anderson 2003;Morgan and Hunt 1994;Palmatier et al 2008), (6) a greater willingness to explore opportunities and implement decisions (Golembiewski and McConkie 1975), (7) a share of a customer's purchases (Ahearne et al 2007), service usage (Maltz and Kohli 1996) and sales performance overall (Palmatier et al 2008). Together, this and other research suggests that trust can enhance relationship quality and facilitate performance in exchange.…”