Executive summary of "Building trust by signaling trustworthiness in service retai

Citation

(2014), "Executive summary of "Building trust by signaling trustworthiness in service retai", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2014-0217

Executive summary of "Building trust by signaling trustworthiness in service retail"

Article Type: Executive summary and implications for managers and executives From: Journal of Services Marketing, Volume 28, Issue 5

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the material present.

Often, the clever things that people say might sound erudite and scholarly at first hearing but do not stand up to scrutiny. For instance, when US politician Henry Lewis Stimson said "The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him", he cannot have been thinking of the conmen who convince people to trust them before demonstrating their untrustworthiness. It sounds good as a "quote" though, and maybe it does a useful job in pointing out that there is a world of difference between trust and trustworthiness.

The theme is taken up by Dr Kharouf et al. in "Building trust by signaling trustworthiness in service retail" which investigates the role of retailer trustworthiness in driving customer trust and the subsequent impact on loyalty. Their take on the matter is somewhat at odds with Mr Stimson’s well-documented comment, as they say: "Very simply, one can only trust entities that are trustworthy". Which sort of makes sense in a "which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the trust or the trustworthiness?" conundrum.

In a retail setting, a consumer who has never used a given service organization may view them as trustworthy simply based on second-hand information. However, that consumer is not likely to extend his or her trust to the provider until he or she experiences the provider’s actions first-hand. Hence, the distinction between trust and trustworthiness is that trust is the trustor’s belief toward the trustee, while trustworthiness is a characteristic of the trustee. That trustworthiness is defined by the authors as a trait of a party (e.g. a service provider) in a relationship that inspires confidence in their counterpart (e.g. a customer). The research investigates six distinct attributes positioned as drivers of a service organization’s trustworthiness.

Consistency in performance will help reduce uncertainty and the trustor’s perceived risk in dealing with the trustee, making the achievement of trustworthiness much more likely. Consistency helps strengthen the promise and predictability of the trustee’s future performance, helping to build trustworthiness.

Competence is based on the belief that the other party is capable and reliable. When individuals trust, they believe that the other exchange party will behave as expected to meet their obligations. In other words, competence is linked to the organization’s ability to deliver on its promises. Perceived competence will help mitigate the level of perceived risk as customers become more confident that the retailer can perform dependably.

Benevolence is based on the trustee’s willingness to establish mutually fulfilling interactions rather than maximizing their own profits. Benevolence is evident when the trustee faces the choice of behaving opportunistically and elects not to do so. Furthermore, benevolence often precedes affective trust, as understanding that one’s partner is willing to forgo their own rewards in favor of mutual benefit strengthens existing trustworthiness and feelings that the trustee will continue to perform in a manner that will fulfill the trustor’s expectations.

Communication first builds perceptions of trustworthiness, which consequently have an impact on trust.

Value alignment is associated with mistrust from the perspective that a lack of congruence in values can lead to mistrust. The current research adopts a definition of value alignment (or shared values) as the extent to which partners have beliefs in common about what behaviors, goals and policies are important or unimportant, appropriate or inappropriate and right or wrong.

Integrity implies that the trustee will demonstrate and stick to a set of principles and values that the trustor finds acceptable. A trustee’s integrity requires that they provide a consistent approach to dealing with the trustor. Integrity entails that every aspect of the service provider displays a harmonized approach when dealing with their customers – consistently offering an equitable and fair outcome.

The study’s findings show that trust and trustworthiness are distinct constructs and that both are important in the development of loyalty among customers. Managers are encouraged to design strategies to build both trust and trustworthiness among customers. Specifically, this research finds that benevolence does not have an impact on trust; however, it does have a significant impact on perceptions of trustworthiness. Overlooking trustworthiness might result in a failure by management to communicate benevolent intentions and strategies to customers, leading to lost opportunities to build perceptions of trustworthiness, which, in turn, could negatively impact loyalty. These results suggest that it would be beneficial for managers to strategically design an overall trustworthy image while still managing individual customers’ trust through traditional relationship marketing efforts.

Cognitive aspects of an organizations’ service delivery (consistency and competence) are important determinants of a trustworthy image. Managers should signal to their customers that the organization has adequate skills and knowledge to deliver the service reliably. This should also be reflected through service employees’ behavior (meeting customer demands quickly and efficiently), ensuring that the customer’s experience with the organization is consistent with that image. Efficiency and speed of service are also important in building trustworthiness.

To read the full article enter 10.1108/JSM-01-2013-0005 into your search engine.

(A précis of the article "Building trust by signaling trustworthiness in service retail". Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)