Through the looking glass: the factors that influence consumer trust and distrust in brands
Abstract
This paper aims to identify the factors responsible for creating brand trust and brand distrust among consumers. It uses a grounded theory approach to guide the conduct and analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews that yielded 120 descriptions of consumer-brand interactions. The 3 stage model that emerged shows a process whereby consumers prioritize product/service quality information and subsequently consider how the company behind the brand behaves towards consumers in the name of the brand, specifically behaviors signalling its integrity and benevolence. Finally, consumers consider characteristics of the company behind the brand (e.g. its financial status) and how it behaves in its own name towards other stakeholder groups (e.g. employees). The process for distrust mirrors that for trust, implying the two are polar opposites. The data also show that trust and distrust in a brand can co-exist but within separate domains.Citation
Mal, J., Davies, G. & Diers-Lawson, A. (2018). Through the looking glass: the factors that influence consumer trust and distrust in brands, Psychology & Marketing, 35(12).Publisher
WileyJournal
Psychology & MarketingAdditional Links
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.21146Type
ArticleLanguage
enDescription
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mal, J., Davies, G. & Diers-Lawson, A. (2018). Through the looking glass: the factors that influence consumer trust and distrust in brands, Psychology & Marketing, 35(12), which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.21146. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingISSN
0742-6046EISSN
1520-6793ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/mar.21146
Scopus Count
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/