Customer Trust in Salesperson
Customer Trust in the Salesperson: An Integrative Review and Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature
John E. Swan Michael R. Bowers Lynne D. Richardson
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
The development of trust between salespeople and their customers has traditionally been considered a critical element in developing and maintaining a successful sales relationship. This article presents the first comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of the antecedents of trust and consequences of trust in a sales context. A summary conclusion is that trust has a moderate but beneficial influence on the development of positive customer attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Another conclusion is that salespeople have modest influence over the development of trust between themselves and their customers. A comprehensive model of the role of trust in sales is presented. Directions for future research are identified. J BUSN RES 1999. 44.93–107. © 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.
for definitions of trust and its measurement, determinants of trust, consequences of customer trust, and conducted a metaanalysis of both determinants and outcomes of trust.
Method
Locating Research Results
The validity of a meta-analysis is dependent on the researchers incorporating all possible individual research results. To that end, an extensive search of the empirical literature was examined for studies in which customer trust of the salespeople was treated explicitly, as well as studies in which the content of the investigation included some part of the domain of customer trust. The search included using ABI/INFORM, 1971 to present, an electronic listing of abstracts from a large number of business journals. The indices of these journals were also reviewed. To search for possible behavioral science articles, PsycINFO (computer access of Psychological Abstracts starting in 1984) was used. To identify relevant proceedings studies, we reviewed the American Marketing Association’s Summer
John E. Swan Michael R. Bowers Lynne D. Richardson
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
The development of trust between salespeople and their customers has traditionally been considered a critical element in developing and maintaining a successful sales relationship. This article presents the first comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of the antecedents of trust and consequences of trust in a sales context. A summary conclusion is that trust has a moderate but beneficial influence on the development of positive customer attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Another conclusion is that salespeople have modest influence over the development of trust between themselves and their customers. A comprehensive model of the role of trust in sales is presented. Directions for future research are identified. J BUSN RES 1999. 44.93–107. © 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.
for definitions of trust and its measurement, determinants of trust, consequences of customer trust, and conducted a metaanalysis of both determinants and outcomes of trust.
Method
Locating Research Results
The validity of a meta-analysis is dependent on the researchers incorporating all possible individual research results. To that end, an extensive search of the empirical literature was examined for studies in which customer trust of the salespeople was treated explicitly, as well as studies in which the content of the investigation included some part of the domain of customer trust. The search included using ABI/INFORM, 1971 to present, an electronic listing of abstracts from a large number of business journals. The indices of these journals were also reviewed. To search for possible behavioral science articles, PsycINFO (computer access of Psychological Abstracts starting in 1984) was used. To identify relevant proceedings studies, we reviewed the American Marketing Association’s Summer