The Moderating Influence of Broad-Scope Trust on Customer-Seller Relationships

Abstract

Trust relates not only to customer trust in individual companies (i.e., narrow-scope trust) but also to the broader business context in which customer-seller relationships may develop (i.e., broad-scope trust [BST]). Based on two surveys comprising 1155 bank consumers and 817 insurance consumers, respectively, this study investigates the moderating influence of BST on relationships between satisfaction, narrow-scope trust, and loyalty and also examines the direct influence of BST on these variables. The results indicate that whereas BST negatively moderates relationships between satisfaction and narrow-scope trust and between narrow-scope trust and loyalty, BST positively moderates the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, it is demonstrated that BST positively influences customer satisfaction and narrow-scope trust. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.