The nature of trust in brands: a psychosocial model

Abstract

Purpose-The paper seeks to explore empirically the lived experience of trust in consumer brands and to develop a model focusing on functional and symbolic brands. Design/methodology/approach-The paper presents an exploratory, grounded theory approach and the study conducted in-depth interviews. Findings-The findings reveal that when consumers are facing buying choices of functional brands that do not involve much risk and the price is low, familiarity is sufficient for their action. When risk and price levels increase, consumers seek a safe purchase choice regarding functional brands through confidence and dependability, while in the case of symbolic brands consumers have to trust the brand in order to make a purchase choice. Research limitations/implications-By exploring the concept of trust within the consumer domain and in particular in relation to functional and symbolic brands, this study offers insights into an area that has received noticeably limited research up to today. Furthermore the development of the psychosocial model of trust in brands offers opportunities to theoreticians for further research regarding the factors that influence trust in each stage, as well as ways to restore or transfer trust when needed. Practical implications-The study presents a tool to marketing practitioners, which will assist them in building and preserving long-term trusting customer relationships. Originality/value-The value of our research lies in the development of a psychosocial model of trust in brands by drawing on both social theory and on the psychology of human relationships.

Offering branded remanufactured/recycled products: at what price?

“…Again, recycled paper is the exception -a commonplace, low risk, commodity product. Elliot and Yannopoulou [53] suggest that when consumers are faced with a potential purchase involving a low level of perceived risk, familiarity will suffice for purchasethis is the case for paper. But for other product categories considered here, there is a higher level of perceived risk and familiarity.…”

“…Product and brand management studies show the effect of risk aversion on consumer decision-making and willingness to purchase [51,53]. Zeithaml [54] and Bauer [55] suggest that consumers use extrinsic cues to form perceptions of product quality (or benefits) and perceptions of monetary sacrifice (or cost) to determine product value [52].…”

Modeling the Trustworthiness of a Supplier Agent in a B2B Relationship

“…Consumers try to reduce risks by using well-known brands, and that brands provide guarantees about quality and security [22,23,24]. According to [25], [26] "demonstrate that trust plays an important role in the brand domain in that they link (brand) trust to brand performance through brand loyalty" [27].…”

Strategic brand management as the factor of company competitiveness

“…Iskustvene potrebe definišu se kao želje za proizvodima koji omogućavaju osećanja zadovoljstva, različitost i spoznajnu stimulaciju. 57 Tradicionalno shvatanje potrošača zasnovano je na ponašanju koje je lako predvideti, da potrošači vrednuju tržišne alternative i donose odluke o kupovini racionalno. Međutim, nakon globalnih promena u ekonomiji krajem 20-tog i početkom 21-tog veka, došlo je do velikih promena u sistemu potrošačkih odluka.…”

“…Menadžment odnosa sa potrošačima možemo definisati kao "proces izgradnje i održavanja profitabilnih odnosa sa potrošačima putem obezbeđenja superiorne 57 vrednosti i satisfakcije za potrošače". 59 Satisfakcija potrošača zavisi od poređenja opaženih performansi proizvoda i njihovih očekivanja.…”