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THE MEASUREMENT OF TRUST IN MARKETING STUDIES: A REVIEW OF MODELS AND METHODOLOGIES

Maria Antonietta Raimondo

The paper was published at the 16th IMP-conference in Bath, U.K in 2000.

Marketing literature has repeatedly shown that trust between firms, and between firms andconsumers, is a crucial factor in the move from discrete market transactions to continuousexchange relationships. Although there is a general agreement about the fundamental role oftrust in the management of market relationships, there is as yet no complete agreement aboutits definition, nor about its measurement. This paper presents a review of marketing literaureon trust. The aim is to emphasize some problems still open in defining the meaning of thetrust concept and in identifing its origins and effects in market relations; and to illustrate themain approaches and methodologies that have been used in the measurement of the conceptitself. Results indicate a great variety of definitions and measurements in the differentcontexts studied and, as a consequence, a lack of completely satisfying and widely agreedmodels and methods of operazionalization, suitable for evaluate the role of trust in marketrelationships and its process of generation and growth over time.