Trust: one dimension or two?

Abstract

Trust is a concept which has received extensive attention in the marketing literature (for example, Doney & Cannon 1997; Ganesan 1994; Ganesan & Hess 1997; Moorman, Deshpandé & Zaltman 1993; Morgan & Hunt 1994; Shemwell & Cronin 1995). Trust has received particular attention as a key concept in relationship marketing (for example, Morgan & Hunt 1994). Two competing models have generally been utilised to represent the trust concept. Whilst trust has frequently been measured using a unidimensional model (for example Doney & Cannon 1997; Dwyer, Schurr & Oh 1987; Larzelere & Huston 1980; Morgan & Hunt 1994, more recently attention has been given to using a two-dimensional approach to modelling the concept (for example Bowen & Shoemaker 1998; Ganesan 1994; Ganesan & Hess 1997; Kumar,Scheer & Steenkamp 1995). Two dimensions, representing benevolence and credibility (or honesty) are the most usually identified separate dimensions of trust. Hence, the decision as to how best to measure trust in marketing related research is confusing, given the equally successful approaches to modelling the concept reported in the literature. Despite this confusion, trust continues to play an important part in marketing research. Having been identified as a key variable in assessment of relationship marketing models (for example Morgan and Hunt 1994), trust is consistently being utilised in increasingly complex relationship marketing models. Therefore, it is important to find some consensus as to how best to measure trust in relationship marketing, especially as the models develop and grow. In addition, treatment of trust as multi-dimensional adds to the complexity of the model building and assessment. Such complexity may be unnecessary, if a two-dimensional model does not provide a substantially better fit than a unidimensional model. Hence, this paper focuses on examining the dimensionality of trust by examining two different measures of trust. The paper also assess empirically Doney and Cannon’s (1997) assertion that trust is better treated as a unidimensional construct.