Why does trust matter?
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Trust is given the pride of place among the factors that foster productive relationships in marketing and in contexts. Consistent with the scholarly literature, the popular press also lauds trust as the hallmark of effective organizational relationships and performance and perceives the effectiveness of managers as dependent on their ability to gain the trust of their subordinates. For example, in the sales context, the supervisors trusts the salesperson to exert maximum effort and commitment to achieve organizational goals. Reciprocally, the salesperson trust the supervisor to provide support, show fairness and objectivity in work assignments and performance appraisals, and show consideration for the salesperson’s welfare. The salesperson’s trust in the supervisor’s benevolence is therefore believed to enhance sales performance. There is a strong normative bias toward the inherent value of trust among both marketing researchers and practitioners. Yet there is little empirical evidence of a positive impact of trust on performance. Indeed, scholars suggest that the sources of trust may provide opportunities for it’s abuse.