This research analyzes the relationship between company performance and image and whether it has an impact on loyalty. Using a quasi-experimental model based on established research in consumer attitude formation and brand relationship marketing, the thesis rejects the popular notion that individual signals sent by companies affect consumer loyalty directly. Rather, this thesis demonstrates that the effects of image and performance and their impact on consumer attitudes do have an effect on consumer trust and perceived value, which are primary drivers of loyalty. This research suggests that while singular incidents are not enough to alter consumer loyalty, over time the impact of these signals may carry over through trust and value. Meanwhile, marketing managers should focus on activities that foster trust and value as opposed to positive brand image.

Our consumption habits are today under development and alteration. The market for mobile commerce is increasing, as well as the use of social networks with mobile devices. This relatively new approach to online shopping requires that retailers adjust to new strategies related to trust issues. The purpose of this study is to examine how social networks affect the establishment of trust between retailers and customers in mobile commerce. We investigate what kind of strategies retailers apply in order for consumers to gain trust in the mobile environment. We also explore how consumers perceive increased trust in retailers who establish activities in social network. The result of our study indicates that the use of social networks often affects retailers’ trademark in a positive way. We also found that the availability increases when the retailers performs these activities. This can be exemplified by the consumers’ opportunity to get in contact with the retailer through different communication channels. This, among other factors, contributes to a greater sense of trust amongst consumers, which is presented furtherer in the report.

This research analyzes the relationship between company performance and image and whether it has an impact on loyalty. Using a quasi-experimental model based on established research in consumer attitude formation and brand relationship marketing, the thesis rejects the popular notion that individual signals sent by companies affect consumer loyalty directly. Rather, this thesis demonstrates that the effects of image and performance and their impact on consumer attitudes do have an effect on consumer trust and perceived value, which are primary drivers of loyalty. This research suggests that while singular incidents are not enough to alter consumer loyalty, over time the impact of these signals may carry over through trust and value. Meanwhile, marketing managers should focus on activities that foster trust and value as opposed to positive brand image.

Researchers and academics from diverse disciplines have highlighted the role of 'trust' for establishing and strengthening existing relationships between individuals and organisations in the commercial and the social context. Trust in the cultural context specifically, is credited with being the social 'glue' for sustaining bonds between members of cultural groups. The 'trust' phenomenon has become a 'hallmark' of success for organizations as they become more involved with Information Technology (IT). A precondition for trust to manifest is the natural presence of risk or uncertainties in a potential decision. Since the fears and risks associated with online transactions in the context of ecommerce are high, gaining a customer's trust becomes a must. Some studies have found the ingrained cultural values, which form an essential part of the cultural heritage of a person, to be influential in evoking an individual's trust. Various sources in the marketing and consumer behaviour literature have highlighted the role that religious subcultures play in the purchase decisions of their members. The customs, values, and norms set by a religious group are highly esteemed by its members. The objective of this thesis is to investigate if religious Web sites are more likely to instil trust in online fellow-members than their generic counterparts. From a HCI point of view, we can say that our research will investigate an "abstract" interface of e-commerce systems: the 'theological' interface of a commercial Web site. Consequently, we can also ascertain if religious consumers basing their purchasing decisions on 'religious' trust alone overlook more important issues such as the privacy and security problems associated with financial transactions performed over the Internet. Our empirical findings have discovered that conservative Muslims, who are not very familiar with the Internet, trust a Muslim Web site more than a Christian Web site and a generic Web site. In contrast, conservative Muslims with higher Internet experience were found to be more cautious. They based their 'trust' on more appropriate criteria such as the extent of privacy and security safeguards adopted by a Web site. A qualitative analysis of the post-experimental interviews that we conducted purports that Web-based trust develops with a company's good reputation, previous personal purchasing experiences, and through word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family or peers. In light of our findings, we argue that the time experience gained in using the Internet plays a major role on how consumers perceive culturally or religiously oriented Web sites. We believe that less experienced Internet users are unaware of the security vulnerabilities inherent in the Internet environment. Therefore, we assume that they are context-blind: they do not differentiate between traditional and the digital marketing environments. Consequently, they would trust purchasing from an electronic store (Web site) in the same manner they would trust purchasing from a 'brick-and mortar' store. In contrast, experienced Internet users deem reputable Web sites adopting good security and privacy safeguards for online transactions to be trustworthier than Web sites designed with a 'religious' interface. We conclude that in the context of e-commerce, one cannot expect to establish a trustworthy commercial relationship based on religious trust alone. From the findings of this study, it has become apparent that the trait of strict religious affiliation seems to disappear in the context of e-commerce. The threats and risks inherent in online transactions seem to restructure the religious community by merging it into a traditional global community of e-consumers. When contemplating a purchase from a Web site, traditional e-consumers pay more attention to the company's reputation and the extent of data security measures adopted by a Web site rather than basing their purchase decisions on the religious affiliations and cultural values taught by parents and ancestors. Thus, Web sites aiming to sell products behind a 'religious' interface could become disappointed. Having said that, we reiterate that the time experience in using the Internet seems to play an influential role in how users' perceive cultural or religious Web sites.

A nurse-manager relationship plays a key role in a nurse’s practice environment. A nurse’s trust in one’s manager is the foundation for a supportive nurse-manager relationship and has crucial bearing upon the professional and personal lives of the nurse. However due to health care restructuring, nurses expressed little trust towards their leaders. To develop and implement strategies to help build healthy nurse-manager relationships, research is needed to more fully understand the factors that establish and enhance a nurse’s trust in one’s manager. This study tested a theoretical model that examined potential individual, managerial, relational and environmental attributes that impact a nurse’s degree of managerial trust. Employing a cross-sectional, descriptive design, a self-administered survey was completed by a random sample of 342 Registered Nurses employed in Ontario emergency departments. Structural equation modeling techniques tested and refined the hypothesized model. Final analysis showed adequate fit of data to theoretical model (χ 2 = 78.86, df = 20, SRMR = .02, CFI = .98, RMSEA = .09). In the final model, a manager’s perceived ability, benevolence, integrity and procedural justice had a strong, direct impact on managerial trust. Trust in one’s manager was indirectly influenced by procedural justice and ability as well as a manager’s facilitation of team work, communication accuracy, emotional availability and interaction frequency. Attributes of the individual RN, specifically job tenure and propensity to trust as well as self-determination, access to support and resources and span of control did not affect trust in one’s manager. Study findings suggest that creation and preservation of a nurse’s managerial trust is a complex process affected by manager’s competence and character as well as a fair decision-making process. Education programs that contribute to a manager’s ability, benevolence, integrity and procedural justice may help build and sustain nurses’ trust and healthy nurse-manager relationships.

This research focuses on the role that trust and its component facets - competence, benevolence, openness, reliability and honesty (Tschannen-Moran, 2004) - play in affecting teachers’ inclination to exercise informal leadership. Teachers in the elementary sections of three elite urban independent schools in Ontario nominated colleagues as informal teacher leaders in their schools and a total of nine teachers, who received multiple nominations, were selected for interview. The interviews unexpectedly revealed two distinct experience-based groupings of informal teacher leaders, with the members of the two groups exhibiting distinctive leadership behaviours. Trust was an important factor affecting all of the teacher leaders’ inclination to exercise informal leadership, but the two experience-based groups revealed different patterns of emphasis for the trust facets (for example, the less-experienced leaders highlighted benevolence above all other facets while the more-experienced teachers considered openness to be the most important). The findings have implications for the ways in which schools can promote the exercise of informal leadership.

The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical framework, and establish an understanding of how trust, satisfaction, and behavioral intention influence each other. Subjects are online panelists who purchased travel-related services at least once in the past six months. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 18.0 (SPSS), and Moment structures (AMOS) 18.0 are utilized to examine this framework. This study follows Oliver’s four-dimensional construct of loyalty: cognitive, affective, cognative, and action loyalty. Results show that trust as a mediator between satisfaction, perceived value, and loyalty had better explanation ability than satisfaction as a mediator between perceived value and loyalty. Theoretical and practical implications are presented for the tourism industry.

The teacher trust in clients construct embodies the collective level of teacher trust in students and parents. While teacher trust in clients has been recognized as a positive predictor of student achievement controlling for student demographics, previous studies have not tested the effect of teacher trust on student achievement in suburban elementary schools with large and diverse student populations. This study examined the relationship between teacher trust in clients and student achievement. It also examined collective teacher trust in relation to school demographics. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between teacher trust in students and parents in relationship to student achievement in reading and mathematics. The secondary purpose of the study was designed to determine if demographic variables had an impact on teacher trust and student achievement. The conceptual framework of trust was based on relationships within and between social groups. Using a sample of 10,464 students nested within 97 participating elementary schools with a large and diverse student populations located in suburban public school districts in South Texas, the researcher determined the level of teachers’ trust in students and parents. Analysis indicated that teacher trust in students and parents reported higher levels of achievement on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills controlling for student ethnicity, economic disadvantaged status, prior achievement, and school size. The within school variance in mathematics achievement explained by the multilevel model was 46%, whereas the within school variance in reading achievement explained by the multilevel model was 24%. The results of the multilevel analysis revealed that between school variance in mathematics achievement explained by the multilevel model was 81%, while the between school variance in reading achievement explained by the multilevel model was 90%. Additionally, the multiple regression analysis indicated that only 72% of the variance in teacher trust was explained by student demographics. Thus, student achievement might be improved through systematic efforts to develop teacher trust in clients. The results of this study suggest improving relationships between teachers, students, and parents can have a positive impact on student performance in reading and mathematics achievement.

Drawing on the labelling process in reactions to deviance, a model of the interplay of a coworker’s extra-organizational deviance and an individual’s reactions to that coworker has been developed. Three studies were conducted to further explore the model in order to more fully understand the phenomenon of extra-organizational deviance. The first study (n=12) was exploratory in nature. It established the relevance of extra-organizational deviance in individuals’ work lives and highlighted the detrimental effect that behaviours outside of work could have at work. It also highlighted the potential for beneficial outcomes in situations of positive extra-organizational deviance. The second study (n=120) was a vignette study that demonstrated significant differences when looking at positive and negative extra-organizational deviance for both attitudinal and behavioural reactions. In this study, when individuals learned of their coworker’s negative extra-organizational deviance, perceptions of trust, trustworthiness, and liking all decreased, as did helping. There were no corresponding significant results when individuals learned of their coworker’s positive extra-organizational deviance. The second study also demonstrated the moderating effects of high initial levels of liking and competence under different circumstances. The third study (n=21) provided a more detailed look at the variables in the second study by concentrating on actual situations of extra-organizational deviance that participants had experienced. This study highlighted the complexities in reactions to extra-organizational deviance, particularly as it relates to competence and liking.

The Australian tax policy of assessing trusts and their beneficiaries has been buffeted by changes that have occurred over the last 10 years or so, chiefly in the rules that equity has adopted and applied in its restatement of the rights and interests that a beneficiary has in a trust. Broadly, the scheme of div 6 of Part III of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 ?? the general provisions for assessing trustees and beneficiaries ?? has remained largely unaltered, its machinery has now become ill-suited to equity??s new jurisprudence concerning beneficiaries' interests in trusts. This thesis examines the rules that seek to identify in a beneficiary an interest that she or he has in a trust??s subject matter, and it questions whether the tax legislation is still adequate to work its policies in the light of changes in the rules of equity. Most pressing amongst them is the concept of present entitlement to income as a criterion for assessing beneficiaries of trusts on incomes derived by their trustees ?? at least before the income is physically paid or dealt with by the trustees so that there is some actual or constructive receipt by the beneficiary of that income. In addition to this, the thesis points to other difficulties that have arisen ?? largely because of changing jurisprudence ?? that portend the unworkability of the current tax policy. The proposition is that the only way to correct the present and forthcoming problems, and the tensions they will cause in the Australian tax system, is to abandon the conventional policy of seeking primarily to assess a beneficiary on a mere present entitlement, and instead to assess tax on physical distributions. Under this proposition, a beneficiary will no longer be assessed on anticipated distributions: she or he will now be assessed only on those distributions that are actually made thereto. Naturally enough, a number of other trust assessing issues are affected by the proposal, and the changes to them ?? largely in a way that makes them simpler ?? are proposed and submitted.