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The dark side of trust and mechanisms to manage it.

Trust is considered to be the cornerstone of relationship marketing in B2B contexts. However, recent studies in this area suggest that high trust levels can be detrimental to buyer-supplier relationships. I refer to this phenomenon as the dark side of trust. My dissertation explores this notion by conducting interviews with procurement managers to understand the dysfunctional effects of high trust levels. Moreover, I investigate empirically, the curvilinear effects of multidimensional trust (cognitive and affective trust) on performance outcomes, along with moderating conditions that enhance the effectiveness of cognitive and affective trust on outcomes across different phases of the buyer-supplier relationship lifecycle. My research indicates that: 1) high levels of trust are associated with potential negative consequences by making relational partners vulnerable and exposing them to opportunism, 2) cognitive trust and affective trust have differential impact on performance outcomes such that cognitive trust has a significant quadratic impact, while affective trust has a non-significant quadratic impact, and 3) monitoring conflicts with cognitive trust in the build-up phase, but augments it in the decline phase; conversely, it works with affective trust to accomplish maximum benefits in the build-up phase, but clashes in the decline phase.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-04142010-015900
Date15 April 2010
CreatorsKusari, Sanjukta
ContributorsProf. Steve Hoeffler, Prof. Jagdip SIngh, Prof. Steve Posavac, Prof. Jennifer Escalas, Prof. Dawn Iacobucci
PublisherVANDERBILT
Source SetsVanderbilt University Theses
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-04142010-015900/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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