The dark side of trust and mechanisms to manage it.

Abstract

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.