Impact of initial trust, involvement, and mood on trusting belief

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to incorporate social exchange theory to elaborate on the antecedents that underlie consumers’ trust of innovative financial product providers. In particular, this study investigates the mediating role of positive moods in stimulating customer trust. Design/methodology/approach – The research model was tested using data collected from 440 elite customers from top-ten financial holding companies in Taiwan. Structure equation modeling was employed to verify and validate the research model. Findings – The findings suggest that initial trust and customer involvement significantly and positively impact customer moods. In addition, customer initial trust, involvement, and positive moods significantly influence customers’ trusting belief of service providers. Research limitations/implications – This study focussed on the financial services industry only. While this industry represents an ideal new product development context, future research is needed to test the theory in different industries. Practical implications – The research findings advance the understanding of how to successfully build customer trust for innovative products. Originality/value – Current research unfolds the impact of customer involvement on trust development and supplements existing trust study findings by examining the mediating effect of positive mood on trust development through quantitative research. The research findings increase the understanding of how customers develop trust with service provider.