Commitment-trust Theory Research Articles

The mediating role of trust and commitment on members’ continuous knowledge sharing intention: A commitment-trust theory perspective

Although continuous knowledge sharing behaviour is acknowledged as important by scholars, the understanding of what influence this continuous behaviour remains limited. Thus, this paper fills the gap by examining the mediating role of identification trust and affective commitment on members’ continuous knowledge sharing intention within business online communities. 220 experienced online community members participated in the web survey. Structural equation modelling technique is used to analyze the data together with Baron and Kenny's (1986) mediating analysis procedure. The research findings reveal that, besides user's level of satisfaction, continuous knowledge sharing intention is partially mediated by affective commitment and identification trust. This paper ends by providing some insights on how to encourage continuous knowledge sharing intention within business online communities from the perspective of commitment-trust theory. Understanding the determinants of this behaviour is important as it helps to build an active community and also provides the opportunities for consumers to channel their ideas and suggestions in co-creating the products in which they are interested in.

Enhancing competitive advantages: The contribution of mediator and moderator on stickiness in the LINE

While the importance of users’ stickiness has been recognized in marketing literature for the least 10 years, the development and empirical validation of users’ stickiness model in the LINE context from mediator of satisfaction and moderator of online habit had not been addressed. Using the commitment-trust theory, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate such users’ stickiness on LINE model. Based on technology and marketing literatures, a series of hypotheses was compiled with a methodology for testing. A questionnaire was constructed and data were collected from 289 users of LINE in Taiwan. Structural modeling techniques were then applied to analyze the data. The results indicated that users’ stickiness was affected by their satisfaction. Users’ satisfaction played a crucial mediating role in the relationship of innovation differentiations, online habit, and stickiness. Based on these findings, its implications and limitations are discussed.

Exploring online social behavior in crowdsourcing communities: A relationship management perspective

With the popularity of social media, crowdsourcing innovation provides new ways to generate original and useful content. It offers a unique opportunity for online crowds to communicate and collaborate on a variety of topics of mutual interest. This study presents an initial attempt to explore and understand online social behavior in crowdsourcing communities, with the insights from both plural subject theory and commitment–trust theory. In particular, two different types of collective intention (i.e., we-mode collective intention, which refers to acting as a group member, and I-mode collective intention, which refers to acting interdependently to contribute to the group goal) were proposed. The research model was empirically examined with longitudinal data collected from 202 wiki users. Findings indicated that, although both I-mode and we-mode collective intentions significantly predicted online social behavior in wiki communities, we-mode collective intention exerted a greater effect on users’ behavior. In addition, relationship-orientated factors (e.g., trust and commitment) only affected we-mode, instead of I-mode, collective intention. This study finally yields several implications for both research and practice.

Building Relationships From the Outside In: A Case Study of Falken Tire's Drift Toward Success

This article explores a unique application of relationship marketing and commitment-trust theory through “outside-in” channel development. Necessitated by market conditions and competitor size and influence, the case company lacked the financial strength and credibility to compete head on to drive awareness from key channel members. Findings demonstrate how out-of-the-box thinking, entrepreneurial risk taking, and creative event marketing allowed a small market player to establish, build, and ultimately extend relationships with both indirect and direct channel partners from the outside in. This case provides guidance for relationship marketing efforts through the use of event sponsorship and social media strategies.

Understanding Online Consumer Stickiness in E-commerce Environment: A Relationship Formation Model

Consumers with online shopping experience often stick to some special websites. Does it mean that long-term relationships between consumers and the websites form? To solve the problem, this paper analyzed the belief and attitude factors influencing online consumer stickiness intention. Based on the relationships between belief-attitude-intention implied in TPB (Theory of Planned Behavior), according to Expectation-Confirmation theory and Commitment-trust theory, we developed a concept model on online consumer stickiness. Six research hypotheses derived from this model were empirically validated using a survey of online shoppers. SEM (Structure Equation Modeling) was as a data analysis method. The results suggest that online consumer stickiness intention is influenced by consumers’ commitment to the website (e-vendors) and their overall satisfaction to the transaction process, and commitment’s effect is stronger; in turn, both consumers’ commitment and overall satisfaction are influenced by consumers’ ongoing trust significantly; confirmation has a significant effect on overall satisfaction but has not the same effect on commitment. The findings show that the long-term relationships between consumers and special websites exactly exist during online repeat consumption.

The Impact of Trustworthiness and Customer e-Loyalty and e-Satisfaction

Trust, is tremendously essential element of basic human feelings (e.g., sincerity) in addition to being an element of website confidence in this digital world. In this regard, to enrich consumer’s trust in the comprehensive virtual environment, e-service providers or e-stores have to be trustworthy. In fact, trustworthy online stores itself may therefore affect online consumer purchasing intention. The main purpose of this study attempts to identify the impact of trustworthiness on customer e-loyalty and customer e-satisfaction in Malaysia context. In this study, commitment-trust theory is used as the theoretical base to explain the impact of trustworthiness on customer e-loyalty and customer e-satisfaction among Malaysian Internet users. The researcher used smartPLS 2.0 (M3) as the main analytical tool to test the proposed hypotheses. Three hundred ninety-five respondents participated in the study. Empirical results indicated that trustworthiness is positively related to customer e-loyalty and e-satisfaction. Several implications of the findings, limitations of the study and directions for future research were discussed in further. ?

An investigation of the effect of family influence on Commitment–Trust in retailer–vendor strategic partnerships

The Commitment–Trust theory (Morgan & Hunt, 1994) and the F-PEC scale of family influence (Astrachan, Klein, & Smyrnios, 2002) were utilized in a 6-construct model that examines family influence in retailer–vendor strategic partnerships in the United States. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the model. Six of the nine hypotheses were supported. Family influence explained twenty-seven percent of the value generated by the strategic partnership relationship. The model confirmed the Commitment–Trust theory, though family influence on trust was very limited. Expansion of the model and future testing in different contexts would help to refine and develop the model, including a better understanding of family influences in strategic partnerships.

Building Trusting Relationships in Online Health Communities

This study investigates consumers' use of online health communities (OHCs) for healthcare from a relationship building perspective based on the commitment-trust theory of relationships. The study proposes that perspective taking, empathic concern, self-efficacy, and network density affect the development of both cognitive and affective trust, which together determine OHC members' membership continuance intention (MCI) and knowledge contribution. Data collected from eight existing OHCs (N=255) were utilized to test the hypothesized model. Results show that perspective taking and self-efficacy can increase cognitive trust and affective trust, respectively. Network density contributes to cognitive and affective trust. Both cognitive trust and affective trust influence MCI, while only affective trust impacts members' knowledge contribution behaviors.

THE PERMANENCE OF THE CLIENT UNDER UNCERTAIN ESTIMATIONS

Marketing has studied the permanence of a client within an enterprise because it is a key element in the study of the value (economic) of the client (CLV). research that they have developed is based in deterministic or random models, which allowed estimating the permanence of the client, and the CLV. However, when it is not possible to apply these schemes for not having the panel data that this model requires, the period of time of a client with the enterprise is uncertain data. We consider that the value of the current work is to have an alternative way to estimate the period of time with subjective information proper of the theory of uncertainty. To achieve the above we propose, through a numerical example, a methodology that uses in its first phase the Fuzzy-Delphi method, with a group of experts, to accomplish an estimation of the lifetime period of the client within an enterprise, expressed as a trapezoidal fuzzy number, and to get a better consensus of the previous result, as a second phase, we submit such information to another group, different from the previous ones, obtaining a reduction of the size of the interval defined by the initial trapezoidal fuzzy number.Keywords: customer value, customer permanence, delphi method, trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, uncertainty, expertsJEL Classification: M20, M31(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1. INTRODUCTIONIn the literature, the permanence or active life of a customer within an enterprise has been studied under different angles. For example, Grayson and Ambler (1999), based on previous studies of Moorman, Zaltman and Deshpande (1992), argued that within the marketing of services the relationships between clients and enterprises, at the long term have a dark side, which can provoke a reduction on the level of confidence in such relations.On the other hand, Moorman, Zaltman and Deshpande (1992) explain their results mentioning that there are dynamic factors that exist in long term relationships. For example: they argue that in lasting relationships each one of the parts acquires experience, which can provoke a loss of objectivity; besides, they justified that very long relationships can transform the perception of each one of the contraries as very similar between them, this can decrease the add value of the relation; another argument that they mention is that if the relationship of service between client and enterprise is sustained for a long term, this can lead to a mayor expectation on the service that they provide jeopardizing a bigger possibility of dissatisfaction; the authors mention that the clients can believe that the service provided in a long term relation, can take advantage in the confidence of one of the parts and act in an opportunistic way. As we can see, these arguments are the opposite to the main principles of the relational marketing.In opposition to what is said in the previous paragraph, the study of the confidence in the relational marketing led to the theory named The commitment-trust theory, developed by Morgan and Hunt (1994), taking this element as key on the success in long term relations. It's important to understand that the links established between clients and enterprises, will have different qualitative characteristics between those who are long term relations rather than the ones of short time, adjusting the best dynamic to each case.Another point of view in the study of the permanence of the clients is the one who has to do with the benefits that they cause. Such line was developed by Reichheld and Sasser (1990), Reichheld (1993), (1994), (2002), and much more followers. They explain that the permanence of the client, generates four additional benefits to the profit basis, these are: revenue for sales increase due to customer spending often of cross and up-selling, for price premium extracted for value-added services, for operative costs reduction by improving the efficiency of serving customers, and revenues for referrals. …

Relationships Between Librarians and Faculty Still Need Further Investigation

Objective – To examine how the Key Mediating Variable (KMV) model of Morgan and Hunt’s Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing can be used to look at the relationships between librarians and faculty as reported in the literature. Relationship marketing stresses customer retention and long-term customer relationships, rather than focusing on the product.
 
 To also identify: 1) the methods reported in the literature to evaluate relationships between librarians and faculty; 2) the elements reported in the literature that lead to commitment and trust in librarian-faculty relationships; and 3) the elements reported in the literature that prevent commitment and trust in librarian-faculty relationships.
 Design – A systematic review.
 
 Setting – A university in the United States.
 
 Subjects – 304 journal articles on librarian-faculty relationships were read and analyzed for variables included in the KMV model of relationship marketing. 
 
 Methods – The authors searched 20 databases to find publications in various disciplines. Their search strategy included, but was not limited, to the following keywords: faculty, librarian*, relationships, library users, information professionals, liaisons, academic, university, college*, collaboration, and perceptions. They initially selected 389 references based on the occurrence of search terms in the title or abstract, as well as the presence of related subject headings. The authors then read the abstracts and included/excluded references based on the following criteria:
 
 Inclusion criteria: Academic libraries or special libraries. English language, any instance of collaboration or cooperation, subject term or mention of relationship, the words trust or commitment or antecedents or outcomes from the model included in the abstract. Exclusion criteria: blogs, books, emails, or any article that could not meet the subject inclusion criteria (p. 14).
 
 Additional articles were identified by scanning the bibliographies of the articles selected at the abstract stage, searching the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Google Scholar, as well as conducting a cited reference search in Web of Science and Google Scholar.
 
 Among the 304 journal articles that the authors selected, read and analyzed, only 13 of these satisfied the last inclusion criteria of the systematic review in that they contained “a high presence of the KMV model’s antecedents and outcomes” (p. 15). Many articles concentrated on a service or project that librarians worked on with faculty and did not discuss the librarian-faculty relationship.
 
 Main Results – 77 out of the 304 analyzed articles discussed research methodologies. The methods used in these articles to evaluate relationships between librarians and faculty were: surveys (53%); literature reviews (26%); interviews (18%); and focus groups (5%). 
 The 13 articles containing variables from the KMV model indicated the following positive antecedents as leading to commitment and trust in librarian-faculty relationships: communication (7/13 articles); shared values (7/13 articles); and relationship benefits (7/13 articles). The negative antecedent that hindered commitment and trust in librarian-faculty relationships was reported as opportunistic behavior in 4 articles (e.g., librarians seen as having an ulterior motive when they market their services to faculty). Cooperation (12/13 articles); functional conflict (2/13 articles); and uncertainty, i.e., faculty uncertain about the teaching ability of librarians (2/13 articles), were found to be the outcomes of relationships between librarians and faculty. 
 
 Conclusion – The authors found that “a focus on communication, shared values and benefits of the relationship would build stronger ties and foster commitment and trust with teaching faculty” (p. 17). Whereas the literature shows that collaborations between librarians and faculty are important to librarians’ work, very few studies have actually examined the librarian-faculty relationship. Future studies should explore in-depth the basics of relationship building between librarians and faculty.

Developing the innovative research model of internet banking customers' loyalty

This study intends to develop an innovative research model based on the commitment-trust theory to explore factors influencing the customers’ loyalty of internet banking. The results of study indicate that shared values, communication and system security have a positive impact on trust; relationship benefit, customers’ authorisation, trust have a positive impact on relationship commitment. Trust and relationship commitment from customers have a positive impact on retention of customer in using of internet banking; customer retention and customer satisfaction have a positive impact on customer loyalty. The future work will conduct a survey research to validate the research model and hypotheses.

Enhancing Performance

This paper analyses the concepts of trust, commitment, motivation and performance. In specific terms, the authors ascertain what are the key components of trust in the workplace. The paper provides a deeper understanding of the value of the relational construct trust to organisational motivation and performance. A global multinational firm was surveyed to confirm the Morgan Hunt (1994) Commitment-Trust theory, that trust is an antecedent to commitment. The authors then develop and test a revised performance model that is based on the work of Maier (1955) and Mayer et al (1995). This second survey, which sampled a range of multinational organisations, sought Human Resource managers' opinions on both specific motivational influences in the workplace and specific performance factors in the workplace. The results confirm that all aspects of the construct trust tested in this paper have a significant impact on motivation and performance. In affirming this, the article concludes by proposing refinements to Maiers's (1955) existing performance model, which will assist management in trust building and also provide management with a deeper understanding of the importance of trust and motivation in organisational performance.

Events Gone Bad: Ramifications and Theoretical Reasoning

The extent to which events are sustainable is an issue of considerable importance (Andersson, and Getz, 2008). While it may be that many do not adopt a marketing orientation (Mayfield & Crompton, 1995; Lade & Jackson, 2004; Mehmetoglu & Ellingsen, 2005) due to their more socialistic not-for profit nature there are still other factors that need to be addressed as sustainability will often depend upon the political and tangible support of key stakeholders (Andersson, and Getz, 2008). Using stakeholder theory and commitment-trust theory as applied to the events marketplace and taking a case study approach, this paper critically evaluates a major international motor sports event and the factors leading up to its demise along with its social, organisational, and political ramifications.

Upaya Membangun Strategic Marketing Outcomes Berbasis Pada Relationship Marketing Dan Power

This study is developed by proposing a grand theoretical model and empirical models: The impact of Coercive Power in Relationship Marketing and Strategic Marketing Outcomes based on Relationship Marketing Theory and Power-Dependence Theory. Spesifically, to investigates the issue of power in business-to-business relationships and the impacts of coercive power to the key variables in the Commitment-Trust Theory (Trust, Relationship Commitment, Cooperation); to integrate Relationship Outcomes variables (loyalty, strong relationship, positive word of mouth) as a value of lifetime relationships, and to builds the strategic marketing outcomes (cooperation synergy, competitive positional advantages, marketing performance). This study was conducted by proposing three empirical models and was tested successfully on Indonesia tourism industry. There are 190 respondents as managers of tourism organization. The data was tested using several statistical tools such as SPSS and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The finding of this research are as follows :(1) Coercive Power has no significant association between trust, and positive-significant between relationship commitment and cooperation; 2) This study shows that the coercive power does not destroye a relationship but has a capability to control the interaction process; (3) This suggests that there are other variables of driving relationships besides the trust-commitment-based relationships suggested by Morgan dan Hunt (1994). There are both trust-based and power-based relationships.However, coercive power it self is not found to be driver of relationship outcomes. The Suggested coercive power and trust are the relationship bases of relationship marketing; (4) Value of Lifetime Relationships (Loyalty, Strong Relationship, Positive “WoM”) as a relationship outcomes, and important variables cause to grow up cooperation synergy. This is one spesific research finding.; (5) and the last, The Cooperation Synergy as an important variable will in crease the competitive positional advantages and marketing performance. The result of the study is important to develop and maintain relationship with stakeholders (partners, competitors, complementary organization) in tourism industry which based on market-based views and resources-based views. This integrated approach can achieve greater outcomes in relationship marketing of business-to-business relationship activities. In tourism policy, it is important to formulate “The Grand Tourism Strategy Based on Local Resources and Cultures”.

The moderating effect of gender on relationship quality and loyalty toward Internet service providers

Relationship quality – based on Commitment–Trust theory – can explain and predict the success of a relationship between an ISP and its customers, measured in terms of loyalty. We proposed a model to express the relationship and included gender as a moderator in the relationship. We then developed a questionnaire to test the model empirically and used a sample in Spain to check its validity and reliability. Analysis provided strong support for our hypotheses that gender exerted a significant moderating role on our model relationships. The influence of trust on commitment and of commitment on loyalty was significantly stronger for females than males, while the effects of satisfaction on commitment and of trust on loyalty were significantly stronger for males. Implications were drawn for practitioners.

Acceptance of Internet-Based Services: A Comparison of Three Models

While more and more products and services are delivered on the Internet, why customers accept these online products and services has drawn considerable interests from the business practice and the research community. Previous research has approached this question from three different perspectives, i.e., transactional, relational and a mixed of the two. However, the relative explanatory power of these three different views in explaining online service acceptance is unknown. This study compares IS Continuance Model (ISCM), the Commitment Trust Theory (CTT), and an integrated model developed from ISCM and CTT. The integrated model, ISCM and CTT were compared using data collected from 185 customers of web hosting services. Results showed that CTT and the integrated model had similar explanatory power and that both the integrated model and CTT explained higher variances in acceptance of online services than ISCM did. The findings suggest that the relational view outweighs the transactional view in terms of explaining acceptance of online services and that relational factors have the ability to explain some variances not explained by transactional factors, but not vice versa. Implications for research and practices are discussed.

Towards an integrative model of e-relationship development

E-commerce has become an important medium of exchange. Two related issues that face e-merchants are increased competition and trust development. The relationship between the vendor and the customer is an important and complex issue, especially in e-commerce settings. Many researchers have studied the issues related to e-relationships. This paper integrates the previous research into an integrative model of e-relationship. E-relationships are about attracting and maintaining customers in e-commerce settings. We integrate the commitment-trust theory with the current literature. We argue that satisfaction, trust and commitment are important mechanisms in loyalty and, thus, relationship development. We treat satisfaction and trust as antecedents of commitment. We argue that the antecedents of satisfaction and trust are website effectiveness, product performance, privacy, security and reputation.

Information systems continuance intention of web-based applications customers: The case of online banking

The proliferation of the Internet has not only allowed businesses to offer their products and services through web-based applications, but it has also undermined their ability to retain their customers. It has reduced search costs, opened up barriers to entry, and diminished distinctiveness of firms. Effective retention of customers allows firms to grow in size and popularity, thereby increasing their profitability. We extended Commitment–Trust theory, an expectation–confirmation model, and technology acceptance theory to develop a model of IS continuance intention of customers of web-based applications. Relationship commitment and trust were found to be central to IS continuance intention. Also, perceived empowerment influenced relationship commitment, while perceived security influenced trust. Our findings thus supported traditional intention factors, highlighting the role of trust as a stronger predictor of intention than commitment but, contradicting findings from marketing research, trust was found to be a stronger predictor of retention in the e-commerce context.

Facilitating relational governance through service level agreements in IT outsourcing: An application of the commitment–trust theory

Firms increasingly rely on outsourcing for strategic IT decisions, and the many sophisticated forms of outsourcing require significant management attention to ensure their success. Two forms of interorganizational governance–formal control and relational–have been used to examine the management of IT outsourcing relationships. Contrary to the conventional substitution view, recent studies have found that these two governance modes are complementary; however, the dynamics of their interactions remain unexplored. Based on the commitment–trust theory, this paper focuses on how the formal control mechanism can influence the relational governance in an outsourcing engagement. Using service level agreements (SLAs) as a proxy for formal control, this study finds that eleven contractual elements, characterized as foundation, governance, and change management variables in an SLA, are positively related to the trust and relationship commitment among the parties. Trust and commitment, in turn, positively influence relational outcomes that we theorize would contribute to outsourcing success. Both research and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Role of electronic trust in online retailing

PurposeTrust and commitment are the central tenets in building successful long‐term relationships in the online retailing context. In the absence of physical interaction between the buyer and the seller, how websites can gain the trust of the buyers and deliver on the promises made have become central issues in online customer relationship management. This paper aims to re‐examine the commitment‐trust theory (CTT) of relationship marketing in the online retailing context. It seeks to theorize the antecedents and consequences of commitment and trust in the online context and identify how CTT can be adapted in a digitized business environment.Design/methodology/approachModified constructs and their measures are developed to understand the antecedents and the outcomes of commitment and trust. Survey data from British online customers (n=651) are used to test CTT hypotheses with structural equation modelling.FindingsThe study suggests a significant modification to the traditional CTT model in the online environment. Privacy and security features of the website along with shared values are the key antecedents of trust, which in turn positively influences relationship commitment. Behavioural intentions of customers are consequences of both trust and commitment. The relationship termination cost has a negative impact on customer commitment.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper identifies interesting differences between the original work by Morgan and Hunt and the findings presented, but basically concludes that the commitment‐trust theory applies to online retailing.Originality/valueContributions of this study in re‐examining the CTT model of relationship marketing in an online context are manifold. This paper proposes a modified model to understand the role of consumer trust and commitment in a digitized environment. The modified constructs and measures truly reflect the dynamism of online business. The extended CTT model can provide better insight into managing customer relationships in online retailing.